Agent Works a Ticket (ACLI)

Procedural workflow that wraps any work the agent does with Jira discipline — claim at start, update when blocked, report at end. The skill defines WHEN to update Jira, not WHAT the work is.

Procedure

1. CLAIM

Assign the ticket and signal that work is starting:

code

acli jira workitem assign --key "KEY-123" --assignee "user@email.com"
acli jira workitem transition --key "KEY-123" --status "In Progress" --yes
acli jira workitem comment-create --key "KEY-123" --body "Picked up by agent — starting work"

If the ticket is already assigned to the current user, skip the assign step. If already In Progress, skip the transition.

2. CONTEXT

Load the full ticket context to understand what needs to be done:

code

acli jira workitem view KEY-123 --fields "key,summary,status,assignee,priority,issuetype,description" --json
acli jira workitem search --jql "parent = KEY-123" --fields "key,summary,status" --csv
acli jira workitem comment-list --key "KEY-123"

Parse from the description:

•Acceptance criteria or requirements
•Any linked resources or references
•Subtasks and their status

3. EXECUTE

Do the work described in the ticket. This is intentionally open — the work could be:

•Writing code (use appropriate development skills)
•Research and reporting back
•Creating a document
•Running a workflow from another skill

The skill defines the Jira checkpoints, not the work itself.

4. CHECKPOINT (during execution)

If blocked:

code

acli jira workitem transition --key "KEY-123" --status "Blocked" --yes
acli jira workitem comment-create --key "KEY-123" --body "Blocked: [describe the blocker]"

Stop and report to the user.

If a scope question arises:

code

acli jira workitem comment-create --key "KEY-123" --body "Question: [the question]"

Ask the user before proceeding.

5. COMPLETE

When work is finished:

code

acli jira workitem comment-create --key "KEY-123" --body "Completed: [summary of what was done, what changed, any follow-ups]"
acli jira workitem transition --key "KEY-123" --status "Done" --yes

If code was written, include the branch name or PR link in the completion comment.

The user can specify a preferred completion status (e.g., "In Review" instead of "Done"). Default to "Done" unless told otherwise.

Error Handling

If ACLI returns exit code != 0:

•"authentication failed" → Tell user: acli jira auth login --web --site <site>.atlassian.net
•"command not found: acli" → Tell user: brew tap atlassian/homebrew-acli && brew install acli
•"trace id:" prefix → Unexpected server error, report trace ID
•Transition failure → Status name may differ in user's workflow, report and ask
•Other → Report raw error message