---
name: ki-work
ki-kind: governance
ki-applicability: declaration-only
ki-depends-on: []
ki-shared-dependencies: [ki-skills:rubric]
owns: ['+/_BATCHES/README.md']
contributes: ['.ki.toml']
description: >
  Select and audit a repository's KI forward-work adapter and shared lifecycle vocabulary. Use when choosing
  between local roadmap, KB Streams, GitHub Issues, or Linear; the selected adapter owns record shape and
  process skills own lifecycle actions.
argument-hint: 'audit <repo> | conform <repo> | educate <repo> | help | refresh'
---

# KI change management

This governance skill selects one configured source of forward work; it never becomes a third tracker. The selected adapter owns record storage, identity allocation, and its local structural rules. Shared process skills use the adapter to locate a record, assess readiness, record delivery or review evidence, and apply an explicitly authorised close or prune selection.

Read [the change-management adapter standard](references/standards-change-management-adapters.md) before selecting an adapter or changing shared lifecycle behaviour. Read [the generated rubric](references/rubric.md) for its checkable contract, and [the sources](references/sources.md) when refreshing it.

## Shared model

The declaration also activates the retained `+/_BATCHES/README.md` capability scaffold. `ki-work` owns that boundary; `ki-batch` owns temporary batch record form and retention.

`[skills.ki-work]` declares exactly one adapter and the matching adapter table is declared beside it. `roadmap` is the default for an ordinary Project repository; `kb-streams` is the default for a Knowledge Base; `github-issues` and `linear` are explicit alternatives. Resolution has no fallback: an absent, unknown, undeclared, or inapplicable declaration stops the process rather than guessing from a directory. This skill owns the abstract lifecycle and classification terms, while the owning adapter retains concrete status mapping, record storage, identity, and structural rules. The [Project registry standard](references/standards-project-registry.md) owns the portable shape of territory Projects and themes.

The selected adapter also controls the GitHub Issues feature through `ki-repo`: it stays disabled, with no `package.json` `bugs` field, unless the root `[skills.ki-work-github-issues]` table is declared.

## Operating modes

Carries the universal **AUDIT · CONFORM · EDUCATE · REFRESH** modes. Invoked as `help` / `-h` / `?`, it emits generated HELP and stops. With no recognised mode, it emits the same HELP and, only in an interactive session, offers the mode choice and prompts for the target shown in `argument-hint`.

### Mode AUDIT

Run `ki repo audit --skill ki-work --repo <repo>`. It verifies that the local table selects one supported, declared, applicable adapter mapping. Then run the resolved adapter's own audit; this selector neither interprets nor repairs adapter-specific configuration, and resolution alone is not an adapter audit.

### Mode CONFORM

Run `ki repo conform --skill ki-work --repo <repo> --dry-run`. CONFORM may safely create or restore the exact retained batch scaffold. It makes no adapter selection, creates no tracker or batch record, and changes no work record. It never infers an adapter from repository shape; set the declaration deliberately, then audit the selected adapter.

### Mode EDUCATE

Run `ki repo educate --skill ki-work --repo <repo>` to render the adapter contract. Choose the Project or KB default only after confirming its primary structure; choose GitHub Issues or Linear only after confirming remote authority and the owning adapter configuration.

### Mode REFRESH

**Precondition:** REFRESH writes only this canonical skill under `ki-agentic-harness`. Invoked from an installed copy, stop and redirect to the Harness.

On the cadence in [the sources](references/sources.md), compare supported adapters and process-skill usage with [the adapter standard](references/standards-change-management-adapters.md). Add a new adapter only with an explicit mapping of its stable reference, lifecycle states, authority boundary, and close/prune semantics; record the normative change in the commit.