comet status — View Active Changes and Next Command

comet status gives you a read-only snapshot of active Comet-managed and plain OpenSpec changes, task progress, runtime evidence, and the appropriate next command.

Usage

comet status

path defaults to . (the current directory) when omitted. The command reads change state from the Classic OpenSpec root selected by classic.artifact_layout: docs/openspec/changes/ for new projects or openspec/changes/ for retained legacy layouts.

Example Output

Active Changes:

  1. my-feature [Comet] [phase: build [3/7 tasks]]
     workflow: full | build_mode: subagent-driven-development
     plan:   docs/superpowers/plans/2024-06-01-my-feature.md
     next: /comet-build

  2. quick-fix [Comet] [phase: verify [5/5 tasks]]
     workflow: full | build_mode: direct
     verify_result: pending
     next: /comet-verify

  3. docs-only [OpenSpec] [plain change [2/2 tasks]]
     recommended archive: openspec archive docs-only -y

Each entry shows:

Field	Description
`phase`	Current workflow phase (`open`, `design`, `build`, `verify`, `archive`).
`tasks`	Completed / total task count from `tasks.md`, e.g. `[3/7 tasks]`.
`workflow`	Workflow preset (`full`, `hotfix`, `tweak`).
`build_mode`	Build execution mode (e.g. `subagent-driven-development`, `direct`).
`design`	Path to the Superpowers Design Doc, if generated.
`plan`	Path to the implementation plan, if generated.
`verify_result`	Verification outcome (`pending`, `pass`, `fail`) — shown only in the `verify` phase.
`next`	The Comet skill command to run next.

Mixed Comet and OpenSpec changes

One project may contain both Comet-managed changes and plain OpenSpec changes. Status labels them separately instead of forcing plain OpenSpec work into the Classic five-phase lifecycle.

Change type	State source	Archive command when ready
Comet-managed	`.comet.yaml` and Classic runtime evidence	`comet archive <change-name>`
Plain OpenSpec	OpenSpec artifacts and task completion	`openspec archive <change-name> -y`

Only archive-ready entries show a recommendation. Invalid state, incomplete tasks, or failed verification continue to show recovery guidance.

Multiple active Comet changes

With one active Comet change, source work can be attributed automatically. With multiple active changes, select the intended target first:

comet state select <change-name>
comet state current

Selection is tied to the current branch/worktree. Switches and stale selections require a new select; the source-write guard does not guess. Only non-archived changes appear. A directory without .comet.yaml appears as a plain OpenSpec change rather than being silently excluded.

Flags

boolean

Output active changes as structured JSON, including a nextCommand field for each change. Useful for scripting and automation.

JSON Output

comet status --json

{
  "changes": [
    {
      "name": "my-feature",
      "workflow": "full",
      "phase": "build",
      "buildMode": "subagent-driven-development",
      "isolation": "branch",
      "verifyMode": null,
      "verifyResult": "pending",
      "designDoc": null,
      "plan": "docs/superpowers/plans/2024-06-01-my-feature.md",
      "tasksCompleted": 3,
      "tasksTotal": 7,
      "nextCommand": "/comet-build"
    }
  ]
}

The nextCommand field maps each phase to its corresponding Comet entry point:

Phase	Next command
`open`	`/comet-open`
`design`	`/comet-design`
`build`	`/comet-build`
`verify`	`/comet-verify`
`archive`	`/comet-archive`

Use Cases

Quick workflow check — Glance at all in-flight changes and where each one stands.
Know what to run next — The next field tells you exactly which Comet command to invoke to continue.
Scripting and automation — Pipe --json output into CI scripts or shell tooling to conditionally trigger workflow commands based on phase or task completion.
Resume after interruption — After closing an AI coding session, run comet status to orient yourself before typing /comet in your AI platform.

Install and health checks

Skills, evals, and publishing

Core scripts

comet status — View Active Changes and Next Command

Usage

Example Output

Mixed Comet and OpenSpec changes

Multiple active Comet changes

Flags

JSON Output

Use Cases

​Usage

​Example Output

​Mixed Comet and OpenSpec changes

​Multiple active Comet changes

​Flags

​JSON Output

​Use Cases

Usage

Example Output

Mixed Comet and OpenSpec changes

Multiple active Comet changes

Flags

JSON Output

Use Cases