Set the active issue — moves it from `status:todo` to `status:in-progress` and verifies the WIP guardrail (one in-progress issue per assignee). Mirrors Orchestra MCP's `set_current_feature`. Auto-invoke after a feature/bug is created and the user wants to start work, or when the user says "let's work on #N", "start #N", "begin #N".

Mark an issue as the active piece of work AND create the feature branch the work will live on.

What it does

Pre-flight: WIP check — Calls mcp__github__list_issues filtered by:
- assignee: current user (mcp__github__get_me if unknown)
- labels: status:in-progress
- state: open
If results > 0 and wip_limit=1 (default per workflow), STOP:
text
Read issue — gh issue view {N} --json title,labels to get title (for branch slug) and kind (for branch prefix). Kind comes from the type:* label or the GitHub native Issue Type.
Branching policy — per workflows/default.yaml#branching: a. If kind is in pr_required_kinds (default: feature / bug / hotfix / chore / testcase) AND the current branch is in protected_base (default: main / master):
- Compute branch name from branch_template. Default: {kind_short}/{number}-{slug} where slug is the issue title lowercased with non-alphanum runs collapsed to -, capped at 40 chars.
- Run git fetch origin then git checkout -b {branch} (or git checkout {branch} if it already exists locally) so all subsequent commits land on the feature branch.
- Comment on the issue: 🌿 Branch \{branch}` created from `{base}@{sha7}`.b. If the user is already on a non-protected branch, leave it alone — assume they intend to use that branch. c. If the kind is exempt from PR requirement (e.g.plan`), skip branch creation.
Assign current user to the target issue:
bash
Update status via the unified setter (label + Project v2 Status field, atomically):
bash
Record start timestamp + branch in ~/.cache/gh-pms/state.json (for cooldown tracking and gh-push lookup).
Comment on the issue: 🚧 Work started by @{me} at {ISO timestamp} on branch \{branch}`.`
Report:
text

State file

~/.cache/gh-pms/state.json:

json

The branch and base fields let gh-push find the right branch to push and the right base to PR against without re-asking.

Cross-skill contract

The agent must call this BEFORE writing any code for the issue. If the user says "fix #42 now" without running gh-current, the skill is auto-invoked first.

After branching, the agent must NOT switch back to the protected base while the issue is in-progress. If a git checkout main (or equivalent) is attempted before gh-push, warn the user and pause.