Hat	Stage	Upstream gate	Output
Cross-cutting	Status	None (read-only)	Stdout text or --json payload (no file writes)

When to Use

• You joined a workbench mid-stream and don’t know what step is next.
• After a publish or approve, to confirm the next move without scanning EPIC-PIPELINE.md.
• Before opening Jira or pinging a counterpart — let the workbench tell you.
• When /pmo-status is more rollup than you need.

Prerequisites

• Workbench initialised (project.conf exists, EPICS=(...) non-empty).
• .workbench-state/ present (wb.publish auto-creates the ledgers on first use).

Run

wb.wtd            # text report
wb.wtd --json     # machine-readable

How It Decides

For every epic in project.conf EPICS=(...) it walks this chain and emits a recommendation for the first gap:

epic-context → PRD → eng-spec → TDD → BDD → test-cases → test-spec → ralph plan → dispatch

Question (in order)	If no → recommendation
Is artifact in .workbench-state/approved.json?	If in published.json → “review and approve”. Else → run the producing skill.
Is upstream gate approved?	Block; surface the upstream gap instead.
All PRD-scoped artifacts approved for this PRD?	Yes → /ralph-workspace-plan, then wb.ralph-dispatch.

Linkage uses YAML frontmatter (epic_id, prd_id) when present, falling back to ID-prefix matching (prd-EPIC-001-foo → spec-EPIC-001-foo).

Output Shape

What to do next
===============

→ Next  (epic:EPIC-001)
  $ /prd-draft EPIC-001
  [EPIC-001] no PRD yet — draft one from the approved epic context.

Also queued:
  → [EPIC-002] missing TDD — generate it now.
    $ /tdd prd-EPIC-002-checkout
  ⛔ [EPIC-003] pull epic body and stamp it as draft context.
    $ /epic-intake EPIC-003
  → [prd-EPIC-001-foo] all artifacts approved — run workspace plan.
    $ /ralph-workspace-plan

⛔ BLOCKER / ⛔ = blocker (upstream gate not green). → Next / → = normal next step.

Priority Order

Lower wins; ties broken by epic order in project.conf.

Priority	Meaning
5	Workbench misconfigured (no EPICS, etc.)
10	Missing epic context
15	Missing PRD
20–25	Awaiting human approval (publish/approve gap)
30	Missing PRD-scoped artifact (spec, TDD, BDD, …)
40	Ready for /ralph-workspace-plan
60	Ready for wb.ralph-dispatch
90	Pipeline idle and clean — open a new epic

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Recommendation printed (including the “pipeline idle” case).
2	Workbench misconfigured (.workbench-state/ missing).

Do Not

• Don’t infer state from filesystem layout. .workbench-state/{approved,published}.json is the only gate.
• Don’t auto-run the recommended command. The skill prints; the human runs.
• Don’t duplicate /pmo-status. wtd answers “what next?”; pmo-status answers “where does everything stand?”.

Source

• Skill — skills/wtd/SKILL.md
• Engine — scripts/wtd.py
• Alias — aliases.sh (wb.wtd)
• Workflows reference — Workflows