Checking Every Repo by Hand Every Morning? There's a Faster Way

Morning routine, version one: open the terminal. cd ~/code/game. git status. Open the notes. What did the agent do last night? cd ../app. git status. Open that chat. cd ../book…

Forty minutes later you know where everything stands. You haven't moved anything yet, and your freshest hour is gone.

Part 4 of Busy, Not Shipping — the status round that feels like work and isn't.

The short answer#

• Checking each repo by hand every morning — git status, notes, agent output — can eat the first and best hour of the day.
• The round is the same questions every time: where is it, what's next, is it stuck, is it dirty?
• Answer those questions from files in each repo and show them on one screen, instead of visiting each repo.
• Use the saved hour for the decisions only you can make: what's stuck, and which three projects move today.

The same four questions, every time#

Look closely at the round and it's always the same four questions for each repo:

1. Where is it? Which phase?
2. What's next? The next step.
3. Is it stuck? Waiting on something?
4. Is it dirty? Uncommitted changes?

None of those need you to visit the repo. They need the answers to be written down and gathered in one place.

Write the answers where they live#

Questions 1–3 come from a small status file the agent keeps in each repo — phase, next step, stuck reason. Question 4 comes from git itself. Both can be read without opening a terminal in each folder.

Once they're read, show them together:

GAME  Dino Buddies   Phase 8/14   next: test rewarded ad    ● stuck   git: clean
BOOK  Dog Training   Phase 5/9    next: draft section 2               git: 14 files
APP   Tip Split      Phase 5/6    next: 3 screenshot captions         git: clean

That's the whole round, on one screen, in the time it takes to read three lines. It's the view described in running 10 projects in parallel.

Spend the hour on decisions#

With the round gone, the morning becomes the part that actually needs you:

• Stuck work first — unblock it or park it on purpose (see the blocker buried in your to-do list).
• Dirty repos next — review and push yesterday's leftovers (see uncommitted work).
• Pick three projects to move today.

Then start working. The whole thing takes minutes, and all of it is decisions.

A script is fine to start#

You don't need a tool to begin. A shell loop that prints git status --short and the first lines of each state file is a big step up from visiting each repo. The important change is mental: stop visiting, start reading.

Keep reading#

• How to Run 10 Side Projects in Parallel with AI Agents
• Uncommitted Work Across Repos: Did I Actually Save That?
• The Blocker Buried in Your To-Do List