diff --git a/src/work/ArcanistWorkEngine.php b/src/work/ArcanistWorkEngine.php
--- a/src/work/ArcanistWorkEngine.php
+++ b/src/work/ArcanistWorkEngine.php
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@
       ArcanistSymbolRef::HARDPOINT_OBJECT);
 
     $task_ref = $task_symbol->getObject();
+
     if (!$task_ref) {
       throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
         pht(
@@ -205,11 +206,34 @@
           $symbol));
     }
 
-    throw new Exception(pht('TODO: Implement this workflow.'));
+    $task_name = $task_ref->getName();
+    // TODO: check mercurial and subversion. This is just git
+    // see https://git-scm.com/docs/git-check-ref-format
+    $pattern = '#(^[./]+|//|/\.+|\.{2,}|@{|[/.]+$|^@$|[~^:\x00-\x20\x7F?*\[\\\\])#u';
+    $branch_name = preg_replace($pattern, '-', $task_name);
+    $branch_name = trim($branch_name, '-');
+    $branch_name = mb_convert_case($branch_name, MB_CASE_LOWER, 'UTF-8');
+    $branch_name = $task_ref->getMonogram().'-'.$branch_name;
+    // to reduce multiple '-' to single '-'
+    $branch_name = preg_replace('#-+#', '-', $branch_name);
+    // keep length to GitHub max
+    $branch_name = rtrim(mb_substr($branch_name, 0, 244), '-');
+    // below should work unless in detached HEAD state??
+    $start = id($this->getRepositoryAPI())->getBranchName();
+    if (!$start) {
+      // test detached HEAD??
+      $start = id($this->getRepositoryAPI())->getWorkingCopyRevision();
+    }
+
+    $this->newMarker($branch_name, $start);
 
-    $this->loadHardpoints(
+    return id(new ArcanistMarkerRef())
+      ->setName($branch_name)
+      ->setMarkerType(ArcanistMarkerRef::TYPE_BRANCH);
+   /* $this->loadHardpoints(
       $task_ref,
       ArcanistTaskRef::HARDPOINT_REVISIONREFS);
+   */
   }
 
 }