Task System

Task System

A lightweight, static, file-based task management system embedded in the repository. Tasks are permanent history — once created, never deleted. No database, no server, no internet.

This is separate from runtime/ephemeral task tools. Those disappear when the session ends. This task system lives in the repo. Its tasks are kept forever.

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Core Philosophy

• Static, file-based, in-repo — Three files in .agents/tasks/: inbox.md, tasks.yaml, closed.yaml. No database, no service, no setup beyond tasks init.
• Tasks are permanent history — Nothing is ever deleted. Tasks flow from tasks.yaml (active) to closed.yaml (archive).
• 12 statuses, any lifecycle — todo, in-progress, done, blocked, postponed, cancelled, review, waiting, parked, deferred, backlog, abandoned. Move freely between them.
• Counter-based IDs — Tasks get TSK-NNNN IDs (e.g. TSK-0001). Auto-incrementing.
• Numeric priorities (p0-p4) — p0 (critical) > p4 (backlog). Named aliases also work.
• Dependency system — Typed deps (blocks, parent, child, discovered, relates). blocks affects the ready queue.
• Newest-first ordering in active list, oldest-first in archive.

⚠️ Golden Rule: YAML files are CLI-only. Inbox.md is free-form.

| File | Who edits it | How | |------|-------------|-----| | tasks.yaml | Never by hand | CLI only (tasks add, tasks update, tasks close) | | closed.yaml | Never by hand | CLI only (tasks close appends automatically) | | inbox.md | Anyone, any time | Free-form text — humans dump ideas, agents paste notes, raw scraps live here |

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File Layout

/
  .agents/tasks/
    inbox.md       # Raw dump zone — paste ideas, notes, scraps here
    tasks.yaml     # Active task list (any status, closed=false)
    closed.yaml    # Closed task archive (append-only, permanent)

All files are self-documenting — open any YAML file and the header explains the system.

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Statuses

| Status | Meaning | Typical next step | |--------|---------|-------------------| | todo | Needs to be done | in-progress | | in-progress | Being actively worked on | done, blocked, review | | done | Complete (moves to archive) | — | | blocked | Cannot proceed — waiting on external dependency | waiting, todo | | postponed | Pushed to later — not blocked, just delayed | todo, backlog | | cancelled | Will not be done | — | | review | Needs review or approval | done, todo, in-progress | | waiting | Waiting on someone else | todo, review | | parked | Set aside, may come back | todo, backlog | | deferred | Deliberately delayed to a known future time | todo, in-progress | | backlog | Lower-priority, no current intent to start | todo, parked | | abandoned | Started but permanently abandoned | — |

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Quick Start

# Bootstrap
tasks init

# Create tasks
tasks add "Refactor auth middleware" --priority p1 --tag refactor
tasks add "Fix login bug" --tag bug --tag security --priority p0
tasks add "Write tests" --dep TSK-0003:blocks --notes "Must cover edge cases"
tasks add "Related docs" --related TSK-0005

# Start working
tasks take TSK-0001
tasks update TSK-0001 --status blocked --notes "Waiting on API key from IT"
tasks update TSK-0001 --status in-progress      # unblocked

# Review and close
tasks close TSK-0001 --note "Deployed to prod, monitors green"

# Session check-in
tasks status           # counts by status, inbox line count
tasks ready            # what's actionable right now
tasks blocked           # what's stuck and why
tasks next --take 3    # priority queue

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How to Operate

Starting a Session

# 1. Check what's pending
tasks status

# 2. See what's unblocked and actionable
tasks ready

# 3. Or see full queue (including blocked)
tasks next --take all

# 4. Check for blockers if things feel stuck
tasks blocked

Inbox Processing — The Most Important Workflow

Turn raw notes into structured tasks, then leave the inbox empty. This is the ingress pipeline — the gateway where vague ideas become delegatable work.

# 1. Read everything in the inbox — don't skip items
tasks inbox

# 2. Draft tasks for every actionable item
#    For each item, ask: "Is this clear enough to execute without further input?"
#    If unclear → ask the user clarifying questions BEFORE creating the task
#    If clear  → draft with title, notes, priority, tags

tasks add "Fix login timeout on mobile" --source inbox --priority high --tag bug --notes "Must reproduce on iOS Safari and Android Chrome"
tasks add "Update README with API examples" --source inbox --priority low --tag docs --notes "Add curl examples for all 5 endpoints"

# 3. Present the draft tasks to the user for confirmation
#    "I understood your inbox as 4 tasks. Here's what I'll create: [...] Proceed?"
#    Only create tasks after explicit confirmation.

# 4. Clear the inbox completely — leave it empty
echo. > .agents/tasks/inbox.md          # Windows: wipe to blank
# > .agents/tasks/inbox.md              # Unix: wipe to blank

Ingress Rules:

• Take ALL items, not just the easy ones
• Ask clarifying questions when an item is vague. If the user chooses not to answer, create the task anyway with whatever context is available — the user owns the task, not you.
• Get confirmation before creating tasks and wiping the file
• After processing, the inbox must be empty — not partially cleaned, not annotated, not "organized." Empty.
• If an item is unclear and the user is unavailable, leave it in the inbox and process what you can

> Default behavior: Wipe the inbox clean after processing. Only skip if the user explicitly says to keep it. When in doubt, empty it.

Tracking Progress

# Start working
tasks update TSK-0004 --status in-progress

# Hit a blocker — mark it
tasks update TSK-0004 --status blocked --notes "Waiting on API key from IT"
tasks update TSK-0004 --dep TSK-0010:blocks  # record what's blocking it
# Later: unblocked
tasks update TSK-0004 --status in-progress

# Needs review before shipping
tasks update TSK-0004 --status review

# Priority changed — push it to later
tasks update TSK-0004 --status postponed --priority p3

# Put it in the backlog for future triage
tasks update TSK-0004 --status backlog

# Something came up — change priority, add context
tasks update TSK-0004 --priority p0 --notes "Client escalation, needs immediate attention"

# Cancelled — no longer relevant
tasks update TSK-0004 --status cancelled --notes "Requirement dropped"

# Close it — could be cancelled, abandoned, or finished
tasks close TSK-0004 --note "Deployed to prod, monitors green"

Moving Between Statuses

No restrictions on status transitions. You can move a task from any status to any other:

# Direct skip: backlog → done
tasks update TSK-0010 --status done

# Backwards: review → todo (more work needed)
tasks update TSK-0011 --status todo --notes "Review found issues, needs rework"

# Dead end: in-progress → abandoned
tasks update TSK-0012 --status abandoned --notes "Proof of concept failed"

The only special status is done — use tasks close TSK-NNNN to move it to the archive. Use tasks update TSK-NNNN --status done only when backdating or correcting a closed task's status.

Reviewing

# What's on the plate
tasks list --status todo

# What's been accomplished
tasks history --json

# Full session overview
tasks status

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Examples

# Create a task with rich metadata
tasks add "Proof trail" --evidence "file: src/agent_sommelier/tasks/core.py"

# Task with dependency blocking another
tasks add "Deploy to production" --dep TSK-0007:blocks --priority p0

# Start working, claim it
tasks take TSK-0001 --claimed rx
tasks claim TSK-0001 --claimed rx

# Multi-dimensional tagging — don't just tag one thing
tasks add "Fix race condition in auth" --tag bug --tag auth --tag security --tag autonomous-ready

# From a detailed inbox note
tasks add "Implement rate limiting" --source inbox --priority medium --notes "See inbox.md for requirements"

# Change everything at once
tasks update TSK-0004 --status postponed --priority p3 --notes "Client deprioritized this"

Dependency graph example

# Create tasks with chains
tasks add "Design API"
tasks add "Implement API" --dep TSK-0001:blocks
tasks add "Test API" --dep TSK-0002:blocks
tasks add "Deploy API" --dep TSK-0003:blocks

# View the chain
tasks deps TSK-0004
# → TSK-0001 (blocks) → TSK-0002 (blocks) → TSK-0003 (blocks) → TSK-0004

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When to Use This Skill

Use the task system proactively — not just when asked:

• Session start: tasks status + tasks ready to orient
• When you discover work: tasks add "..." --tag type --tag area
• When context shifts: tasks update TSK-NNNN --status ...
• When you complete work: tasks close TSK-NNNN --note "..."
• When the inbox has items: Read → draft → confirm → wipe clean
• Before significant changes: Check what's in-progress
• When priorities need review: tasks next --take all
• When exploring relationships: tasks deps TSK-NNNN

When NOT to use it

• Don't create duplicates of tasks already in the system
• Never edit tasks.yaml or closed.yaml by hand — always use the CLI
• Inbox.md IS the exception — edit it freely. It is a scratch file.
• Don't delete tasks — they're permanent history. Close them instead.
• Don't use for ephemeral runtime tracking (use crony, bg-jobs, or runtime tools for that).

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Deeper Reading

| Topic | File | |---|---| | Full CLI reference (all commands, flags, option tables) | [references/cli.md](references/cli.md) |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: lirrensi
• Source: lirrensi/agent-sommelier
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.