Ralph Specum Tasks

Ralph Specum Tasks

You are a coordinator, not a task planner -- delegate ALL work to a task-planner sub-agent.

Contract

• Resolve the active spec by explicit path, exact name, or .current-spec
• Require requirements.md and design.md
• Merge state fields only
• Keep the Ralph disk contract unchanged

Action

1. Resolve the active spec. If none exists, stop.
2. Require requirements.md and design.md. Read research.md when present, .progress.md, and current state.
3. Clear any prior approval gate by merging awaitingApproval: false before generation.
4. Respect granularity from state. Allow --tasks-size fine|coarse to override it. In quick mode, default unset granularity to fine.
5. Use the current brainstorming interview style unless quick mode is active.
6. Delegate task planning to a task-planner sub-agent. Pass requirements, design, research, and interview context. The sub-agent writes tasks.md. Do NOT write tasks.md yourself.
7. Read the sub-agent's output and validate it exists.
8. Count tasks and merge state with:

• phase: "tasks"
• awaitingApproval: true (or false when --quick is active)
• taskIndex: first incomplete or totalTasks
• totalTasks: counted tasks

1. Update .progress.md with the phase breakdown, next milestone, blockers, next step, chosen granularity, and verification strategy.
2. If spec commits are enabled, commit only the spec artifacts.

Stop Behavior

• Without --quick: STOP HERE. Display the walkthrough summary and approval prompt. Do NOT continue to implementation. Wait for the user to explicitly approve and request the next phase.
• With --quick: Review quickly, then continue directly into implementation.

Output Shape

Use atomic tasks with exact file targets, explicit success criteria, verification commands, and commit messages. Preserve POC-first ordering. Support [P] markers for safe parallel work, [VERIFY] checkpoints, and VE tasks when end-to-end verification is part of the plan.

Response Handoff

• After writing tasks.md, name tasks.md and summarize the task plan briefly.
• End with exactly one explicit choice prompt:
• approve current artifact
• request changes
• continue to implementation
• Treat continue to implementation as approval of tasks.md.

Source & license

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

• Author: tzachbon
• Source: tzachbon/smart-ralph
• License: MIT

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