Task Management Skill

> Purpose: Track, manage, and validate feature implementations with atomic task breakdowns, dependency resolution, and progress monitoring.

What I Do

I provide a command-line interface for managing task breakdowns (a planning step done by you or a task-planning agent). I help you:

• Track progress - See status of all features and their subtasks
• Find next tasks - Show eligible tasks (dependencies satisfied)
• Identify blocked tasks - See what's blocked and why
• Manage completion - Mark subtasks as complete with summaries
• Validate integrity - Check JSON files and dependency trees

How to Use Me

Quick Start

Run commands from this skill's directory (router.sh self-locates task-cli.ts):

bash
# Show all task statuses
bash router.sh status

# Show next eligible tasks
bash router.sh next

# Show blocked tasks
bash router.sh blocked

# Mark a task complete
bash router.sh complete <feature> <seq> "summary"

# Validate all tasks
bash router.sh validate

Command Reference

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | status [feature] | Show task status summary for all features or specific one | | next [feature] | Show next eligible tasks (dependencies satisfied) | | parallel [feature] | Show parallelizable tasks ready to run | | deps <feature> <seq> | Show dependency tree for a specific subtask | | blocked [feature] | Show blocked tasks and why | | complete <feature> <seq> "summary" | Mark subtask complete with summary | | validate [feature] | Validate JSON files and dependencies | | help | Show help message |

Examples

Check Overall Progress

bash
$ bash router.sh status

[my-feature] My Feature Implementation
  Status: active | Progress: 45% (5/11)
  Pending: 3 | In Progress: 2 | Completed: 5 | Blocked: 1

Find What's Next

bash
$ bash router.sh next

=== Ready Tasks (deps satisfied) ===

[my-feature]
  06 - Implement API endpoint [sequential]
  08 - Write unit tests [parallel]

Mark Complete

bash
$ bash router.sh complete my-feature 05 "Implemented authentication module"

✓ Marked my-feature/05 as completed
  Summary: Implemented authentication module
  Progress: 6/11

Check Dependencies

bash
$ bash router.sh deps my-feature 07

=== Dependency Tree: my-feature/07 ===

07 - Write integration tests [pending]
  ├── ✓ 05 - Implement authentication module [completed]
  └── ○ 06 - Implement API endpoint [in_progress]

Validate Everything

bash
$ bash router.sh validate

=== Validation Results ===

[my-feature]
  ✓ All checks passed

Architecture

task-management/
├── SKILL.md                          # This file
├── router.sh                         # CLI router (entry point)
└── scripts/
    └── task-cli.ts                   # Task management CLI implementation

Task File Structure

Tasks are stored in .tmp/tasks/ at the project root:

.tmp/tasks/
├── {feature-slug}/
│   ├── task.json                     # Feature-level metadata
│   ├── subtask_01.json               # Subtask definitions
│   ├── subtask_02.json
│   └── ...
└── completed/
    └── {feature-slug}/               # Completed tasks

task.json Schema

json
{
  "id": "my-feature",
  "name": "My Feature",
  "status": "active",
  "objective": "Implement X",
  "context_files": ["docs/spec.md"],
  "reference_files": ["src/existing.ts"],
  "exit_criteria": ["Tests pass", "Code reviewed"],
  "subtask_count": 5,
  "completed_count": 2,
  "created_at": "2026-01-11T10:00:00Z",
  "completed_at": null
}

subtask_##.json Schema

json
{
  "id": "my-feature-05",
  "seq": "05",
  "title": "Implement authentication",
  "status": "pending",
  "depends_on": ["03", "04"],
  "parallel": false,
  "suggested_agent": "coder-agent",
  "context_files": ["docs/auth.md"],
  "reference_files": ["src/auth-old.ts"],
  "acceptance_criteria": ["Login works", "JWT tokens valid"],
  "deliverables": ["auth.ts", "auth.test.ts"],
  "started_at": null,
  "completed_at": null,
  "completion_summary": null
}

Integration with a planning step

Before tracking, the task files must be created — by you or by a task-planning agent. The planning step produces:

1. .tmp/tasks/{feature}/task.json - Feature metadata
2. .tmp/tasks/{feature}/subtask_XX.json - Individual subtasks

You then use this skill to track and manage progress.

Key Concepts

1. Dependency Resolution

Subtasks can depend on other subtasks. A task is "ready" only when all its dependencies are complete.

2. Parallel Execution

Set parallel: true to indicate a subtask can run alongside other parallel tasks with satisfied dependencies.

3. Status Tracking

• pending - Not started, waiting for dependencies
• in_progress - Currently being worked on
• completed - Finished with summary
• blocked - Explicitly blocked (not waiting for deps)

4. Exit Criteria

Each feature has exit_criteria that must be met before marking the feature complete.

5. Validation Rules

The validate command performs comprehensive checks on task files:

Task-Level Validation:

• ✅ task.json file exists for the feature
• ✅ Task ID matches feature slug
• ✅ Subtask count in task.json matches actual subtask files
• ✅ All required fields are present

Subtask-Level Validation:

• ✅ All subtask IDs start with feature name (e.g., "my-feature-01")
• ✅ Sequence numbers are unique and properly formatted (01, 02, etc.)
• ✅ All dependencies reference existing subtasks
• ✅ No circular dependencies exist
• ✅ Each subtask has acceptance criteria defined
• ✅ Each subtask has deliverables specified
• ✅ Status values are valid (pending, in_progress, completed, blocked)

Dependency Validation:

• ✅ All depends_on references point to existing subtasks
• ✅ No task depends on itself
• ✅ No circular dependency chains
• ✅ Dependency graph is acyclic

Run validate regularly to catch issues early:

bash
bash router.sh validate my-feature

6. Context and Reference Files

• context_files - Standards, conventions, and guidelines to follow
• reference_files - Existing project files to look at or build upon

Workflow Integration

Tracking loop

1. Tasks are created → .tmp/tasks/{feature}/ structure exists
2. Track progress → Monitor with status, next, blocked
3. Mark tasks complete → Use complete command with summaries
4. Validate integrity → Use validate to check consistency

With working agents

When agents execute subtasks and report completion, use this skill to:

• Find next available tasks with next
• Check what's blocking progress with blocked
• Validate task definitions with validate

Common Workflows

Starting a New Feature

bash
# 1. The task structure is created under .tmp/tasks/{feature}/

# 2. Check what's ready
bash router.sh next

# 3. Work on (or delegate) the first ready subtask

Tracking Progress

bash
# Check overall status
bash router.sh status my-feature

# See what's next
bash router.sh next my-feature

# Check what's blocked
bash router.sh blocked my-feature

Completing Tasks

bash
# After working agent finishes
bash router.sh complete my-feature 05 "Implemented auth module with JWT support"

# Check progress
bash router.sh status my-feature

# Find next task
bash router.sh next my-feature

Validating Everything

bash
# Validate all tasks
bash router.sh validate

# Validate specific feature
bash router.sh validate my-feature

Tips & Best Practices

1. Use Meaningful Summaries

When marking tasks complete, provide clear summaries:

bash
# Good
complete my-feature 05 "Implemented JWT authentication with refresh tokens and error handling"

# Avoid
complete my-feature 05 "Done"

2. Check Dependencies Before Starting

bash
# See what a task depends on
bash router.sh deps my-feature 07

3. Identify Parallelizable Work

bash
# Find tasks that can run in parallel
bash router.sh parallel my-feature

4. Regular Validation

bash
# Validate regularly to catch issues early
bash router.sh validate

Troubleshooting

"task-cli.ts not found"

Make sure you're running from the project root or the router.sh can find it.

"No tasks found"

Run status to see if any tasks have been created yet. Create the task files first.

"Dependency not satisfied"

Check the dependency tree with deps to see what's blocking the task.

"Validation failed"

Run validate to see specific issues, then check the JSON files in .tmp/tasks/.

File Locations

Paths are relative to this skill's directory:

• Router: router.sh
• CLI: scripts/task-cli.ts
• Documentation: SKILL.md (this file)
• Tasks: .tmp/tasks/ at the project root (created during planning)

Task Management Skill - Track, manage, and validate your feature implementations!