design-session: Quality bar round in Step 2 (rigor/surfaces proposal, per-surface confirm/drop, other:<label> lane, autonomous fallback), rigor+surfaces frontmatter and Quality bar section in the Step 3 PLAN template, poc-dodge anti-pattern. task-tracking: optional per-task surfaces key (inherits the plan's list); rigor stays run-level only. plan-gatekeeping: manifest category 11 (Quality bar) with FRICTION/BLOCKING severity guidance.
4.3 KiB
description, enabled_tools
| description | enabled_tools |
|---|---|
| File-based task tracking for plan-driven runs on any project. Defines the TASK-NNN directory schema (index.md + append-only log.md), the frontmatter lifecycle (pending/in-progress/blocked/complete), numbering, the completion protocol, and follow-up task creation. The tasks directory on disk is the durable run state - it survives context compression. Grants filesystem access for managing task files. | fs_read, fs_grep, fs_glob, fs_ls, fs_cat, fs_write, fs_patch, fs_mkdir |
You are tracking implementation tasks as files. The task directory is the durable source of truth for run state — anything that lives only in chat history is lost to context compression. Keep it current at every state change, not in batches.
Layout
<plans_dir>/
PLAN-<slug>.md # the plan (see design-session / plan-authoring)
tasks/
TASK-001-<slug>/
index.md # current state: frontmatter + What/Steps/Acceptance criteria
log.md # append-only audit trail
TASK-002-<slug>/
...
index.md schema
---
title: <short imperative title>
status: pending # pending | in-progress | blocked | complete
type: feature # feature | chore | followup
points: 1.0 # engineer-days; ~1.0 per the sizing rule
plan: PLAN-<slug>.md
blocked_by: [] # TASK ids that must be complete first
created: YYYY-MM-DD
surfaces: [] # this task's surfaces; omitted = inherit the plan's list
---
## What
One paragraph: what this task produces, named concretely (files, symbols, behaviors).
## Steps
- [ ] Concrete step — name the file, function, or migration
- [ ] ...
## Acceptance criteria
- [ ] Observable behavior, measurable ("returns 429 after 3 failed attempts")
- [ ] ...
Status lives in frontmatter — there are no lifecycle directories. status: complete plus all boxes checked IS done.
surfaces come from the plan's ## Quality bar; rigor is run-level only — there is no per-task rigor.
log.md conventions
Append-only. Each entry is an H2: ## YYYY-MM-DD — <short label> (created, started, implemented, diverged, completed, ...). Body is 1-3 sentences of prose; structured data lives in markdown links (branch URLs, commit SHAs, PR links). Never rewrite an old entry — add a new one.
Numbering
Scan tasks/TASK-* for the highest NNN and increment (zero-padded to 3). This assumes a single writer per plans directory; if multiple agents or people share one, serialize task creation.
Lifecycle protocol
| Transition | Do |
|---|---|
| Create | fs_mkdir the dir; write index.md (status: pending) + log.md with a created entry |
| Claim | frontmatter status: in-progress; log started (note the branch + base SHA) |
| Blocked | status: blocked; log why and what unblocks it |
| Complete | Check off every Step and Acceptance criterion (verified, not aspirational); log completed with commit SHAs AND any follow-ups reported by the implementer, VERBATIM; set status: complete |
Never mark a criterion checked without evidence. Never batch state changes — update at the moment of transition.
Follow-up tasks
When implementation surfaces manual/out-of-scope actions (secrets to create, cloud roles to provision, console steps, cross-repo changes): create a task per item (group small related ones) with type: followup, status: pending, the WHAT/WHERE/WHY/WHEN in its What section, and a note of which TASK surfaced it. Follow-ups are deliverables to hand to the user — never implement them in the current run.
Consistency checks (run at the end of a run)
- Every task dir has both
index.mdandlog.md. - Every
blocked_byreference resolves to an existing task. - No task is
completewith unchecked Steps/Acceptance criteria. - Every
completetask's log has acompletedentry with commit references. - The PLAN's breakdown table rows all map to task dirs (and vice versa).
Anti-patterns
- Run state that exists only in chat — session ids, decisions, and follow-ups belong in task files.
status: completewith unchecked boxes, or checked boxes without evidence.- Rewriting log history instead of appending.
- Hand-picking a task number without scanning (collisions).
- Follow-ups mentioned in a summary but never materialized as task files.