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 created by the TaskManager subagent. 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

# Show all task statuses
bash skill/task-management/router.sh status

# Show next eligible tasks
bash skill/task-management/router.sh next

# Show blocked tasks
bash skill/task-management/router.sh blocked

# Mark a task complete
bash skill/task-management/router.sh complete <feature> <seq> "summary"

# Validate all tasks
bash skill/task-management/router.sh validate

Command Reference

Examples

Check Overall Progress

$ bash skill/task-management/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 skill/task-management/router.sh next

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

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

Mark Complete

$ bash skill/task-management/router.sh complete my-feature 05 "Implemented authentication module"

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

Check Dependencies

$ bash skill/task-management/router.sh deps my-feature 07

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

07 - Write integration tests [pending]
  |- [OK] 05 - Implement authentication module [completed]
  `- [~] 06 - Implement API endpoint [in_progress]

Validate Everything

$ bash skill/task-management/router.sh validate

=== Validation Results ===

[my-feature]
  [OK] All checks passed

Architecture

skill/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

{
  "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

{
  "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 TaskManager

The TaskManager subagent creates task files using this format. When you delegate to TaskManager:

task(
  subagent_type="TaskManager",
  description="Implement feature X",
  prompt="Break down this feature into atomic subtasks..."
)

TaskManager creates:

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

You can 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 skill/task-management/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

With TaskManager Subagent

1. •TaskManager creates tasks -> Generates .tmp/tasks/{feature}/ structure
2. •You use this skill to track -> Monitor progress with status, next, blocked
3. •You mark tasks complete -> Use complete command with summaries
4. •Skill validates integrity -> Use validate to check consistency

With Other Subagents

Working agents (CoderAgent, TestEngineer, etc.) 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

# 1. TaskManager creates the task structure

# 2. Check what's ready
bash skill/task-management/router.sh next

# 3. Delegate first task to working agent

Tracking Progress

# Check overall status
bash skill/task-management/router.sh status my-feature

# See what's next
bash skill/task-management/router.sh next my-feature

# Check what's blocked
bash skill/task-management/router.sh blocked my-feature

Completing Tasks

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

# Check progress
bash skill/task-management/router.sh status my-feature

# Find next task
bash skill/task-management/router.sh next my-feature

Validating Everything

# Validate all tasks
bash skill/task-management/router.sh validate

# Validate specific feature
bash skill/task-management/router.sh validate my-feature

Tips and Best Practices

1. Use Meaningful Summaries

When marking tasks complete, provide clear summaries:

# 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

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

3. Identify Parallelizable Work

# Find tasks that can run in parallel
bash skill/task-management/router.sh parallel my-feature

4. Regular Validation

# Validate regularly to catch issues early
bash skill/task-management/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. Use TaskManager to create tasks 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

• •Skill: skill/task-management/
• •Router: skill/task-management/router.sh
• •CLI: skill/task-management/scripts/task-cli.ts
• •Tasks: .tmp/tasks/ (created by TaskManager)
• •Documentation: skill/task-management/SKILL.md (this file)

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