tasks

name: tasks description: Track a numbered list of steps to completion. Use when the user gives explicit numbered steps ("1) do X 2) do Y"), says "I need to do N things", or when a multi-step job needs a checklist. Distinct from plan (strategy): tasks tracks what's done/pending during execution.

Skip entirely for single-step work.

Reuse the <slug> from any existing /tmp/mi-<slug>/plan.md so plan and tasks share /tmp/mi-<slug>/. If none exists, pick a kebab-case slug and mkdir -p /tmp/mi-<slug> first. If there is no plan yet and the work has unclear direction, call skill("plan") first to record strategy before tracking steps.

Slug collisions: If multiple concurrent mi sessions may run simultaneously (e.g. parallel subagents each starting fresh work), a plain descriptive slug like fix-auth risks collision. Append a short timestamp or random suffix: fix-auth-$(date +%s) or fix-auth-$(head -c4 /dev/urandom | xxd -p). Single-agent sequential work does not need this.

Maintain /tmp/mi-<slug>/tasks.md as a flat checkbox list:

- [ ] pending task
- [~] in-progress task
- [x] completed task

Work loop — repeat until all tasks are [x]:

1. Pick the next - [ ] task.
2. Rewrite the file with that task as - [~] (in-progress).
3. Actually do the task — run commands, edit files, verify the result.
4. Only after the work is confirmed done, rewrite the file with that task as - [x].
5. Move to the next - [ ] task.

Do not mark a task - [x] before doing the work. Do not batch-mark multiple tasks at once.

Rules:

• At most ONE - [~] at any time.
• Each task is one concrete, verifiable step. If a task needs sub-steps, either rewrite it or split it in place.
• When scope grows, append new - [ ] entries. Do not silently drop work.
• Never delete tasks. Abandoned work becomes - [x] <task> (skipped: <one-line reason>).

Always rewrite the entire file with a quoted heredoc. Do NOT use sed, awk, or any stream edit — task titles can contain /, &, quotes, backticks, and regex metacharacters that silently corrupt in-place edits. The quoted 'EOF' also blocks variable and command expansion in the body:

cat > /tmp/mi-<slug>/tasks.md <<'EOF'
- [x] read config
- [~] add retry to fetch
- [ ] update tests
EOF

Before every rewrite, cat /tmp/mi-<slug>/tasks.md first and reproduce every existing line verbatim so nothing is dropped. Only change the state marker of the single task whose status flipped; leave every other line byte-identical.

Keep titles short and action-oriented ("add retry to fetch", not "I should probably add retry logic to the fetch function"). No priorities, no timestamps, no nesting — if you need structure beyond a flat list, the work belongs in /tmp/mi-<slug>/plan.md, not here.