long-task-harness

name: long-task-harness description: Maintains continuity across long-running tasks that span multiple agent sessions. Use when starting or resuming a complex project that spans multiple sessions, or for tasks with many discrete features requiring iterative development.

Long Task Harness

Structured workflows for maintaining continuity across agent sessions. Addresses the "shift change" problem where context is lost between sessions.

First-Time Setup

On first invocation, check if .long-task-harness/long-task-progress.md exists in the project.

If it doesn't exist: Initialize

python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/init_harness.py

This creates a .long-task-harness/ directory containing:

• long-task-progress.md - Session history and notes
• features.json - Feature tracking with pass/fail status
• init.sh - Environment setup script (optional)

Then: Ensure persistent invocation

Check if AGENTS.md (for Codex/Droid/Cursor/Pi) or CLAUDE.md (for Claude Code) contains the harness snippet.

If not, prompt the user:

"I notice this project doesn't have long-task-harness configured for automatic invocation. Would you like me to add the following to [AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md]?

## Multi-Session Development

This project uses long-task-harness for session continuity.
At session start or after context reset, invoke the skill at:
<SKILL_PATH>

Where would you like me to add this?"

Use the actual path where you loaded this skill from for <SKILL_PATH>.

Optional: Claude Code Hooks

For Claude Code users who want automatic enforcement:

"Would you like to install Claude Code hooks? These will:

• Remind to invoke this skill on session start
• Warn before git commits if .long-task-harness/long-task-progress.md not staged"

If yes: python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/claude_code_install_hooks.py

Note: These hooks are for Claude Code only. Other agents should use AGENTS.md instructions.

Optional: Git Pre-Commit Hook (Unsupported Agents)

If the current agent does not support native hooks (e.g., Codex, Cursor, or other CLI agents), offer an optional repo-local git pre-commit hook. Warn that it affects all commits in the current repository clone.

If yes: python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/precommit_install_hook.py

Session Startup Protocol

At the start of each session:

python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/read_progress.py    # Last 3 sessions
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/read_features.py    # Incomplete features
git log --oneline -10

Then continue from "Next Steps" in the latest session entry.

During Work

1. Work on one feature at a time
2. Commit frequently with descriptive messages
3. Update .long-task-harness/features.json when features pass tests
4. Update .long-task-harness/long-task-progress.md before ending session

Session Entry Format

### Session N | YYYY-MM-DD | Commits: abc123..def456

#### Goal
[One-liner]

#### Accomplished
- [x] Task done
- [ ] Task carried forward

#### Decisions
- **[D1]** Decision made - reasoning

#### Surprises
- **[S1]** Expected X but found Y - implication

#### Next Steps
1. Priority task

Why Log Surprises?

Surprises indicate model uncertainty and contain information-dense context. If something surprised you, it could trip up the next session (or a different agent). Examples:

• [S1] Expected auth.py to handle OAuth, but it only does API keys. OAuth is in oauth_provider.py.
• [S2] Test suite requires Docker running - not documented in README.
• [S3] Config file is gitignored but required - must copy from config.example.yaml.

This section is optional but valuable for complex or unfamiliar codebases.

Before Ending Session

1. Update .long-task-harness/long-task-progress.md with session notes
2. Commit all changes including progress docs
3. Verify tests pass

Critical Rules

• Never edit tests to make them pass - fix implementation
• Never mark features passing without testing
• Always update progress docs before ending
• Commit frequently

Scripts

Additional Features

Status Line

Quick session overview:

python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/status_line.py          # Compact: S5 | F:3/5 [auth-001] | main (U:2)
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/status_line.py --full   # Detailed multi-line
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/status_line.py --json   # JSON output

Declarative Rules

Define rules in .long-task-harness/rules/*.md to catch common issues before they're committed:

---
name: warn-console-log
enabled: true
event: file
file_pattern: \\.tsx?$
pattern: console\\.log\\(
action: warn
---

🐛 **Debug code detected**

Remove console.log before committing.

Check operations:

python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/check_rules.py bash "rm -rf /tmp"
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/check_rules.py file src/app.ts "console.log('test')"
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/check_rules.py commit
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/check_rules.py list
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/check_rules.py init  # Create default rules

Events: bash, file, stage, commit, any
Actions: warn (continue), block (exit 1)

Git Add with Rule Checking

Use instead of raw git add to catch issues at staging time:

python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/git_add.py file1.py file2.ts   # Stage specific files
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/git_add.py .                    # Stage all
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/git_add.py --check-only .       # Preview without staging
python3 <SKILL_PATH>/scripts/git_add.py --force .            # Stage despite blockers

This checks file and stage event rules before staging, warns about missing progress updates.

History Research (10+ Sessions)

For long projects, use subagents as scouts to find relevant history:

Research the history of [feature/file] in this project.
Return POINTERS (session numbers, file paths, decision refs) - not summaries.

Then read only the specific sessions identified.