abzhaw/task-manager

Task Manager Skill

Operate the juliaz_agents shared TODO queue. Tasks live as YAML files in todo/.

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Quick Reference

| Command | Action | |---------|--------| | List all open tasks | Read todo/index.yml | | Get task details | Read todo/TASK-NNN.yml | | Create new task | Read index for next_id → write new TASK file → update index | | Update task status | Edit TASK file → update index | | Prioritize queue | Read all open tasks → apply priority logic → update priorities |

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Reading Tasks

List open tasks (fast):

cat todo/index.yml

Get full details on a task:

cat todo/TASK-001.yml

List all task files:

ls todo/TASK-*.yml

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Creating a Task

1. Read todo/index.yml to get next_id
2. Create todo/TASK-{next_id formatted as 3 digits}.yml with this template:

id: TASK-NNN
title: "Short descriptive title"
status: open
priority: medium
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
created_by: [who requested it]
assigned_to: [raphael | julia | openclaw | system]
tags: []
depends_on: []
due: null
description: |
  What needs to happen and why.
plan: |
  How to do it (optional — can be added later).
notes: |
  [YYYY-MM-DD] Task created. Context: [brief context].

3. Update todo/index.yml:
   • Increment next_id
   • Add task to tasks list
   • Update summary counts

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Updating a Task

When changing status, priority, or adding notes:

1. Edit the TASK file:
   • Update status field
   • Update updated date
   • Prepend new note to notes field (newest first)
2. Update todo/index.yml to match

Status transitions:

• open → in_progress: Work has started
• in_progress → done: Work is verified complete
• open or in_progress → blocked: Waiting on dependency or external input
• blocked → open: Blocker resolved
• Any → cancelled: Task no longer needed (add reason in notes)

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Prioritizing

When asked to prioritize or suggest what's next:

1. Read all todo/TASK-*.yml files with status open or in_progress
2. Score each task:
   • critical security/blocking issues → score 100
   • Unblocks other tasks (has dependents) → score +30
   • Raphael explicitly mentioned → score +20
   • high priority → score 40
   • medium priority → score 20
   • low priority → score 10
   • Age bonus: +1 per day since creation
3. Sort by score, highest first
4. Return top 3-5 with reasoning

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Telegram Formatting

When reporting to Raphael via Telegram, use this format:

Status report:

📋 Tasks: 3 open, 1 in progress, 0 blocked

🔴 TASK-001 [high] Credential security
🟡 TASK-003 [medium] Add Notion integration
🟢 TASK-002 [low] Update README

Task created:

📋 Created TASK-004: "Add dark mode to frontend"
Priority: medium | Assigned: system

Next suggestion:

📋 Next up: TASK-001 — Credential security [high]
Reason: Security issue, unblocks 0 other tasks, open for 3 days.

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Dependency Tracking

When a task is marked done, check all other tasks:

# Pseudo-logic:
for each task in todo/TASK-*.yml:
  if task.depends_on contains completed_task_id:
    if all dependencies in task.depends_on are now done:
      set task.status = "open"  (was "blocked")
      add note: "Auto-unblocked: dependency TASK-NNN completed"

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Integrity Check

Run periodically (or on heartbeat):

1. All task files in todo/TASK-*.yml must be valid YAML
2. All tasks in index.yml must have corresponding files
3. All task files must appear in index.yml (no orphans)
4. summary counts must match actual status counts
5. next_id must be higher than all existing task IDs

If inconsistency found: fix it silently and log to task-manager/memory/.