beekeeper-lab/ai-team-library/claude/skills/seed-tasks

Skill: Seed Tasks

Description

Decomposes project objectives into actionable, assignable tasks. Each generated task is scoped to a single work cycle, assigned to exactly one primary persona, given testable acceptance criteria, and linked to its dependencies. This skill bridges the gap between high-level goals and the concrete work items that personas execute. It runs during the Seed phase of the Foundry pipeline (Select --> Compose --> Compile --> Scaffold --> Seed --> Export).

Trigger

• Invoked by the /seed-tasks slash command.
• Called programmatically by foundry_app/services/seeder.py at project kickoff or cycle start.
• Can be re-run mid-project when objectives change or new work is identified.

Inputs

| Input | Type | Required | Description | |---------------------|-----------------------|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------| | project_objectives | Text or file path | Yes | What the project aims to achieve; one or more goal statements | | team_composition | YAML file path | Yes | Which personas are active and available for assignment | | task_taxonomy | File path | No | Classification reference; defaults to workflows/task-taxonomy.md | | max_tasks_per_cycle | Integer | No | Cap on tasks generated per cycle; defaults to no limit |

Process

1. Parse project objectives into discrete goals -- Split compound objectives into independent, measurable goal statements. Each goal should be verifiable on its own.
2. Map each goal to task categories -- Using the task taxonomy, classify each goal (e.g., design, implementation, testing, documentation, infrastructure).
3. Decompose goals into implementable tasks -- Break each goal into tasks that can be completed within a single work cycle. If a task is too large, split it further.
4. Assign a primary persona per task -- Use the category-to-persona mapping (e.g., implementation tasks go to developer, test tasks go to tech-qa, documentation tasks go to technical-writer).
5. Identify dependencies between tasks -- Mark blocking relationships (e.g., "implement API" blocks "write API tests"). Flag any circular dependencies as errors.
6. Priority-rank tasks -- Produce a strict ordering with no ties. Rank by dependency depth first (blockers before dependents), then by business value.
7. Generate task files with acceptance criteria -- Write one markdown file per task containing: title, description, assigned persona, acceptance criteria, dependencies, and priority rank.

Outputs

| Output | Type | Description | |---------------------|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------| | task_files | Directory of markdown files | One file per task, named TASK-{NNN}-{slug}.md | | dependency_graph | Text (Mermaid) | Visual dependency map suitable for rendering in markdown | | assignment_summary | Markdown table | Persona-to-task-count mapping showing workload distribution |

Quality Criteria

• Every generated task has exactly one assigned persona from the active team composition.
• Every task has at least one testable acceptance criterion (binary pass/fail, no subjective language).
• Every task explicitly declares its dependencies (or states "none").
• Every task is scoped to a single work cycle -- no multi-cycle epics disguised as tasks.
• The dependency graph is acyclic; circular dependencies are rejected.
• The priority ranking is a strict total order with no ties.
• If max_tasks_per_cycle is set, the output respects the cap.
• No persona is assigned zero tasks unless the objectives genuinely require no work from that role.

Error Conditions

| Error | Cause | Resolution | |-----------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | EmptyObjectives | No project objectives provided or file is empty | Supply at least one concrete objective | | NoActivePersonas | Team composition has zero active personas | Check the composition YAML; at least one persona must be active | | TaxonomyNotFound | The task taxonomy file path does not exist | Provide a valid path or ensure the default taxonomy is present | | CircularDependency | Two or more tasks form a dependency cycle | Review the generated tasks and break the cycle manually | | UnmappableGoal | A goal cannot be mapped to any task category | Refine the objective or extend the task taxonomy | | PersonaCapacityExceeded | One persona is assigned more tasks than cycle allows | Increase max_tasks_per_cycle or split work across cycles |

Dependencies

• Compile Team skill (team composition must be compiled before seeding)
• Access to workflows/task-taxonomy.md for category classification
• Active persona definitions from personas/{name}/persona.md for role-matching
• foundry_app/services/seeder.py -- reference implementation of the seed logic
• foundry_app/core/models.py -- CompositionSpec model for parsing team composition