beekeeper-lab/ai-team-library/claude/skills/trello-load

Skill: Trello Load

Description

Connects to Trello via the MCP server, pulls all cards from the Sprint_Backlog list, and creates well-formed beans directly from each card's content. Beans are created with Approved status (ready for work). After each bean is created, the source card is moved to the In_Progress list on Trello. This runs fully non-interactively — no user prompts, no clarifying questions — suitable for cron jobs or automated pipelines like /long-run.

Trigger

• Invoked by the /trello-load slash command.
• Requires the Trello MCP server to be configured and accessible.
• Requires ai/beans/_index.md and ai/beans/_bean-template.md to exist.

Inputs

| Input | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | board_id | String | No | If provided via --board, use that board. Otherwise auto-detect (see below). | | dry_run | Boolean | No | If true, show cards and proposed beans without creating them. Defaults to false. |

Process

Phase 1: Board Selection (Automatic)

1. Check Trello connection — Call mcp__trello__get_health to verify the MCP server is responsive. If unhealthy, report the error and stop.

2. Determine board — Three strategies, in order: a. If --board <id> was provided, use that board ID directly. b. Call mcp__trello__list_boards and look for a board whose name matches the current project directory name (case-insensitive). For this repo, that means a board named "Foundry". c. If no match, use the first board returned. Log which board was selected and why.

3. Set active board — Call mcp__trello__set_active_board with the resolved board ID.

Phase 2: List Discovery

5. Fetch lists — Call mcp__trello__get_lists for the selected board.

6. Find Sprint_Backlog list — Search the returned lists for one matching "Sprint_Backlog" using flexible matching:

   • Normalize both the target name and each list name by:
     • Converting to lowercase
     • Replacing underscores, hyphens, and spaces with a single common separator
   • Match if the normalized names are equal
   • Examples that match: "Sprint_Backlog", "sprint_backlog", "Sprint Backlog", "sprint-backlog", "SPRINT_BACKLOG"
   • If no match found, show available list names and stop with an error.

7. Find In_Progress list — Same flexible matching for "In_Progress":

   • Matches: "In_Progress", "in_progress", "In Progress", "in-progress", "IN_PROGRESS"
   • If no match found, show available list names and stop with an error.

8. Report discovered lists — Confirm to the user:

   Found lists:
   - Sprint Backlog: "[actual list name]" (N cards)
   - In Progress: "[actual list name]"
   

Phase 3: Card Loading

9. Fetch cards — Call mcp__trello__get_cards_by_list_id with the Sprint_Backlog list ID.

10. Check for empty backlog — If no cards are returned, inform the user and stop:

    Sprint_Backlog is empty — nothing to process.
    

11. Fetch full card details — For each card, gather complete data: a. Card details — Call mcp__trello__get_card with includeMarkdown: true to get name and description. b. Checklists — For each checklist on the card, call mcp__trello__get_checklist_items to get all checklist items and their completion state. c. Comments — Call mcp__trello__get_card_comments to get all comments.

12. Compile card text — For each card, assemble a single text block:

    # [Card Name]
    
    ## Description
    [Card description text]
    
    ## Checklists
    ### [Checklist Name]
    - [x] Completed item
    - [ ] Incomplete item
    ...
    
    ## Comments
    - [Author] ([date]): [comment text]
    ...
    

    Omit sections that are empty (e.g., if no checklists, skip that section).

13. Log summary — Show what will be processed:

    Found N cards in Sprint_Backlog:
    1. [Card Name] — [first 80 chars of description]
    2. [Card Name] — [first 80 chars of description]
    ...
    
    Creating beans and moving cards to In_Progress.
    

14. Handle dry run — If dry_run is true, show the compiled text and proposed bean fields for each card and stop. Do not create beans or move any cards.

Phase 4: Sequential Bean Creation (Non-Interactive)

15. Process each card — For each card in order:

    a. Announce — Log which card is being processed:

    --- Processing card 1/N: [Card Name] ---
    

    b. Re-read ai/beans/_index.md to get the current max bean ID. Another agent may have added beans since the last read.

    c. Assign the next sequential ID (max + 1).

    d. Create the bean directly — Build a well-formed bean from the card content. Do NOT invoke /backlog-refinement — create the bean inline to avoid interactive dialogue. Map card fields to bean fields:

    • Title: Use the card name. Generate a slug from it.
    • Problem Statement: Derive from the card description. If the description is empty, expand the card name into a problem statement (e.g., "Create a test that..." → "The project lacks an end-to-end test that...").
    • Goal: Infer the desired outcome from the description and any checklists.
    • Scope — In Scope: Extract from checklist items and description. If sparse, infer reasonable scope from the title.
    • Scope — Out of Scope: Use best judgment to set boundaries.
    • Acceptance Criteria: Convert checklist items to acceptance criteria. Always include the standard "All tests pass" and "Lint clean" criteria. Ensure at least 3 total criteria.
    • Priority: Default to High (sprint backlog items are prioritized). If the card has labels, use them as hints (red=High, yellow=Medium, green=Low).
    • Status: Approved (not Unapproved — these come from a curated sprint backlog and are pre-approved).
    • Category: Infer from content (App for code/test/UI changes, Process for workflow/agent changes, Infra for CI/CD/git changes).
    • Notes: Include "Source: Trello card '[Card Name]'" and a link to the card URL.

    e. Write the bean — Create ai/beans/BEAN-NNN-<slug>/bean.md and append to _index.md immediately.

    f. Move card to In_Progress — Call mcp__trello__move_card with the card ID and the In_Progress list ID. Log the move:

    Moved "[Card Name]" → In_Progress | Created BEAN-NNN
    

    g. Handle errors gracefully — If bean creation or card move fails:

    • Log the error
    • Skip the card, leave it in Sprint_Backlog
    • Continue to the next card (do not stop)

Phase 5: Summary

16. Present completion report — After all cards are processed (or processing is stopped early), show:

    Trello Load Complete:
    - Cards processed: N/M
    - Cards moved to In_Progress: N
    - Cards skipped: N
    - Total beans created: N
    
    Created beans:
    | Bean ID | Title | Source Card |
    |---------|-------|-------------|
    | BEAN-NNN | [title] | [card name] |
    ...
    

Outputs

| Output | Type | Description | |--------|------|-------------| | new_beans | Markdown files | Beans created directly from each card's content | | updated_index | Markdown file | _index.md updated with all new beans | | trello_moves | Trello API | Cards moved from Sprint_Backlog to In_Progress | | summary | Console text | Completion report with counts and bean-to-card mapping |

Quality Criteria

• Every card's full context (name, description, checklists, comments) is used to populate the bean — no data is silently dropped.
• List name matching is flexible and case-insensitive.
• Cards are only moved to In_Progress after bean creation succeeds.
• If bean creation fails for a card, it stays in Sprint_Backlog.
• Beans are created with Approved status (pre-approved from sprint backlog).
• No user interaction required — the entire flow runs autonomously.
• Clear progress logging (card N/M) throughout processing.
• The final summary accurately reflects what was created and moved.

Error Conditions

| Error | Cause | Resolution | |-------|-------|------------| | TrelloMCPDown | Trello MCP server not responding | Log error, stop | | NoBoards | No boards accessible via the API | Log error, stop | | ListNotFound | Sprint_Backlog or In_Progress list not found | Log available list names, stop | | EmptyBacklog | Sprint_Backlog has no cards | Log message, stop (not an error) | | CardFetchError | Failed to fetch details for a specific card | Log warning, skip card, continue | | BeanCreateError | Failed to create bean for a card | Log error, skip card, continue | | MoveError | Failed to move a card to In_Progress | Log warning, card stays in Sprint_Backlog, continue |

Dependencies

• Trello MCP server (configured and accessible)
• mcp__trello__list_boards, mcp__trello__get_lists, mcp__trello__get_cards_by_list_id
• mcp__trello__get_card, mcp__trello__get_card_comments, mcp__trello__get_checklist_items
• mcp__trello__move_card
• Backlog index at ai/beans/_index.md
• Bean template at ai/beans/_bean-template.md