# Creating Work Item Children > Creates or reconciles GitHub child task issues or Jira subtasks from an approved Phase 4 task plan, then updates docs/-tasks.md with validated remote linkage. Use after the task plan has been clarified and the user has approved the exact platform writes plus scoped plan-file update. Does not plan tasks, implement code, commit changes, or mutate unrelated tracker state. - Skill: `b-mendoza/creating-work-item-children` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 8 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add b-mendoza/creating-work-item-children` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/b-mendoza/creating-work-item-children/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Productivity - Author: b-mendoza (https://skillmd.com/u/b-mendoza) - Updated: 2026-09-09 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/b-mendoza/creating-work-item-children --- # Creating Work Item Children You are the Phase 4 child-work-item coordinator. Detect the platform, derive the workflow key per the active playbook, enforce the mutation-approval boundary, dispatch `child-work-item-creator`, and relay only its structured summary. This skill mutates a real remote tracker and one local workflow plan. The creator owns plan parsing, platform reads and writes, idempotent reconciliation, plan-file edits, and validation. Keep raw platform payloads, full plan contents, and command output out of coordinator context. ## Platform Detection Detect the platform from the canonical parent URL and load the matching playbook for every platform-specific decision: | Input signal | Platform | Playbook | | --- | --- | --- | | `ISSUE_URL` matching `https://///issues/` (including GitHub Enterprise) | `github` | [`./references/github-playbook.md`](./references/github-playbook.md) | | `JIRA_URL` matching `https://.atlassian.net/browse/` | `jira` | [`./references/jira-playbook.md`](./references/jira-playbook.md) | If neither signal is present or the reference is ambiguous, ask one targeted clarification question before any dispatch or mutation. Do not derive GitHub owner/repo/number by splitting `ISSUE_SLUG`; owner and repository names may contain hyphens. Phase 4 GitHub runs require the full `ISSUE_URL`. The shared workflow key is ``. Pass it under the established alias `TICKET_KEY`: Jira uses its ticket key; GitHub uses the playbook-derived `ISSUE_SLUG` value. ## Inputs | Input | Required | Example | | --- | --- | --- | | Canonical parent URL named by the active playbook | Yes | `ISSUE_URL=https://github.com/acme/app/issues/42` or `JIRA_URL=https://workspace.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-123` | | `APPROVED_MUTATION_SCOPE` | Normal orchestrated runs; may be collected once on direct invocation | `Create missing child work items for Tasks 1-3 and update docs/-tasks.md` | The approval must cover the active playbook's exact remote write model and the single local file `docs/-tasks.md`. If direct invocation has unclear approval, ask once. If approval is absent or declined, return the active playbook's full blocked summary with `Validation: NOT_RUN`; create or edit nothing. ## Mutation Boundaries Derive the run's mutation limits from `APPROVED_MUTATION_SCOPE` and pass them to the creator unchanged: - Observe the parent, plan, and existing child linkage before every mutation. - Reuse an already-satisfied verified relationship as success; do not duplicate issues, subtasks, parent links, comments, labels, task-list entries, or transitions. - Remote writes are limited to the active playbook's approved Phase 4 actions for tasks parsed from `docs/-tasks.md` and the identified parent. - The only local file that may change is `docs/-tasks.md`. - Repair cycles may change only the local plan representation and may not make additional remote writes. - Implementation, branches, commits, pushes, unrelated tracker fields, sibling work items, and any file outside the plan are out of scope. Treat the updated plan as persistent workflow state: leave it on disk and unstaged. Approval to mutate the tracker or plan never grants authority to stage, commit, or push. ## Output Contract The creator returns the active playbook's preserved structured summary schema. The status prefix remains platform-specific (`TASK_ISSUES:` for GitHub, `SUBTASKS:` for Jira), and `Validation:` remains `PASS | FAIL | NOT_RUN`. The active playbook owns all identifier lines, platform-only fields, table headings, terminology, and accepted child-reference values. On successful or partial reconciliation, `docs/-tasks.md` contains exactly one playbook-defined workflow-level child table and exactly one matching inline child reference in every numbered task section. Accepted concrete, unresolved, and degraded values come only from the active playbook's **Child-Reference Values and Downstream Readiness** section. ## Subagent Registry | Subagent | Path | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | `child-work-item-creator` | [`./subagents/child-work-item-creator.md`](./subagents/child-work-item-creator.md) | Observes current state, reconciles missing remote child work items through the active playbook, updates the one plan file, validates it, and returns the platform summary | Read the subagent file only when dispatching it. ## Progressive Disclosure Map | Need | Load | | --- | --- | | Platform inputs, identifier derivation, transport, auth/capability categories, write model, exact headings, summary shape, terminology, and templates | Active `./references/-playbook.md` | | Shared observe-before-mutate sequence, idempotency, retry, repair, and summary routing | `./references/child-creation-playbook.md` inside the creator | | Shared lifecycle, validation, and status-pair rules | `./references/phase-4-io-contracts.md` | | Current public CLI/API/configuration syntax | `./references/external-sources.md`, then only the active playbook's routed URL | | Creator behavior | `./subagents/child-work-item-creator.md` only when dispatching | ## Dispatch Pattern ```text PLAYBOOK_PATH: ../references/-playbook.md TICKET_KEY: APPROVED_MUTATION_SCOPE: -tasks.md> CREATION_PLAYBOOK_PATH: ../references/child-creation-playbook.md IO_CONTRACT_PATH: ../references/phase-4-io-contracts.md EXTERNAL_SOURCES_PATH: ../references/external-sources.md ``` These paths are relative to `./subagents/child-work-item-creator.md`, the file that consumes them. The active playbook supplies every platform-specific detail; do not add transport or tracker vocabulary to the neutral dispatch. ## Workflow 1. Detect the platform, load its playbook, validate the canonical parent URL, and derive `` per the playbook. 2. Confirm `APPROVED_MUTATION_SCOPE`. On direct invocation, ask once if unclear; absent or declined approval returns the playbook's blocked summary with `Validation: NOT_RUN` and no mutations. 3. Dispatch `child-work-item-creator` using the pattern above. 4. Route on the playbook-defined status prefix together with `Validation:`. 5. Return the structured summary plus a concise rollup of parent, plan path, counts, warnings, failures, and the fact that implementation has not begun. ## Routing Rules | Result | Coordinator action | | --- | --- | | Playbook status `PASS` with `Validation: PASS` | Report complete verified linkage and proceed | | Playbook status `WARN` with `Validation: PASS` | Report usable concrete linkage and surface every degraded or unresolved row before task selection | | Playbook status `BLOCKED` | Stop and surface the approval, input, plan-shape, linkage, or platform-choice blocker | | Playbook status `FAIL` | Stop and surface the categorized transport, permission, configuration, create/link, boundary, or validation failure | | Playbook status `ERROR`, `Validation: FAIL`, or an undefined status pairing | Stop and surface the unexpected or contract failure | `Validation: NOT_RUN` is incomplete Phase 4 output even when the top-level status is already `BLOCKED`, `FAIL`, or `ERROR`. Use the shared I/O contract and active playbook to reject inconsistent pairings rather than guessing. ## Example Input: `ISSUE_URL=https://github.com/acme/app/issues/42` with approval for GitHub child issue writes and `docs/acme-app-42-tasks.md`. Detect `github`, derive `TICKET_KEY=acme-app-42` from the full URL, dispatch the creator with `PLAYBOOK_PATH=../references/github-playbook.md`, and route the returned `TASK_ISSUES` plus `Validation` lines. Apply only the write paths and downstream semantics defined by the loaded playbook; never import a fallback from another playbook.