How do I install the Task Management skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add chenhg5/task-management in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Task Management skill do?

Create, assign, monitor, and close tasks across agents. Covers full task lifecycle — add, priority, dependencies, confirm-request, retry, cancel, bulk ops, and cross-agent search. It is listed under AI & ML on SkillMD.

Is Task Management safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Task Management?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Task Management free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Task Management?

chenhg5 (@chenhg5) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Task Management by chenhg5 — Agent Skill

Name: Task Management
Author: chenhg5

Skill: Task Management

Use this skill when your role involves planning, delegating, and tracking work across agents. The agency workspace is at $AGENCY_DIR.

Priority levels

Value	Label	When to use
0	critical	Blocking production / blocking other agents
1	high	Should be picked up in the current cycle
2	normal	Default — regular backlog work
3	low	Nice-to-have, do when free

Create a task for an agent

# Minimal
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task add \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --title "Short title" \
  --prompt "Detailed instructions for the agent..."

# With priority and type
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task add \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --title "Fix auth bug" \
  --prompt "Reproduce with: curl -X POST /login with empty password. Root cause is in auth/validator.go." \
  --priority 1 \
  --type bug

# With dependencies (task will not start until listed IDs are done)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task add \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --title "Deploy to staging" \
  --prompt "Run: make deploy-staging" \
  --depends-on <task-id-1> --depends-on <task-id-2>

# With scheduling / nesting metadata
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task add \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --title "Implement sub-feature" \
  --prompt "..." \
  --parent <parent-task-id> \
  --due-date 2026-07-15 \
  --estimate-duration 2h

Task metadata fields

Field	CLI flag	Notes
Due date	`--due-date YYYY-MM-DD`	Deadline
Estimate	`--estimate-duration 30m`	Go duration (`30m`, `2h`)
Parent	`--parent <task-id>`	Sub-task nesting
Labels	`--label` (repeatable)	Tags
Started / finished	(auto)	Set when status → `in_progress` / terminal

Task types

feature · bug · chore · review · deploy · research · wakeup · (custom string)

Inspect task queues

# All active tasks for one agent (sorted by priority)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent>

# Filter by status
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent> --status pending
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent> --status in_progress

# Include archived (completed / cancelled) tasks
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent> --archived

# Show full detail of a specific task (project + agent known)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task show <task-id> --project <project> --agent <agent>

# Find a task anywhere by ID (no project/agent needed)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task find --id <task-id>

Update task fields

# Only flags you pass are changed; project/agent auto-detected if omitted
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> --priority 1
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> --status in_progress
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> \
  --due-date 2026-07-15 --estimate-duration 2h --parent <parent-task-id>
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> --label bug --label urgent
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> --due-date ""   # clear due date
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task set <task-id> --format json   # print updated task

Updatable: title, description, status, priority, type, summary, label, parent, due-date, estimate-duration, assignee, prompt / prompt-file, position.

Status changes auto-maintain started_at / finished_at.

Monitor progress across agents

To get an overview of all agents and their queue depths:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR overview

To iterate agents and check queues programmatically:

# List all agents in a project
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR list agents --project <project>

# Then per agent
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent> --status pending
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task list --project <project> --agent <agent> --status in_progress

Task stats (throughput & efficiency)

# Today by executor queue (default: all agents, grouped)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today

# One agent's queue
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --project <project> --agent <agent>

# By assignee field
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --assignee <project>/<agent>
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since 7d --by assignee

# By label (evening summary: value / category buckets)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --by label:value
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --by label:category
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --label value:owner

# List each finished task
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --detail

# JSON export (includes elapsedHuman, estimateHuman, etc.)
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stats --since today --format json

Metrics: success/failed/cancelled counts, sum of actual elapsed time (started_at→finished_at), sum of estimate_duration, coverage (tasks with estimates), and actual/estimate ratio. JSON uses human-readable durations (elapsedHuman: 14m32s) instead of nanosecond integers.

# Success
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task done \
  --id <task-id> --status success --summary "What was accomplished"

# Failure
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task done \
  --id <task-id> --status failed --error "reason"

Request human confirmation (non-blocking)

When an agent needs a human decision before continuing, it calls:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task confirm-request \
  --id $TASK_ID \
  --summary "One-line description of what needs approval" \
  --action-item "Option A: reply 'approve'" \
  --action-item "Option B: reply 'reject <reason>'"

The task is archived. The human responds via:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR inbox list
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR inbox messages    # view messages
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR inbox reply <msg-id> --body "approve"
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR inbox reject  <task-id> --reason "out of scope"

The human's reply is sent as a message. The agent sees it on the next wakeup and continues via session memory.

Escalate or delegate a task

If a task is better suited for a different agent, cancel it and re-create for the target agent:

# 1. Cancel the original
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task cancel <task-id> --project <project> --agent <from-agent>

# 2. Create for the new agent with transferred context
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task add \
  --project <project> --agent <to-agent> \
  --title "<same title>" \
  --prompt "<original prompt + re-delegation note>"

To notify the new agent with async context before the task runs:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR inbox send \
  --from <project>/pm \
  --to   <project>/<to-agent> \
  --subject "Incoming task: <title>" \
  --body "Extra context: ..."

Retry a failed task

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task retry <task-id> \
  --project <project> --agent <agent>

Optionally update the prompt before retrying:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task retry <task-id> \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --prompt "Updated instructions based on failure: ..."

Cancel tasks

# Cancel a specific task
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task cancel <task-id> \
  --project <project> --agent <agent>

# Emergency halt — cancel all pending tasks for all agents in a project
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stop-all \
  --project <project> --all-agents

# Cancel pending + in-progress for a single agent
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task stop-all \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> --include-running

Recurring tasks with cron

Schedule a task to be automatically enqueued on a fixed schedule:

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR cron add \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> \
  --id weekly-review \
  --title "Weekly backlog review" \
  --schedule "0 9 * * 1" \
  --prompt "Review all open issues. Prioritise for the week. Update task queue accordingly."

agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR cron list    --project <project> --agent <agent>
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR cron disable weekly-review --project <project> --agent <agent>
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR cron enable  weekly-review --project <project> --agent <agent>

Cron syntax: minute hour day month weekday (standard 5-field)

Token usage and cost

# One agent
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task tokens --project <project> --agent <agent>

# All agents in a project
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task tokens --project <project> --all-agents

# Specific task
agencycli --dir $AGENCY_DIR task tokens \
  --project <project> --agent <agent> --task <task-id>

Task assignment decision guide

Situation	Action
Clear scope, right agent	`task add` directly
Scope unclear, need human input first	`inbox send --to human` to clarify, then `task add`
Depends on another task being done first	`task add --depends-on <id>`
Task failed once	`task retry` with updated prompt
Wrong agent received the task	Cancel + re-create for correct agent
Repeated recurring work	`cron add` with a schedule
Human must approve before agent proceeds	Agent calls `task confirm-request`
Need to change title/priority/due date/parent mid-flight	`task set <id> --<field> ...`
Review throughput / efficiency for a person or agent	`task stats --since today [--assignee A]`
Evening summary by value/category labels	`task stats --since today --by label:value` or `--by label:category`
Need to know which agent owns a task ID	`task find --id <id>`

Task Management

File contents

Skill: Task Management

Priority levels

Create a task for an agent

Task metadata fields

Task types

Inspect task queues

Update task fields

Monitor progress across agents

Task stats (throughput & efficiency)

Request human confirmation (non-blocking)

Escalate or delegate a task

Retry a failed task

Cancel tasks

Recurring tasks with cron

Token usage and cost

Task assignment decision guide

Frequently asked questions

Task Management

File contents

Skill: Task Management

Priority levels

Create a task for an agent

Task metadata fields

Task types

Inspect task queues

Update task fields

Monitor progress across agents

Task stats (throughput & efficiency)

Request human confirmation (non-blocking)

Escalate or delegate a task

Retry a failed task

Cancel tasks

Recurring tasks with cron

Token usage and cost

Task assignment decision guide

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Task Management skill?

What does the Task Management skill do?

Is Task Management safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Task Management?

Is Task Management free to use?

Who published Task Management?