Kanban Batch Run

Kanban Batch Run

Execute several kanban tasks as one orchestrated batch using Rolling Wave Planning by default.

Default loop per task:

refine(N) → implement(N) → verify(N) → refine(N+1) → implement(N+1) → ...

This skill is an orchestrator, not a shortcut. Every implement step hands off to kanban-run. Every refine step hands off to kanban-refine.

Codex Invocation Rule

When running inside Codex, if a dedicated Skill tool is not available, invoke the inner runners by issuing slash command text directly:

• $kanban-run <ID> / $kanban-run <ID> --auto
• $kanban-refine <ID>

Treat these as the Codex-native equivalent of Skill(skill="kanban-run", ...) and Skill(skill="kanban-refine", ...). Do not re-implement either pipeline manually when this command path is available.

Commands

/kanban-batch-run <selector> [--auto] [--big-bang]

Run all tasks matching the selector in dependency order.

• Default (Rolling Wave): refine(N) → implement(N) → verify(N) → repeat. L2/L3 tasks pause at review checkpoints for user confirmation.
• --auto: auto-approve all review checkpoints inside kanban-run. Refine and Verify always run.
• --big-bang: skip rolling wave — implement tasks directly without pre-refine or verify steps. Use only when tasks are fully refined upfront and independent.

/kanban-batch-run resume <start-ID> [--auto]

Resume a previously stopped batch from the given task ID onward. Uses the same selector logic but skips all tasks before <start-ID>. Useful after fixing a blocker reported by a prior batch run.

Inputs

• Accept task selectors: 500-504, 500~504, 500,501,504, or whitespace-separated IDs.
• Reverse ranges like 504-500 are normalized to ascending order.
• Read ../kanban/shared.md before any DB access.
• Read ../kanban/principles.md — mandatory, not optional.
• Invoke kanban-run and kanban-refine for each task via the Skill tool when available.
• In Codex environments without the Skill tool, invoke via $kanban-run ... / $kanban-refine ... directly.
• Do not emulate or re-implement either pipeline.

Resources

• Use scripts/plan_batch.py to normalize selectors, fetch task metadata, and produce phase-ordered candidates.
• Read references/parallel-rules.md when deciding whether tasks are safe to run in parallel.

Metadata Hints

If task descriptions include any of these lines, use them as strong signals:

• Depends on: #500, #501
• Parallel-safe: yes
• Parallel-safe: no
• Touches: browse-data, header-nav

If these hints are absent, fall back to conservative inference from phase, tags, title, and description.

Workflow

0. Pre-flight checks

Before any execution:

# DB reachability check
test -f "$DB" || { echo "Error: DB not found at $DB. Run /kanban-init first."; exit 1; }
sqlite3 "$DB" "SELECT count(*) FROM tasks WHERE project='$PROJECT'" > /dev/null

• If DB not found: instruct the user to run /kanban-init and stop.
• If plan_batch.py fails, do not proceed — report the error and stop.

1. Resolve project

Resolve the current project from .codex/kanban.json or .claude/kanban.json.

2. Plan

Run:

python3 scripts/plan_batch.py --project "$PROJECT" --tasks "<selector>" --db "$DB"

3. Read plan

Read the returned task list and proposed groups.

4. Validate ordering

• Respect phase:N tags when present.
• If tasks were user-ordered but phase tags disagree, prefer phase order and say so.
• Non-todo tasks: Skip tasks not in todo with a warning line per skipped task (e.g. ⚠ #502 skipped — status is impl). Continue the batch with remaining tasks. If all tasks are skipped, stop and report.
• If resume <start-ID> was used, skip all tasks before that ID silently.

5. Decide execution mode

• Default: sequential.
• Allow parallel only if all of these are true:
  • same phase or no phase tag
  • no task description says it depends on another task in the batch
  • titles/tags/descriptions point to distinct modules or surfaces
  • failure in one task would not invalidate another task's work
• If any doubt remains, stay sequential.
• Prefer explicit Depends on: / Parallel-safe: metadata over heuristic guesses.

6. Execute — Rolling Wave Loop (default)

For each task N in order:

A. Refine(N)
   - Skill(skill="kanban-refine", args="<ID>")  [Codex: $kanban-refine <ID>]
   - kanban-refine auto-detects the prior card (N-1) via "Depends on:" tags or asks one question.
   - First task in the batch (no prior card): regular user interview.

B. Implement(N)
   - Invoke kanban-run (level-aware, see Inner Task Contract)

C. Verify(N)
   - Check actual implementation: git diff, created/modified files, test results
   - Append note to task: sqlite3 "$DB" json_insert on notes field → "Verified: [confirmed interface/schema]"
   - Note anything that will affect N+1's refinement scope

→ Move to N+1

Loop exceptions:

• Circuit breaker or blocker during Implement → stop, report resume point
• Unexpected design change during Verify → update downstream task descriptions; report to user

6b. Execute — Big Bang mode (--big-bang)

Invoke kanban-run directly per task. No refine or verify steps. Use only when all tasks were fully refined before the batch started.

Sequential group: invoke kanban-run for each task in order (see Inner Task Contract for level-aware invocation).

Parallel group:

• Invoke kanban-run for all tasks in the group concurrently.
• In environments with a Skill tool, this means multiple Skill tool calls in one message.
• In Codex environments, this means multiple $kanban-run ... invocations only if the runtime truly supports concurrent slash command execution; otherwise stay sequential.
• After the parallel group completes, run a git integrity check:

  git status --porcelain
  git diff --check  # detect conflict markers
  

• If conflict markers or merge issues are found, stop the batch and report which tasks conflicted.

After each task or group: refresh board state by reading the task's current status from SQLite before continuing.

7. Stop conditions

Stop the batch if any of these happen:

• Requirement ambiguity that needs the user.
• Repeated review/test failure (circuit breaker fired inside kanban-run).
• Conflicting code changes between parallel tasks (detected by git check in step 6).
• A task exits the normal path and needs a product decision.
• Parallel group partial failure: If one task in a parallel group fails, wait for all remaining tasks in that group to complete (do not kill in-progress tasks), then stop the batch. Report which tasks succeeded and which failed.

8. Early stop summary

When stopped early, summarize:

• Completed task IDs.
• Current blocker and which task caused it.
• Exact next task to resume from: Resume with: /kanban-batch-run resume <next-ID>.

9. Completion summary

When finished, summarize:

• Completed IDs in order.
• Whether any groups were parallelized.
• Resulting commits / verification if applicable.

Execution Notes

• Be conservative. This skill is for throughput, not bravado.
• Do not implement a task "freehand" and patch kanban state afterward as if kanban-run had happened. The batch runner must drive each task through kanban-run.
• Treat kanban-run as the inner engine and kanban-batch-run as the outer scheduler.
• For exploration-generated chains like 500-504, assume sequential unless the phase model proves otherwise.
• Do not invent hidden dependencies, but do not ignore obvious ones either.
• If a prior task creates data contracts, routes, or shared components used by later tasks, keep the chain sequential.
• Re-check the worktree between tasks. If one task changed files the next task also needs, that is expected in a sequential chain.
• Treat shared routes, shared server loaders, shared types, and shared top-level navigation as dependency hotspots.
• Only parallelize when the batch planner can explain the decision in one sentence.

Inner Task Contract

For every task selected in the batch, invoke kanban-run.

• Preferred path: Skill(skill="kanban-run", args="...")
• Codex fallback path: issue $kanban-run ... directly

The batch runner must inherit kanban-run's provider-aware model router, so Codex batch execution automatically uses the higher-tier Codex mappings from ../kanban/models.json.

Level-aware invocation

Codex direct-command equivalent:

In default mode, L2/L3 tasks pause for user confirmation at review checkpoints. The batch runner waits for the Skill call to complete (including any user interaction) before moving to the next task.

Result verification

After each Skill call completes, verify the outcome by checking the task's kanban status:

STATUS=$(sqlite3 "$DB" "SELECT status FROM tasks WHERE id=$ID AND project='$PROJECT'")

Rules

• Do not emulate or re-implement the kanban-run pipeline.
• Always invoke it via the Skill tool when available, or via $kanban-run ... in Codex when the Skill tool is unavailable.
• If a task blocks (circuit breaker, review failure, ambiguity), the status check will surface it — stop the batch and report the exact resume task.
• For parallel groups, issue multiple Skill tool calls in a single message so they run concurrently.

Output Style

• Start with the resolved plan:
  • ordered tasks
  • proposed grouping
  • whether execution will be sequential or mixed
  • one-line reason per group
  • skipped tasks (if any)
• Then execute.
• End with a short batch summary plus the next resume point if the batch stopped early.