# Kiss Taskify > Generates an actionable, dependency-ordered tasks.md for the feature based on available design artefacts. Use when breaking down a feature into implementation tasks, creating tasks.md from a plan or design doc, or before running kiss-implement. - Skill: `dauquangthanh/kiss-taskify` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dauquangthanh/kiss-taskify` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dauquangthanh/kiss-taskify/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: dauquangthanh (https://skillmd.com/u/dauquangthanh) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dauquangthanh/kiss-taskify --- ## User Input ```text $ARGUMENTS ``` You **MUST** consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty). ## Audience and tone (interactive mode) This skill is invoked from both **non-technical roles** (project-manager, scrum-master) and technical roles (tester, bug-fixer). When the audiences mix, target the **non-technical audience** — it's the more constrained one. When `KISS_AGENT_MODE=interactive` (the default), assume the user has **no technical or business-domain background**. Run this skill as a guided questionnaire: - **One question at a time.** No walls of questions. - **Yes / no first.** Phrase so `yes`, `no`, `not sure`, or `skip` is a valid answer. - **No jargon.** Translate domain terms into everyday words. Don't ask "give me the dependency-ordered task graph" — ask "want me to break this work into a list of small steps in the right order?". - **Choices, not blank fields.** When yes/no isn't enough, offer 2-4 lettered options (A/B/C/D) with one-line everyday descriptions. Always include "Not sure — pick a sensible default". - **Always recommend.** State the option you would pick and why in one sentence so the user can reply "yes" / "ok" to accept. - **`not sure` / `skip` triggers a sensible default**, marked "(default applied — confirm later)" in `tasks.md`, and a debt entry in the parent agent's debt file. When `KISS_AGENT_MODE=auto` (or `--auto`), skip the questionnaire entirely: produce the dependency-ordered task list directly and log decisions to the parent agent's decision log. ## Pre-Execution Checks **Check for extension hooks (before taskify generation)**: - Check if `.kiss/extensions.yml` exists in the project root. - If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.before_taskify` key - If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally - Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default. - For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions: - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation - When constructing slash commands from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `kiss.git.commit` → `/kiss-git-commit`. - For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag: - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`): ```text ## Extension Hooks **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension} Command: `/{command}` Description: {description} Prompt: {prompt} To execute: `/{command}` ``` - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`): ```text ## Extension Hooks **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension} Executing: `/{command}` EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command} Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline. ``` - If no hooks are registered or `.kiss/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently ## Outline 1. **Setup**: Run `scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh --json` from repo root and parse FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS list. All paths must be absolute. For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot"). 2. **Load design documents**: Read from FEATURE_DIR: - **Required**: plan.md (tech stack, libraries, structure), spec.md (user stories with priorities) - **Optional**: data-model.md (entities), contracts/ (interface contracts), research.md (decisions), quickstart.md (test scenarios) - Note: Not all projects have all documents. Generate tasks based on what's available. 3. **Execute task generation workflow**: - Load plan.md and extract tech stack, libraries, project structure - Load spec.md and extract user stories with their priorities (P1, P2, P3, etc.) - If data-model.md exists: Extract entities and map to user stories - If contracts/ exists: Map interface contracts to user stories - If research.md exists: Extract decisions for setup tasks - Generate tasks organized by user story (see Task Generation Rules below) - Generate dependency graph showing user story completion order - Create parallel execution examples per user story - Validate task completeness (each user story has all needed tasks, independently testable) 4. **Generate tasks.md**: Use `templates/task-template.md` as structure, fill with: - Correct feature name from plan.md - Phase 1: Setup tasks (project initialization) - Phase 2: Foundational tasks (blocking prerequisites for all user stories) - Phase 3+: One phase per user story (in priority order from spec.md) - Each phase includes: story goal, independent test criteria, tests (if requested), implementation tasks - Final Phase: Polish & cross-cutting concerns - All tasks must follow the strict checklist format (see Task Generation Rules below) - Clear file paths for each task - Dependencies section showing story completion order - Parallel execution examples per story - Implementation strategy section (MVP first, incremental delivery) 5. **Report**: Output path to generated tasks.md and summary: - Total task count - Task count per user story - Parallel opportunities identified - Independent test criteria for each story - Suggested MVP scope (typically just User Story 1) - Format validation: Confirm ALL tasks follow the checklist format (checkbox, ID, labels, file paths) 6. **Check for extension hooks**: After tasks.md is generated, check if `.kiss/extensions.yml` exists in the project root. - If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.after_taskify` key - If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally - Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default. - For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions: - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation - When constructing slash commands from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `kiss.git.commit` → `/kiss-git-commit`. - For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag: - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`): ```text ## Extension Hooks **Optional Hook**: {extension} Command: `/{command}` Description: {description} Prompt: {prompt} To execute: `/{command}` ``` - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`): ```text ## Extension Hooks **Automatic Hook**: {extension} Executing: `/{command}` EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command} ``` - If no hooks are registered or `.kiss/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently Context for task generation: $ARGUMENTS The tasks.md should be immediately executable - each task must be specific enough that an LLM can complete it without additional context. ## Task Generation Rules **CRITICAL**: Tasks MUST be organized by user story to enable independent implementation and testing. **Tests are OPTIONAL**: Only generate test tasks if explicitly requested in the feature specification or if user requests TDD approach. ### Checklist Format (REQUIRED) Every task MUST strictly follow this format: ```text - [ ] [TaskID] [P?] [Story?] Description with file path ``` **Format Components**: 1. **Checkbox**: ALWAYS start with `- [ ]` (markdown checkbox) 2. **Task ID**: Sequential number (T001, T002, T003...) in execution order 3. **[P] marker**: Include ONLY if task is parallelizable (different files, no dependencies on incomplete tasks) 4. **[Story] label**: REQUIRED for user story phase tasks only - Format: [US1], [US2], [US3], etc. (maps to user stories from spec.md) - Setup phase: NO story label - Foundational phase: NO story label - User Story phases: MUST have story label - Polish phase: NO story label 5. **Description**: Clear action with exact file path **Examples**: - ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T001 Create project structure per implementation plan` - ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T005 [P] Implement authentication middleware in src/middleware/auth.py` - ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T012 [P] [US1] Create User model in src/models/user.py` - ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T014 [US1] Implement UserService in src/services/user_service.py` - ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] Create User model` (missing ID and Story label) - ❌ WRONG: `T001 [US1] Create model` (missing checkbox) - ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] [US1] Create User model` (missing Task ID) - ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] T001 [US1] Create model` (missing file path) ### Task Organization 1. **From User Stories (spec.md)** - PRIMARY ORGANIZATION: - Each user story (P1, P2, P3...) gets its own phase - Map all related components to their story: - Models needed for that story - Services needed for that story - Interfaces/UI needed for that story - If tests requested: Tests specific to that story - Mark story dependencies (most stories should be independent) 2. **From Contracts**: - Map each interface contract → to the user story it serves - If tests requested: Each interface contract → contract test task [P] before implementation in that story's phase 3. **From Data Model**: - Map each entity to the user story(ies) that need it - If entity serves multiple stories: Put in earliest story or Setup phase - Relationships → service layer tasks in appropriate story phase 4. **From Setup/Infrastructure**: - Shared infrastructure → Setup phase (Phase 1) - Foundational/blocking tasks → Foundational phase (Phase 2) - Story-specific setup → within that story's phase ### Phase Structure - **Phase 1**: Setup (project initialization) - **Phase 2**: Foundational (blocking prerequisites - MUST complete before user stories) - **Phase 3+**: User Stories in priority order (P1, P2, P3...) - Within each story: Tests (if requested) → Models → Services → Endpoints → Integration - Each phase should be a complete, independently testable increment - **Final Phase**: Polish & Cross-Cutting Concerns ## Inputs - **Feature Specification** (`{context.current.spec}`): current.spec. - If set: Read the specification file. - If null: Search {context.paths.specs} for the most recent spec.md. - If not provided: Ask the user to run /kiss-specify first. - **Implementation Plan** (`{context.current.plan}`): current.plan. - If set: Read the plan file. - If null: Search {context.paths.plans} for the most recent plan.md. - If not provided: Proceed with available artifacts; plan is recommended but not required. ## Outputs - **Tasks List** (`{context.paths.tasks}/{context.current.feature}/tasks.md`): paths.tasks}/current.feature}/tasks.md. - Behavior: Write the task list file. If it exists and confirm_before_write is true, ask the user. - Overwrite guarded by `{context.preferences.confirm_before_write}`. ## Context Update After this skill completes successfully, update `.kiss/context.yml`: - Set current.tasks to the path of the created tasks file - Leave all other current.* fields unchanged - Do not modify paths.*or preferences.* ## Handoffs - **Analyze For Consistency**: run `/kiss-verify-tasks` to continue the workflow. - **Implement Project**: run `/kiss-implement` to continue the workflow.