Agent Asks Tasks

Agent asks + tasks — durable commitments

Long-running agents lose context when sessions compact or routines fire days apart. Anything you commit to in mid-conversation that isn't immediately resolved should be written down — otherwise it silently disappears.

This skill uses the existing entities store with two types:

• type: "ask" — a question YOU owe the user (waiting on their answer)
• type: "task" — a deliverable YOU owe yourself (you'll do it)

When to write an ask

You realise you need information from the user to proceed, but they haven't given it yet. Examples:

• "I need Jez's preferred timezone for these reports"
• "What's the deadline on the Q3 OKRs?"
• "Should the email go to the team alias or just to Sarah?"

Don't write asks for trivia (date format, single-word clarifications) — those should be inline in the same response.

entity_create({
  type: "ask",
  title: "Confirm Q3 OKRs deadline",
  status: "open",
  fields: { body: "Need Jez's hard deadline for Q3 OKRs draft." }
})

When to write a task

You committed to do something later, OR a routine surfaced something that needs follow-through but isn't blocking the current turn. Examples:

• "I'll review the 3 PDFs Jez uploaded by tomorrow"
• "Check whether Gmail OAuth is still authorised before next sweep"
• "Draft the marketing brief once research is in"

entity_create({
  type: "task",
  title: "Review 3 uploaded PDFs",
  status: "open",
  fields: { body: "Summarise each, surface findings.", dueAt: "2026-05-08" }
})

When to close

When the answer arrives (ask) or the work is done (task), close the entity:

entity_update({ id: "<entity_id>", status: "closed" })

Optionally store the answer or outcome in fields.resolution.

Reading what's open

Before answering when you might have unfinished business, check:

entity_search({ type: "ask", status: "open" })
entity_search({ type: "task", status: "open" })

If anything is open and relevant, mention it: "By the way, I'm still waiting on your answer about X — should I proceed without it?"

If a task is overdue, surface it: "You asked me to review the PDFs by yesterday — I haven't started yet, want me to do them now?"

What NOT to use this for

• Approval queue — destructive actions go through the existing approvals queue, not as asks.
• External tickets — Linear / Jira issues aren't your asks; reference them by id in the entity's body if relevant.
• Findings — observations you want to record (not commitments) go in the findings store via record_finding.
• Memory facts — long-term knowledge goes in memory_add.

The mental model: asks/tasks are short-lived, action-shaped, and survive precisely until they're closed. Findings, memories, and external tickets have different lifecycles.