Speckit Tasks

Spec-Kit: Tasks

Decompose plan.md into an actionable, dependency-ordered tasks.md that an engineer (human or AI) can execute end-to-end. Invoked as /speckit-tasks.

Lifecycle position — step 4 of the chain: [[speckit-specify]] → [[speckit-clarify]] → [[speckit-plan]] → /speckit-tasks → [[speckit-analyze]] → implement.

Consumes the plan and design artifacts from [[speckit-plan]] and produces the task list that [[speckit-analyze]] cross-checks before implementation begins.

When to use

• A complete plan.md exists with a green Constitution Check.
• You need an executable breakdown organized for incremental, independently testable delivery.

What it produces

specs/<feature-id>/tasks.md, organized by user story and MVP-first, with task IDs, file paths, parallel markers, a dependency graph, and an implementation strategy.

Flow

1. Load design documents from the feature directory:
   • Required: plan.md (tech stack, structure), spec.md (user stories with P1/P2/P3 priorities).
   • Optional: data-model.md (entities), contracts/ (interfaces), research.md (decisions), quickstart.md (scenarios). Generate from whatever is available.
   • Load .specify/memory/constitution.md if present.
2. Map components to user stories. Each entity, service, and interface contract maps to the story it serves. Shared infrastructure goes to Setup or Foundational.
3. Build phases (see structure below) and a dependency graph showing story completion order.
4. Validate completeness — each user story has all the tasks it needs and is independently testable.

Task format (REQUIRED)

Every task strictly follows:

- [ ] [TaskID] [P?] [Story?] Description with file path

• Checkbox — always - [ ].
• Task ID — sequential T001, T002, … in execution order.
• [P] — include only if parallelizable: different files, no dependency on an incomplete task.
• [Story] — [US1], [US2], … required on user-story-phase tasks only (not Setup, Foundational, or Polish).
• Description — a clear action with an exact file path. Generic tasks like "implement the feature" are forbidden.

Correct: - [ ] T012 [P] [US1] Create User model in src/models/user.py Wrong: - [ ] Create User model (no ID, story, or path) · - [ ] T001 [US1] Create model (no file path).

Phase structure

• Phase 1 — Setup: project initialization. No story label.
• Phase 2 — Foundational: blocking prerequisites that must complete before any user story. No story label.
• Phase 3+ — User Stories in priority order (P1, then P2, then P3…). Each story is its own phase: within it, order as Models → Services → Endpoints → Integration (and Tests first only if explicitly requested / TDD). Each phase is a complete, independently testable increment with a checkpoint.
• Final Phase — Polish & Cross-Cutting Concerns. No story label.

Tests are optional — generate test tasks only when the spec or user requests TDD.

Quality criteria

• Tasks organized by user story; P1 (the MVP) deliverable on its own.
• Every task has a checkbox, sequential ID, correct labels, and an exact file path.
• [P] only on truly independent tasks; dependencies otherwise explicit in the dependency graph.
• Each story phase ends at a testable checkpoint.
• The list is immediately executable — each task is specific enough to complete without extra context.

Don'ts

• Don't invent tasks not derivable from plan.md.
• Don't omit file paths or task IDs, or skip the [Story] label on story-phase tasks.
• Don't mark dependent tasks [P] — that breaks parallel execution.
• Don't add test tasks unless tests were requested.
• Don't bury MVP scope — User Story 1 should stand alone as the first shippable slice.

Done when

• tasks.md generated with all phases, sequential IDs, correct labels, and file paths.
• Dependency graph and MVP scope (typically just User Story 1) identified.
• Reported back: total task count, per-story breakdown, parallel opportunities, and confirmation that every task follows the checklist format.

Going deeper

Previous: [[speckit-plan]]. Next: [[speckit-analyze]] cross-checks spec ↔ plan ↔ tasks for consistency before implementation. Full chain: [[speckit-specify]] · [[speckit-clarify]] · [[speckit-plan]] · [[speckit-analyze]].