Task Think

Task Pipeline

Run a full implementation workflow with repository artifacts and clear phase boundaries.

Inputs

Collect:

• task description
• optional project name (if missing, derive a short kebab-case name)
• optional constraints (files, architecture, risk tolerance)
• optional screenshot paths

If screenshots are attached in UI but not present as files, write a brief textual summary into the task artifacts before spawning fresh subagents so later phases can read the requirements without inheriting the whole parent thread.

Overview

The workflow is organized around projects. Each project lives in .ai/<project-name>/ and can contain multiple sequential tasks (labeled a, b, c, ... z).

Project structure:

.ai/<project-name>/
  about.md              # Single source of truth for the entire project
  a/                    # First task
    context.md          # Gathered codebase context for this task
    plan.md             # Implementation plan
    review1.md          # Code review documents (up to 3 iterations)
    review2.md
    review3.md
    logs/
      phase-*.prompt.md
      phase-*.progress.md
      phase-*.result.md
  b/                    # Follow-up task
    context.md
    plan.md
    review1.md
    logs/
      ...
  c/                    # Another follow-up task
    ...

• about.md is the project-level blueprint: a single comprehensive document describing what this project does and how it works, written as if everything is already fully implemented. It contains no temporal state ("current state", "pending changes", "not yet implemented"). It is rewritten, not appended to, each time a new task starts, incorporating the new task's changes as if they were always part of the design.
• Each task folder (a/, b/, ...) contains self-contained files for that task. The task's context.md carries all task-specific information: what specifically needs to change, the delta from the current codebase, gathered file references, and code patterns. Planning, implementation, and review phases should rely on the current task folder.

Artifacts

Create and maintain:

• .ai/<project-name>/about.md
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/context.md
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/plan.md
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/review<R>.md (up to 3 review iterations)
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/logs/phase-<name>.prompt.md
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/logs/phase-<name>.progress.md for delegated phases
• .ai/<project-name>/<letter>/logs/phase-<name>.result.md

Each phase-<name>.result.md should capture a concise outcome summary: whether the phase completed, which files it touched, and any follow-up notes or blockers. Each delegated phase-<name>.progress.md should act as a heartbeat: a tiny monotonic counter plus current step, files being read or edited, concrete findings so far, and the next checkpoint. It is not a final artifact; it exists so the parent can distinguish active research from a truly stuck subagent without rereading large context.

Phases

Run these phases sequentially:

1. Phase 0: Setup - Record start time, detect follow-up vs new project, create directories.
2. Phase 1: Context Gathering - Read codebase, write about.md and context.md. Use Phase 1F for follow-up tasks.
3. Phase 2: Planning - Read context, write detailed plan.md with numbered steps grouped into phases.
4. Phase 3: Plan Assessment - Review and refine the plan for correctness, completeness, code quality, and phase sizing.
5. Phase 4: Implementation - Execute one implementation unit per plan phase.
6. Phase 5: Build Verification - Build the project, fix any build errors. Skip if no source code was modified.
7. Phase 6: Code Review Loop - Run review and fix iterations until approved or the iteration limit is reached.
8. Phase 7: Windows Text Normalization - On Windows only, after review passes and before the final summary, normalize LF to CRLF for the text source/config files Codex edited in this task and ensure rewritten UTF-8 project files are saved without BOM.

Use the phase prompt templates in PROMPTS.md.

Execution Mode

Use Codex subagents as the primary orchestration mechanism.

• When delegation is available, Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, each Phase 4 implementation unit, and each Phase 6 review or review-fix pass must run in fresh subagents. Do not rerun those phases in the main session midstream just because a wait timed out or an artifact is missing.
• Run Phase 7 in the main session on Windows because it depends on the final local file state and the exact touched-file set for the current task.
• When any same-session helper rewrites Windows project text files, preserve CRLF and write UTF-8 without BOM. Avoid writer APIs or defaults that silently inject a UTF-8 BOM.
• The main session may read context.md once after Phase 1 and plan.md once after Phase 3. After that, prefer narrow shell checks, file existence checks, and status-line reads instead of rereading full documents or diffs.
• Prefer worker for phases that write files. Use explorer only for narrow read-only questions that unblock your next local step.
• Keep fork_context off by default. Pass the phase prompt and explicit file paths instead of the whole thread unless the phase truly needs prior conversational context or thread-only attachments.
• When the platform supports it, request model: gpt-5.4 and reasoning_effort: xhigh for spawned phase agents. If overrides are unavailable, inherit the current session settings.
• Write the exact phase prompt to the matching logs/phase-<name>.prompt.md file before you delegate. Use the same prompt file as a checklist if you later need to fall back to same-session execution.
• For delegated phases, require an early logs/phase-<name>.progress.md heartbeat before deep work. The subagent should create or update it early, keep it tiny, and refresh it sparingly: preferably at natural milestones, and otherwise only after a longer quiet stretch such as roughly 5-10 minutes.
• In every delegated prompt, require a compact final reply with only status, artifact paths, touched files, and blocker or none. Detailed reasoning belongs in .ai/ artifacts, not in the chat reply.
• After a subagent finishes, verify that the expected artifacts or code changes exist, then write a short result log in logs/phase-<name>.result.md.
• For delegated phases, use wait_agent with a 5-minute timeout by default while a phase is still clearly in progress. Successful completion may wake earlier, so this does not add latency to finished phases.
• When a phase looks close to completion — for example the final artifact has appeared, a build is in its final pass, or the agent said it is wrapping up — switch to 1-2 minute waits until it lands.
• A timeout is not a failure; it only means no final status arrived yet. Do not treat short waits as stall detection for research-heavy phases.
• On timeout, inspect the expected artifact, the phase progress file mtime, and the worktree for movement. Prefer mtime checks first; only reread the progress file when you need detail.
• If the progress file mtime moved or its heartbeat counter increased since the previous check, treat that as active progress and wait again.
• If no usable final artifact exists yet but the progress file is appearing or advancing, keep the same subagent alive. Progress-file movement does not count toward the retry limit.
• If no usable final artifact exists yet and neither the expected artifact nor the progress file has moved since the previous blocked check, send one short follow-up asking the same subagent to refresh the progress file, finish the artifact, and return the compact status block, then wait again.
• Only if the same subagent still shows no meaningful movement in either the expected artifact or the progress file after two full default waits and one follow-up should you close it and rerun that phase in a fresh subagent.
• Use wait_agent only when the next step is blocked on the result. While the delegated phase runs, do small non-overlapping local tasks such as validating directory structure or preparing the next prompt file.
• Build verification is critical-path work. Prefer running the build in the main session, and only delegate a bounded build-fix phase when there is a concrete reason.
• If subagents are unavailable in the current environment, or current policy does not allow delegation from the start, run the phase in the main session using the same prompt files. Otherwise, do not switch a pre-build phase to same-session midstream. Never fall back to shell-spawned codex exec child processes from this skill.

Verification Rules

• If build or test commands fail due to file locks or access-denied outputs (C1041, LNK1104), stop and ask the user to close locking processes before retrying.
• Treat a delegated phase as complete only when the required artifact or status update exists on disk and matches the phase goals; do not rely on the chat reply alone.
• Never claim completion without:
  • implemented code changes present
  • build attempt results recorded
  • review pass documented with any follow-up fixes
  • on Windows, if the task edited project source/config text files, a CRLF / no-BOM normalization pass recorded after review

Completion Criteria

Mark complete only when:

• All plan phases are done
• Build verification is recorded
• Review issues are addressed or explicitly deferred with rationale
• On Windows, Codex-edited project source/config text files have been normalized to CRLF, any UTF-8 rewrites were saved without BOM, and the result is logged
• Display total elapsed time since start (format: Xh Ym Zs, omitting zero components)
• Remind the user of the project name so they can request follow-up tasks within the same project

Error Handling

• If any phase fails, times out, or gets stuck, follow the retry ladder from Execution Mode. Do not close an agent solely because the final artifact is missing while its progress file is still moving. After two delegated attempts remain blocked with no meaningful progress, report the issue to the user. Do not absorb the phase into the main session before build unless delegation was unavailable from the start.
• If context.md or plan.md is not written properly by a phase, rerun that phase in a fresh subagent with more specific instructions. Do not repair it locally before build unless delegation was unavailable from the start.
• If build errors persist after the build phase's attempts, report the remaining errors to the user.
• If a review-fix phase introduces new build errors that it cannot resolve, report to the user.
• If Phase 7 cannot safely normalize a touched file on Windows or remove an introduced UTF-8 BOM from a touched project text file, record the failure in the result log and report it in the final summary instead of silently skipping it.

User Invocation

Use plain language with the skill name in the request, for example:

Use local task-think skill with subagents: make sure FileLoadTask::process does not create or read QPixmap on background threads; use QImage with ARGB32_Premultiplied instead.

For follow-up tasks on an existing project:

Use local task-think skill with subagents: my-project also handle the case where the file is already cached

If screenshots are relevant, include file paths in the same prompt when possible.