Spool Tasks

Use the spool tasks CLI to track and update implementation tasks for a change.

Rules

• Prefer spool tasks ... over manual editing of tasks.md.
• Enhanced tasks.md supports start, shelve, unshelve, and add.
• Checkbox-only tasks.md is supported in compat mode (supports in-progress via [~] / spool tasks start, but no shelving); start/complete tasks by 1-based index.

Common Commands

spool tasks status <change-id>
spool tasks next <change-id>
spool tasks ready                               # Show ready tasks across ALL changes
spool tasks ready <change-id>                   # Show ready tasks for a specific change
spool tasks ready --json                        # JSON output for automation
spool tasks start <change-id> <task-id>
spool tasks complete <change-id> <task-id>
spool tasks complete <change-id> <index>
spool tasks shelve <change-id> <task-id>
spool tasks unshelve <change-id> <task-id>
spool tasks add <change-id> "<task name>" --wave <n>
spool tasks show <change-id>

If tasks.md is missing

• Create enhanced tracking file: spool tasks init <change-id>

If the user asks "what should I do next?"

• If working on a specific change: Run spool tasks next <change-id>
• If looking for any ready work: Run spool tasks ready to see all actionable tasks
• Follow the printed Action/Verify/Done When for the chosen task.

Guardrails

• If a task is blocked, run spool tasks status <change-id> and either resolve blockers or shelve the task (enhanced only).
• If spool tasks shelve fails because the file is checkbox-only, explain that checkbox compat mode does not support shelving.
• If spool tasks start fails in compat mode, it is usually because the task id is not a 1-based index, or another task is already in-progress.