Task Decomposer

Task Decomposer Skill

Activation Method

This skill activates when the hook system injects the codeword:

[ACTIVATE:TASK_DECOMPOSER_V1]

This occurs when:

• Coupling analysis is complete
• User requests task expansion
• High-complexity tasks detected (score > 7)

Worktree Isolation Requirements

CRITICAL: This skill MUST operate in a dedicated worktree phase-5-task-3 for task decomposition:

# Before skill activation:
./lib/worktree-manager.sh create 5 3
cd ./worktrees/phase-5-task-3

# Validate isolation:
./hooks/worktree-enforcer.sh enforce

# Task decomposition with strict isolation

Worktree-Based Decomposition

1. Isolated expansion: Each complex task expanded in isolated environment
2. Safe subtask generation: No interference with other decomposition work
3. Atomic commits: Each task expansion committed separately
4. Merge validation: Changes merged only after validation passes

Task Decomposer Skill

What This Skill Does

The Task Decomposer automates Phase 5 of the development pipeline in isolated worktree:

• Analyzes complexity of all tasks using scientific scoring (0-10 scale)
• Research-backed expansion for high-complexity tasks (≥7)
• Generates subtasks with complete acceptance criteria and test strategies
• Preserves checkpoints at key milestones within worktree
• Creates completion signal to trigger Phase 6
• NEW: Worktree isolation prevents decomposition conflicts
• NEW: Each task expansion gets dedicated workspace

When This Skill Activates

Primary Trigger: Pipeline Orchestrator completes Phase 2 and initiates Phase 5

Manual Activation:

• "Begin Phase 5"
• "Start task decomposition"
• "Analyze task complexity"
• "Decompose tasks with TaskMaster"

Prerequisites:

• ✅ .taskmaster/tasks.json exists (15-25 top-level tasks)
• ✅ Phase 2 checkpoint passed
• ✅ No subtasks present yet (subtasks: [] for all tasks)
• ✅ TaskMaster initialized and responding

Automated Execution Flow

This skill executes Phase 5 completely autonomously with 7 automated stages:

Stage 1: Verify Prerequisites ✅
         ↓
Stage 2: Analyze Complexity (task-master analyze-complexity --research)
         ↓
Stage 3: Expand High-Complexity Tasks (task-master expand --id=X --research)
         ↓
Stage 4: Validate Expansion Quality
         ↓
Stage 5: Generate Phase Summary
         ↓
Stage 6: Create Completion Signal (.signals/phase5-complete.json)
         ↓
Stage 7: Final Verification
         ↓
✅ PHASE 5 COMPLETE → Trigger Phase 6

Execution Commands

Full Automated Execution

IMPORTANT: Use the wrapper script to avoid Claude Code's 10-minute Bash timeout:

# When activated, skill runs all stages automatically:

# Stage 1: Prerequisites
echo "✅ Verifying prerequisites..."
[checks tasks.json, TaskMaster, no existing subtasks]

# Stage 2: Complexity Analysis (use wrapper to avoid timeout)
echo "🔍 Analyzing task complexity..."
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh analyze --research

# Stage 3: Expansion (use wrapper - expands tasks individually to avoid timeout)
echo "🔨 Expanding high-complexity tasks..."
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh expand-high --research

# Alternative: Expand ALL tasks (chunked, 5 min per task)
# ./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh expand-all --research

# Stage 4: Validation
echo "🔍 Validating expansion quality..."
[verify all subtasks have acceptance criteria]

# Stage 5: Summary
echo "📊 Generating phase summary..."
[create .taskmaster/phase1-summary.md]

# Stage 6: Signal
echo "📡 Creating completion signal..."
[create .taskmaster/.signals/phase5-complete.json]

# Stage 7: Verification
echo "🎯 Final verification..."
[verify all success criteria met]

echo "✅ PHASE 5 COMPLETE"

Parallel Subagent Execution

For faster task expansion, use parallel Claude Code subagents:

Step 1: Get Task IDs

# List all tasks needing expansion
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh get-task-ids

# Or get tasks in batches of 5
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh get-batches 5

Step 2: Launch Parallel Subagents

Use Claude Code's Task tool to launch multiple subagents simultaneously:

Launch 5 parallel subagents, each running:
  ./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh expand-single <task_id> --research

Task IDs to expand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Each subagent will:

1. Expand its assigned task independently
2. Report SUCCESS or FAILED status
3. Complete within 5-minute timeout per task

Step 3: Batch Expansion (Alternative)

For fewer subagents handling multiple tasks each:

# Subagent 1: Expand tasks 1, 2, 3
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh expand-batch 1 2 3 --research

# Subagent 2: Expand tasks 4, 5, 6
./.claude/lib/task-master-wrapper.sh expand-batch 4 5 6 --research

Performance Comparison

Time Estimates (Sequential)

Completion Signal Schema

{
  "phase": 5,
  "phase_name": "Task Decomposition",
  "status": "success",
  "completed_at": "2025-10-29T15:30:00Z",
  "duration_minutes": 12,
  "summary": {
    "tasks_analyzed": 18,
    "tasks_expanded": 6,
    "subtasks_generated": 28,
    "high_complexity_tasks": [3, 5, 9, 12, 15, 18]
  },
  "next_phase": 6,
  "trigger_next": true
}

Error Recovery

Automatic Recovery:

• Missing dependencies → Install & retry
• Transient API errors → Exponential backoff
• Invalid JSON → Restore from checkpoint

Human Escalation:

• TaskMaster not installed → Report installation needed
• Persistent API failures → Wait for manual intervention
• Corrupted tasks.json → Restore from Phase 2

Checkpoint System

Checkpoints saved automatically:

• After complexity analysis
• Every 2 task expansions
• After final expansion
• Before creating completion signal

Resume command: "Resume Phase 5 from checkpoint"

Success Criteria

✅ All tasks analyzed ✅ High-complexity tasks (≥7) expanded ✅ Subtasks have acceptance criteria ✅ Completion signal created ✅ Ready for Phase 6

CRITICAL: Automatic Phase Transition

DO NOT ASK THE USER FOR PERMISSION TO PROCEED TO PHASE 6.

When Phase 5 is complete (all tasks expanded), you MUST:

1. Output the completion signal:

   ✅ PHASE 5 COMPLETE
   [SIGNAL:PHASE5_COMPLETE]
   

2. IMMEDIATELY proceed to Phase 6 by outputting:

   [ACTIVATE:SPEC_GEN_V1]
   

3. Begin Phase 6 (Spec Generation) without waiting for user input.

The pipeline is designed to be fully autonomous after Phase 5 task approval. Do not ask "Would you like to proceed?" or offer choices - just proceed automatically.

Output Files

.taskmaster/
├── tasks.json (with subtasks)
├── phase5-complexity-report.txt
├── phase5-summary.md
├── .checkpoints/phase5-*.json
└── .signals/phase5-complete.json

See Also

• Pipeline Orchestrator skill (triggers this skill)
• Spec Generator skill (Phase 6, triggered by completion signal)
• DEVELOPMENT_WORKFLOW.md (complete workflow)