Saml Todo Next

saml-todo-next Skill

Loops through ALL pending todo items until none remain. Each item goes through: plan → implement → commit → done.

Process

LOOP: Repeat steps 1–3 until no pending items remain. Each iteration processes one item in a fresh sub-agent context and creates one commit.

1. Find the next pending item

From .todo/todo.csv, find the first pending item sorted by:

1. severity: critical → high → medium → low
2. id (ascending numeric prefix)

import csv

SEVERITY_ORDER = {"critical": 0, "high": 1, "medium": 2, "low": 3}

with open(".todo/todo.csv", newline="") as f:
    pending = [r for r in csv.DictReader(f) if r["status"] == "pending"]
pending.sort(key=lambda r: (SEVERITY_ORDER.get(r["severity"], 9), r["id"]))
next_item = pending[0] if pending else None

If next_item is None → all items are done. Print summary and stop.

2. Read the detail file

Read the corresponding .todo/{id}.md file for full context:

cat .todo/{id}.md

3. Launch fresh sub-agent to process item

Launch a single general-purpose task sub-agent with a fresh context. This sub-agent is stateless — pass all context it needs in the prompt. The sub-agent will:

1. Mark the item as in_progress in .todo/todo.csv
2. Invoke saml-plan skill (automation mode — no interactive questions)
3. If plan passes: invoke saml-implement skill with the plan file path
4. If implement passes: git add . && git commit --file .git/GITGUI_MSG
5. Mark item as done in .todo/todo.csv
6. Return result (success/failure + plan file path + summary)

Sub-agent context

Pass the following in the sub-agent prompt:

Todo item details:

• ID: {next_item["id"]}
• Title: {next_item["title"]}
• Description: {next_item["description"]}
• Severity: {next_item["severity"]}

Detail file:

{contents of .todo/{id}.md}

Project context (to help the sub-agent navigate):

• AGENTS.md contents (list of available skills)
• Makefile if present in project root

Explicit instruction in prompt:

This is automation mode. You are processing a single todo item.

• Invoke saml-plan skill WITHOUT interactive questions (automation mode).
• Pass the todo details as context to saml-plan.
• After plan succeeds, invoke saml-implement with the exact plan file path.
• After implement succeeds, run: git add . && git commit --file .git/GITGUI_MSG
• Mark item done in .todo/todo.csv
• Report: STATUS: PASS|FAIL, plan file path, summary

Sub-agent expected output

The sub-agent must report back:

• STATUS: PASS or STATUS: FAIL
• Plan file path (e.g., .plan/2025-01-15-14-30-01-itemlistscreen.md)
• If FAIL: reason and which step failed (plan/implement/commit/mark-done)

Error handling for this step

• Sub-agent returns STATUS: FAIL: Stop the loop. Report the failure reason and which step failed. Leave item as in_progress in .todo/todo.csv.
• Sub-agent times out or crashes: Stop the loop. Leave item as in_progress in .todo/todo.csv. Report timeout/crash.

→ Loop: Go back to Step 1 to process next item (if sub-agent succeeded and reported PASS).

Error Handling

• Sub-agent returns STATUS: FAIL: Stop processing. Report the failure reason and which step failed. Leave item as in_progress in .todo/todo.csv.
• Sub-agent times out or crashes: Stop processing. Leave item as in_progress. Report timeout/crash to user.
• Normal completion after all items done: Print summary of completed items and commits.

On any error, output a summary of:

• Items completed (marked done)
• Items in progress that encountered errors
• Next steps for the user

Workflow reference

From saml-code-review — "Working Through Todos":

1. Pick the next pending item from .todo/todo.csv (start with critical).
2. saml-plan → creates .plan/YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-TICKET-ID.md
3. saml-implement → implements from the plan, reviews, fixes. Only if saml-plan was successful.
4. Mark done in .todo/todo.csv only if saml-implement was successful.
5. Execute git add . and git commit --file .git/GITGUI_MSG to create a commit, only if successful.
6. Repeat from step 1 until no pending items remain.

saml-todo-next handles all steps 1-6 automatically. User only invokes saml-todo-next once and it processes every pending item, one commit per item.