tools-only Learning Task 3: Documenting What You Build
Skill: nav-task Time: 4-5 minutes Difficulty: Beginner
Why This Matters
Task documentation captures WHAT you build - implementation plans, technical decisions, and outcomes. This becomes your project's knowledge base. Future sessions can load relevant task docs instead of re-explaining everything.
The Task
Step 1: Create a Task Document
DO THIS NOW:
Type: "Create task doc for learning-feature"
Step 2: Observe What Happens
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN:
- Task ID generated (TASK-XX format)
- Template created in
.agent/tasks/ - Navigator index updated with reference
You should see:
✅ Task document created!
Task: TASK-XX-learning-feature
File: .agent/tasks/TASK-XX-learning-feature.md
Template includes:
- Problem Statement
- Implementation Plan
- Technical Decisions
- Success Criteria
Fill this in as you implement the feature.
Step 3: Review the Template
DO THIS:
Ask: "Show me the task document that was created"
The template has sections for:
- Context: Why this feature exists
- Implementation Plan: Steps to build it
- Technical Decisions: Architecture choices
- Files Modified: What changed
- Success Criteria: How to verify completion
Step 4: Understand the Workflow
Task docs have two phases:
- Planning: Create doc when starting feature
- Archiving: Update doc when feature complete
The archive captures what was ACTUALLY built vs what was planned.
Validation
This task is complete when:
- Task doc created with "Create task doc for learning-feature"
- File exists in
.agent/tasks/ - Template structure visible
Automatic check: File .agent/tasks/*learning-feature*.md exists.
Pro Tip
Task docs answer: "What did we build and why?"
When returning to a feature months later:
nav-startloads the index- Find relevant TASK-XX in index
- Load just that task doc (~3k tokens)
- Full context without re-explaining
This is much more efficient than:
- Searching through git history
- Re-reading all source files
- Asking "what was the original plan?"
What You Learned
- Task docs capture implementation knowledge
- Created at start (planning) and updated at end (archiving)
- Future sessions load task docs for context
When done, say "done" to continue to the next task.