Flow Next

Flow-Next Task Management

Quick task operations in .flow/. For planning features use /flow-next:plan, for executing use /flow-next:work.

Setup

CRITICAL: flowctl is BUNDLED — NOT installed globally. which flowctl will fail (expected). Always use:

FLOWCTL="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/flowctl"

Then run commands with $FLOWCTL <command>.

Discover all commands/options:

$FLOWCTL --help
$FLOWCTL <command> --help   # e.g., $FLOWCTL task --help

Quick Reference

# Check if .flow exists
$FLOWCTL detect --json

# Initialize (if needed)
$FLOWCTL init --json

# List everything (epics + tasks grouped)
$FLOWCTL list --json

# List all epics
$FLOWCTL epics --json

# List all tasks (or filter by epic/status)
$FLOWCTL tasks --json
$FLOWCTL tasks --epic fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL tasks --status todo --json

# View epic with all tasks
$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth              # Spec markdown

# View single task
$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth.2            # Task spec

# What's ready to work on?
$FLOWCTL ready --epic fn-1-add-oauth --json

# Create task under existing epic
$FLOWCTL task create --epic fn-1-add-oauth --title "Fix bug X" --json

# Set task description and acceptance (combined, fewer writes)
$FLOWCTL task set-spec fn-1-add-oauth.2 --description /tmp/desc.md --acceptance /tmp/accept.md --json

# Or use stdin with heredoc (no temp file):
$FLOWCTL task set-description fn-1-add-oauth.2 --file - --json <<'EOF'
Description here
EOF

# Start working on task
$FLOWCTL start fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json

# Mark task done
echo "What was done" > /tmp/summary.md
echo '{"commits":["abc123"],"tests":["npm test"],"prs":[]}' > /tmp/evidence.json
$FLOWCTL done fn-1-add-oauth.2 --summary-file /tmp/summary.md --evidence-json /tmp/evidence.json --json

# Validate structure
$FLOWCTL validate --epic fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL validate --all --json

Common Patterns

"Add a task for X"

1. Find relevant epic:

   # List all epics
   $FLOWCTL epics --json
   
   # Or show a specific epic to check its scope
   $FLOWCTL show fn-1 --json
   

2. Create task:

   $FLOWCTL task create --epic fn-N --title "Short title" --json
   

3. Add description + acceptance (combined):

   cat > /tmp/desc.md << 'EOF'
   **Bug/Feature:** Brief description
   
   **Details:**
   - Point 1
   - Point 2
   EOF
   cat > /tmp/accept.md << 'EOF'
   - [ ] Criterion 1
   - [ ] Criterion 2
   EOF
   $FLOWCTL task set-spec fn-N.M --description /tmp/desc.md --acceptance /tmp/accept.md --json
   

"What tasks are there?"

# All epics
$FLOWCTL epics --json

# All tasks
$FLOWCTL tasks --json

# Tasks for specific epic
$FLOWCTL tasks --epic fn-1-add-oauth --json

# Ready tasks for an epic
$FLOWCTL ready --epic fn-1-add-oauth --json

"Show me task X"

$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json   # Metadata
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth.2           # Full spec

(Legacy fn-1.2 / fn-1-xxx.2 still works.)

Create new epic (rare - usually via /flow-next:plan)

$FLOWCTL epic create --title "Epic title" --json
# Returns: {"success": true, "id": "fn-N-epic-title", ...}

ID Format

• Epic: fn-N-slug where slug is derived from title (e.g., fn-1-add-oauth, fn-2-fix-login-bug)
• Task: fn-N-slug.M (e.g., fn-1-add-oauth.1, fn-2-fix-login-bug.2)

Legacy formats fn-N and fn-N-xxx (random 3-char suffix) are still supported.

Notes

• Run $FLOWCTL --help to discover all commands and options
• All writes go through flowctl (don't edit JSON/MD files directly)
• --json flag gives machine-readable output
• For complex planning/execution, use /flow-next:plan and /flow-next:work