Speckit Tasks

---
name: speckit-tasks
description: Generate an actionable, dependency-ordered tasks.md for the feature based
  on available design artifacts.
argument-hint: "Optional task generation constraints"
compatibility: Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory
metadata:
  author: github-spec-kit
  source: preset:companion-standard
user-invocable: true
disable-model-invocation: false
---

# Speckit Tasks Skill

## User Input

```text
$ARGUMENTS
```

You **MUST** consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

## Pre-Execution Checks

**Check for extension hooks (before tasks generation)**:
- Check if `.specify/extensions.yml` exists in the project root.
- If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.before_tasks` key
- If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
- Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default.
- For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions:
  - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
  - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
- When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `speckit.git.commit` → `/speckit-git-commit`.
- For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag:
  - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`):
    ```
    ## Extension Hooks

    **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Command: `/{command}`
    Description: {description}

    Prompt: {prompt}
    To execute: `/{command}`
    ```
  - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`):
    ```
    ## Extension Hooks

    **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Executing: `/{command}`
    EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
    
    Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline.
    ```
- If no hooks are registered or `.specify/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently

## Outline

1. **Setup**: Run `.specify/scripts/bash/setup-tasks.sh --json` from repo root and parse FEATURE_DIR, TASKS_TEMPLATE, and AVAILABLE_DOCS list. `FEATURE_DIR` and `TASKS_TEMPLATE` must be absolute paths when provided. `AVAILABLE_DOCS` is a list of document names/relative paths available under `FEATURE_DIR` (for example `research.md` or `contracts/`). For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'\''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

2. **Load design documents**: Read from FEATURE_DIR:
   - **Required**: plan.md (tech stack, libraries, structure), spec.md (user stories with priorities)
   - **Optional**: data-model.md (entities), contracts/ (interface contracts), research.md (decisions), quickstart.md (test scenarios)
   - Note: Not all projects have all documents. Generate tasks based on what's available.

3. **Execute task generation workflow**:
   - Load plan.md and extract tech stack, libraries, project structure
   - Load spec.md and extract user stories with their priorities (P1, P2, P3, etc.)
   - If data-model.md exists: Extract entities and map to user stories
   - If contracts/ exists: Map interface contracts to user stories
   - If research.md exists: Extract decisions for setup tasks
   - Generate tasks organized by user story (see Task Generation Rules below)
   - Generate dependency graph showing user story completion order
   - Create parallel execution examples per user story
   - Validate task completeness (each user story has all needed tasks, independently testable)

4. **Generate tasks.md**: Read the tasks template from TASKS_TEMPLATE (from the JSON output above) and use it as structure. If TASKS_TEMPLATE is empty, fall back to `.specify/templates/tasks-template.md`. Fill with:
   - Correct feature name from plan.md
   - Phase 1: Setup tasks (project initialization)
   - Phase 2: Foundational tasks (blocking prerequisites for all user stories)
   - Phase 3+: One phase per user story (in priority order from spec.md)
   - Each phase includes: story goal, independent test criteria, tests (if requested), implementation tasks
   - Final Phase: Polish & cross-cutting concerns
   - All tasks must follow the strict checklist format (see Task Generation Rules below)
   - Clear file paths for each task
   - Dependencies section showing story completion order
   - Parallel execution examples per story
   - Implementation strategy section (MVP first, incremental delivery)

5. **Report**: Output path to generated tasks.md and summary:
   - Total task count
   - Task count per user story
   - Parallel opportunities identified
   - Independent test criteria for each story
   - Suggested MVP scope (typically just User Story 1)
   - Format validation: Confirm ALL tasks follow the checklist format (checkbox, ID, labels, file paths)

6. **Check for extension hooks**: After tasks.md is generated, check if `.specify/extensions.yml` exists in the project root.
   - If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.after_tasks` key
   - If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
   - Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default.
   - For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions:
     - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
     - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
   - When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `speckit.git.commit` → `/speckit-git-commit`.
   - For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag:
     - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`):
       ```
       ## Extension Hooks

       **Optional Hook**: {extension}
       Command: `/{command}`
       Description: {description}

       Prompt: {prompt}
       To execute: `/{command}`
       ```
     - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`):
       ```
       ## Extension Hooks

       **Automatic Hook**: {extension}
       Executing: `/{command}`
       EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
       ```
   - If no hooks are registered or `.specify/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently

Context for task generation: $ARGUMENTS

The tasks.md should be immediately executable - each task must be specific enough that an LLM can complete it without additional context.

## Task Generation Rules

**CRITICAL**: Tasks MUST be organized by user story to enable independent implementation and testing.

**Tests are OPTIONAL**: Only generate test tasks if explicitly requested in the feature specification or if user requests TDD approach.

### Checklist Format (REQUIRED)

Every task MUST strictly follow this format:

```text
- [ ] [TaskID] [P?] [Story?] Description with file path
```

**Format Components**:

1. **Checkbox**: ALWAYS start with `- [ ]` (markdown checkbox)
2. **Task ID**: Sequential number (T001, T002, T003...) in execution order
3. **[P] marker**: Include ONLY if task is parallelizable (different files, no dependencies on incomplete tasks)
4. **[Story] label**: REQUIRED for user story phase tasks only
   - Format: [US1], [US2], [US3], etc. (maps to user stories from spec.md)
   - Setup phase: NO story label
   - Foundational phase: NO story label  
   - User Story phases: MUST have story label
   - Polish phase: NO story label
5. **Description**: Clear action with exact file path

**Examples**:

- ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T001 Create project structure per implementation plan`
- ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T005 [P] Implement authentication middleware in src/middleware/auth.py`
- ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T012 [P] [US1] Create User model in src/models/user.py`
- ✅ CORRECT: `- [ ] T014 [US1] Implement UserService in src/services/user_service.py`
- ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] Create User model` (missing ID and Story label)
- ❌ WRONG: `T001 [US1] Create model` (missing checkbox)
- ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] [US1] Create User model` (missing Task ID)
- ❌ WRONG: `- [ ] T001 [US1] Create model` (missing file path)

### Task Organization

1. **From User Stories (spec.md)** - PRIMARY ORGANIZATION:
   - Each user story (P1, P2, P3...) gets its own phase
   - Map all related components to their story:
     - Models needed for that story
     - Services needed for that story
     - Interfaces/UI needed for that story
     - If tests requested: Tests specific to that story
   - Mark story dependencies (most stories should be independent)

2. **From Contracts**:
   - Map each interface contract → to the user story it serves
   - If tests requested: Each interface contract → contract test task [P] before implementation in that story's phase

3. **From Data Model**:
   - Map each entity to the user story(ies) that need it
   - If entity serves multiple stories: Put in earliest story or Setup phase
   - Relationships → service layer tasks in appropriate story phase

4. **From Setup/Infrastructure**:
   - Shared infrastructure → Setup phase (Phase 1)
   - Foundational/blocking tasks → Foundational phase (Phase 2)
   - Story-specific setup → within that story's phase

### Phase Structure

- **Phase 1**: Setup (project initialization)
- **Phase 2**: Foundational (blocking prerequisites - MUST complete before user stories)
- **Phase 3+**: User Stories in priority order (P1, P2, P3...)
  - Within each story: Tests (if requested) → Models → Services → Endpoints → Integration
  - Each phase should be a complete, independently testable increment
- **Final Phase**: Polish & Cross-Cutting Concerns


<!-- speckit-companion:timing -->
## Timing — keep `.spec-context.json` honest

These rules apply to every Companion profile command. The extension records lifecycle timing with its own scripts wherever it can; these rules keep anything you append consistent with that and accurate for any dispatcher (terminal, IDE chat, or the GUI). The model is **finish-only**: each task and each substep records a *single* finish event, and its duration is the gap to the previous finish (or the step's start). Never a `start`+`complete` pair for a task or substep — a pair stamped at one instant is what produces `0s` ticks and bursts.

- **Live timestamps.** When you append a history entry yourself, stamp it by running `date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"` at that moment. Never hand-type a timestamp, never reuse an earlier value, never stamp several entries with one shared value.
- **Self-close — but not specify or implement.** When your own work for **plan, tasks, clarify, or analyze** ends, append `{ "step": "<this step>", "substep": null, "kind": "complete", "by": "ai", "at": "<date -u output>" }`. Do NOT self-close **specify** or **implement**: the extension closes those itself (specify from its own command, implement from the end-of-step hook), so an `ai` complete there would duplicate it.
- **Substeps — one finish each.** For each substep boundary (plan: `research`, `design`; tasks: `generate`) append a single finish `{ "step": "<step>", "substep": "<name>", "kind": "complete", "by": "ai", "at": "<fresh date -u>" }` the moment that substep ends. One entry per substep, each with its own real timestamp — never two substeps sharing a value, never a separate `start`. The delta between consecutive finishes is each substep's duration.
- **Implement — journal each task with a script (finish-only).** As you finish each task: mark it `- [x] **<TaskID>**` in `tasks.md`, append `task_summaries.<TaskID>`, then run (feature dir from `.specify/feature.json`):

  ```bash
  python3 .specify/extensions/companion/scripts/write-context.py --feature-dir <feature_dir> --task <TaskID> --kind complete --by ai
  ```

  This stamps **one** finish event from the real clock — its delta to the previous task's finish is that task's duration. Do NOT hand-author per-task JSON and do NOT write a per-task `start`. The end-of-step hook is a backstop that fills any task you didn't journal (it won't duplicate one you did). Parallel `[P]` tasks: journal each as it finishes; the batch's time is attributed to whichever finishes last (accepted limitation).
- **Never write the next step's start.** Only the next command appends the next step's start entry; writing it here makes the viewer render a phantom "Generating <next>…".
<!-- /speckit-companion:timing -->