/tasks

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

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

Flag Support

This command supports the following flags for branch-aware task generation (US4):

• --branch <name>: Generate tasks for specific branch (requires stacked PR mode)
• --stories <US1,US2>: Filter to specific user stories (comma-separated)

Examples:

/speck:tasks --branch username/db-layer --stories US1
/speck:tasks --stories US1,US2
/speck:tasks --branch username/api

Outline

1. Parse flags from $ARGUMENTS (T050-T054):

   • Check for --branch <name> flag and extract branch name
   • Check for --stories <US1,US2> flag and extract comma-separated story IDs
   • If --branch provided: Load .speck/branches.json (T052) and validate branch exists (T053)
   • If --stories provided: Store story IDs for filtering (will validate against spec.md later) (T054)

2. Setup: Extract prerequisite context from the auto-injected comment in the prompt:

   <!-- SPECK_PREREQ_CONTEXT
   {"MODE":"multi-repo","FEATURE_DIR":"/path/to/root-repo/specs/010-feature","IMPL_PLAN":"/path/to/child-repo/specs/010-feature/plan.md","TASKS":"/path/to/child-repo/specs/010-feature/tasks.md","REPO_ROOT":"/path/to/child-repo","TEMPLATE_DIR":"/path/to/plugin/templates","AVAILABLE_DOCS":["../../../8-specs/specs/010-feature/spec.md","specs/010-feature/plan.md","specs/010-feature/research.md"]}
   -->
   

   Path Usage:

   • FEATURE_DIR: Directory containing shared artifacts (spec.md, research.md, data-model.md, plan.md in multi-repo mode) - READ ONLY
   • IMPL_PLAN: Full path to plan.md (for reading in multi-repo mode)
   • TASKS: Full path where tasks.md should be written - WRITE HERE
   • REPO_ROOT: Root directory of current repository (for relative path calculations)
   • TEMPLATE_DIR: Directory containing templates (tasks-template.md, spec-template.md, etc.) - USE FOR TEMPLATES
   • MODE: "single-repo" or "multi-repo" (child in multi-repo setup)

   Multi-repo behavior:

   • In single-repo mode: FEATURE_DIR and TASKS point to same directory
   • In multi-repo mode: FEATURE_DIR points to root repo (shared), TASKS points to child repo (local)

   Use the FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS values from this JSON.

   Fallback: If the comment is not present (VSCode hook bug), run:

   speck check-prerequisites --json
   

   Parse JSON output to extract FEATURE_DIR, AVAILABLE_DOCS, MODE, and other fields.

   IMPORTANT: Do NOT invent or guess CLI paths. Use ONLY the path above.

3. Load design documents: Use Read tool to load files from the paths in AVAILABLE_DOCS:

   • Iterate through AVAILABLE_DOCS array and use Read tool for each file
   • AVAILABLE_DOCS contains relative paths from REPO_ROOT (e.g., "specs/010-feature/plan.md" or "../../../8-specs/specs/010-feature/spec.md")
   • Use Glob if you need to find additional files (e.g., contracts/*.json)

   Required files: plan.md (tech stack, libraries, structure), spec.md (user stories with priorities) Optional files: data-model.md (entities), contracts/ (API endpoints), research.md (decisions), quickstart.md (test scenarios) Note: Not all projects have all documents. Generate tasks based on what's available.

4. 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 --stories flag provided (T055-T056):
     • Parse story IDs from flag (e.g., "US1,US2" → ["US1", "US2"])
     • Validate each story ID exists in spec.md (T055)
     • Filter user stories to only include requested IDs (T056)
   • If --stories flag NOT provided: Use all user stories from spec.md
   • If data-model.md exists: Extract entities and map to user stories
   • If contracts/ exists: Map endpoints to user stories
   • If research.md exists: Extract decisions for setup tasks
   • Task generation strategy (T057):
     • If --stories flag used: Skip Setup/Foundational phases, generate only requested story tasks
     • If --stories flag NOT used: Generate all phases (Setup, Foundational, all user stories, Polish)
   • 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)

5. Generate tasks.md (T058): Read tasks template from {TEMPLATE_DIR}/tasks-template.md using Read tool, then fill with:

   • Output file path:
     • IMPORTANT: Use TASKS path from prerequisite context, NOT FEATURE_DIR
     • If --branch flag provided: Replace .md extension in TASKS path with -<branch-name>.md
     • If --branch flag NOT provided: Use TASKS path as-is (default)
     • In multi-repo mode, TASKS points to child repo, FEATURE_DIR points to root repo
   • 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)

6. Report (T059): Output path to generated tasks.md and summary:

   • File path (either tasks.md or tasks-<branch-name>.md)
   • If --branch flag used: Display branch name and spec ID
   • If --stories flag used: Display filtered story IDs
   • 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)

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:

- [ ] [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
     • Endpoints/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 contract/endpoint → to the user story it serves
   • If tests requested: Each 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