/backlog — Backlog Viewer & Manager

/backlog — Backlog Viewer & Manager

View pending items across all four backlogs, or manage entries.

Runtime Gate (per ADR-094)

Canonical resolution: This is the Claude Code variant. When both plugin-claude-code and plugin-claude-cowork are loaded in the same session (most common in Claude Desktop), bare /backlog resolves to this skill — aria-knowledge (Code) is the canonical owner of all 24 dual-port skills per ADR-094 §Part 1. The Cowork variant is namespaced-only: /aria-cowork:backlog.

Before Step 0: Check that the Bash tool is available in this session. If Bash is NOT available (you are running in Claude Cowork or another non-Code runtime), surface the following notification and wait for explicit user confirmation:

⚠️ Runtime mismatch — you invoked aria-knowledge's /backlog from a non-Code runtime.

Behavior is largely the same in both runtimes; for the Cowork-native variant (reads backlogs from the attached knowledge folder rather than ~/.claude/aria-knowledge.local.md), use /aria-cowork:backlog.

Use /aria-cowork:backlog instead? (y / n)

Wait for an explicit reply:

• y / yes — Use the Skill tool to invoke aria-cowork:backlog with the same arguments the user provided to this invocation. Do not proceed with this skill's steps; the cowork variant takes over and runs to completion. This is the default-yes path — auto-redirect is the helpful action.
• n / no — Proceed with this (aria-knowledge) variant anyway despite the runtime mismatch. The user has explicitly opted in.
• No response / any other reply — Treat as "do not proceed" and exit cleanly without running either variant.

This gate applies even when mode = auto per ADR-094 §Part 3. Auto mode's "implicit-yes on all gates" rule is suspended for the runtime-mismatch check — auto trusts that the user invoked the correct variant, and this gate enforces that precondition. All other auto-mode gates remain bypassed. The friction cost is now low: on y, the auto-redirect runs the correct variant with the original args.

If Bash is available, proceed to Step 0.

Step 0: Resolve Config

Read ~/.claude/aria-knowledge.local.md and extract knowledge_folder. If the file doesn't exist, stop: "aria-knowledge is not configured. Run /setup to get started."

Set backlog paths:

• {knowledge_folder}/intake/insights-backlog.md
• {knowledge_folder}/intake/decisions-backlog.md
• {knowledge_folder}/intake/extraction-backlog.md
• {knowledge_folder}/intake/rules-backlog.md

Step 1: Parse Argument

• No argument: go to Step 2 (overview)
• insights, decisions, extraction, or rules: go to Step 3 (detail view)
• clear [type] [date]: go to Step 4 (clear entries)

Step 2: Overview Mode

Read all four backlog files. For each, count the number of ### YYYY-MM-DD entries after the --- separator and find the most recent date. If any backlog file is missing, show "missing — run /setup to repair" instead of a count for that file.

Output:

## Pending Backlogs
- Insights: N entries (latest: YYYY-MM-DD)
- Decisions: N entries (latest: YYYY-MM-DD)
- Extraction: N entries (latest: YYYY-MM-DD)
- Rules: N entries (latest: YYYY-MM-DD)

If a backlog has no entries (or contains only placeholder text like "(No pending insights)" or "(No pending rules)"), show 0 entries.

Step 3: Detail View

Read the requested backlog file. Output all entries after the --- separator.

If no entries: "No pending [type] items."

Step 4: Clear Entries

Arguments: clear [type] [date]

• type: insights, decisions, extraction, or rules
• date: YYYY-MM-DD — remove entries on or before this date

Validate the date argument before proceeding:

• Must match YYYY-MM-DD format. If not: "Invalid date format. Use YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2025-03-15)."
• Must not be in the future. If it is: "Cannot clear future-dated entries. Today is [today's date]. Did you mean [suggestion]?"
• If more than 30 entries would be cleared, add a warning: "This will clear N entries — that's a large batch. Are you sure?"

Before clearing, show what will be archived:

"This will archive N entries from [type]-backlog.md dated on or before [date]:

• [date] — [brief context from each entry]

Entries move to {knowledge_folder}/archive/backlog-cleared-{type}-{YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss}.md. Proceed? (y/n)"

If user confirms, apply the archive-then-remove pattern (v2.15.2+):

1. Create {knowledge_folder}/archive/ if it doesn't exist.

2. Write archive file at {knowledge_folder}/archive/backlog-cleared-{type}-{YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss}.md with this shape:

   ---
   archived_at: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
   source_backlog: intake/{type}-backlog.md
   cleared_through_date: YYYY-MM-DD
   entry_count: N
   reason: /backlog clear user-invoked
   ---
   
   # Archived {type} backlog entries — cleared {YYYY-MM-DD}
   
   The following N entries were cleared from `intake/{type}-backlog.md` on {YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS} via `/backlog clear {type} {date}`. They are preserved here for recovery if needed.
   
   ---
   
   ### YYYY-MM-DD — [entry 1 title]
   [full body of entry 1]
   
   ### YYYY-MM-DD — [entry 2 title]
   [full body of entry 2]
   
   ...
   

   Copy the full body of each matching ### YYYY-MM-DD entry (from the entry header down to the next ### heading or end of file) into the archive file.

3. After the archive is written, remove the matching entries from intake/{type}-backlog.md. If all entries are removed, replace with the placeholder text (e.g., "(No pending insights)").

4. Report: "Archived N entries to archive/backlog-cleared-{type}-{YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss}.md. Source backlog updated."

Never delete (v2.15.2+): Backlog entries are NEVER rm'd during clear. The archive-then-remove pattern moves user-authored content to the archive surface (full body preserved, not just a ledger) before removing from the live backlog. Rule 6 ("Don't delete — archive") is preserved on-disk, no git history dependency.

User override (explicit, v2.15.2+): If the user explicitly approves or asks for a bare deletion that skips the archive (phrases like "delete without archiving", "really delete these entries", "don't archive this clear"), the destructive operation is permitted. The default safety floor remains archive-then-remove; this override exists for cases where the user has explicit reason to skip preservation (e.g., backlog entries contain sensitive content they want untraceable, or they're clearing test/spam entries that don't deserve archive space). Before honoring an override, surface the entry count + the date range that would have been archived and confirm. User-approved bare deletes are one-off — a subsequent /backlog clear invocation defaults back to archive-then-remove.

If user declines: "No entries cleared."