Task Backend

This skill defines how CoS manages tasks across any backend. The active backend and its concrete syntax are in the CoS Configuration pinned note (loaded via kbx context). This skill provides the generic interface and heuristics.

Generic Interface

Every task backend supports these operations:

Operation	Signature
create	create(title, status, area?, due?, description?, project?: str | null)
list	list(status?, area?, overdue?)
update	update(id, status?, due?, description?)
close	close(id)

Status Values

Status	Meaning	Max
right-now	Doing today	1-3
active	In progress	—
waiting-on	Blocked on someone; note who/when in description	—
someday	Backlog	—
done	Completed	—

Area Selection

When creating a task, infer the area from context using this table:

Signal Keywords	Area
hiring, interview, candidate, performance review, coaching, 1:1 follow-up, onboarding, team issue, training, mentoring	People
OKR, org design, strategy, AI adoption, career ladder, roadmap, architecture decision, tech debt prioritisation	Leadership
incident, deployment, monitoring, tooling, platform, security, infrastructure, on-call, migration, CI/CD	Ops
expense, travel, procurement, compliance, approval, vendor, contract, legal, budget	Admin
personal, family, household, health, finance	Home
journal, review, briefing, standup, recurring habit	Routines

Fallback: If no signal matches, use Inbox.

Mandatory Project Linking

Before creating any task, attempt to link it to a kbx project:

1. Cache once per workflow: At the start of any task-creating command, run kbx project list --json. Reuse for all task creations in that session.
2. Match: Check the action item text against project name, aliases, and task_keywords (word-boundary matching; min_keyword_len=4).
3. If matched: Include project: <ProjectName> in description. One project per task (pick the most specific if multiple match).
4. If no match: Create without a project link. Do not prompt to create a new project.

Commitment Routing

Route each extracted commitment using this table:

Accountability	Destination	How
User personally accountable	Task (status: active or right-now)	Task backend create, with project link
User following up on someone	Task (status: waiting-on)	Task backend create, with project link
Delegated to direct report (1:1)	Person entity Open Items	Edit entity file: insert after ## Open Items heading
Engineering/product work (not user's)	Project entity Open Items	Edit entity file: insert after ## Open Items heading
General follow-up, no clear owner	Most relevant entity Open Items	Edit entity file

Open Items format: - [YYYY-MM-DD] Description (from: Meeting Title) Include ref: <url> when the source system URL is known. Agents may follow refs for automated status checking.

If connected: Also offer to create issues in the project tracker, or draft follow-up emails.

Backend Dispatch

Read the CoS Configuration pinned note from kbx context output. It declares the active task backend, connected sources, and backend-specific syntax. Follow that syntax for all task operations. Check the ## Connected Sources section to know which source categories are available — skip sections for missing categories.

Example config note (gm backend, full sources):

## Connected Sources
- task: gm (Morgen CLI)
- calendar: gm (Morgen CLI)
- chat: Slack (claude.ai MCP)
- email: Gmail (claude.ai MCP)
- project tracker: Linear (claude.ai MCP)
- knowledge base: Notion (claude.ai MCP)

## Task Syntax (gm)
- Create: `gm tasks create --title "..." --tag {Status} --list {Area} --due {ISO} --description "..."`
- List: `gm tasks list --tag {Status} --json --response-format concise`
- Close: `gm tasks close {id}`

Example config note (tasks.md backend, minimal sources):

## Connected Sources
- task: tasks.md
- calendar: Google Calendar (claude.ai MCP)

## Task Syntax (tasks.md)
- File: TASKS.md (in working directory)
- Create: Edit tool — insert `- [ ] **{title}** — {description} (due: {due}, area: {area}, project: {project})` at top of `## {Status}` section
- List: Read tool — parse `## {Status}` section for `- [ ]` lines
- Close: Edit tool — change `- [ ]` to `- [x]`, wrap in ~~strikethrough~~, move to `## Done`

If no config note exists (user hasn't run /setup):

1. Try gm --help — if it works, use gm backend
2. Check for TASKS.md in working directory — if it exists, use tasks.md backend
3. If neither, warn: "No task backend configured. Run /setup to get started."

Calendar

Calendar backend is also declared in the CoS Configuration note. If no calendar backend is configured, warn once per session: "No calendar connection — calendar features will be skipped. Run /setup to connect one." Then skip calendar sections gracefully.

Generic Source Categories

Use these categories instead of hardcoded tool names:

Category	Meaning
project tracker	Linear, Jira, Asana, GitHub Issues — whatever's connected
messaging	Beeper, or other personal messaging aggregators — WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, iMessage
chat	Slack, Teams, Discord — work messaging, whatever's connected
email	Gmail, Outlook — whatever's connected
knowledge base	Notion, Confluence — beyond kbx
calendar	Google Calendar, Fastmail — if not using gm

Check the CoS Configuration note for which sources are connected. Skip sections that reference unavailable sources.