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task-management skill

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This skill helps manage tasks across sessions using bd beads to break down work, track progress, and coordinate subtasks efficiently.

npx playbooks add skill commontoolsinc/labs --skill task-management

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: task-management
description: Guide for managing tasks within a session using bd (beads) for subtasks and local todo lists. Use this skill when breaking down plans into issues, tracking progress, managing dependencies, or coordinating work across sessions and agents. Triggers include requests to "manage tasks", "track progress", "break down this work", or questions about bd workflow.
---

# Task Management

At the user level, we use Linear to manage tasks. When the Linear MCP is available, you can consult this directly.

Our workflow is to run many worktrees and checkouts of the repo and work on multiple research tasks and tasks in parallel. For managing todos and progress WITHIN a session you are encouraged to use `bd` (beads) to manage the work - falling back to a NOTES.md text based flow otherwise. 

If available, use `bd` to manage subtasks and local todo lists (`bd quickstart` and `bd --help`)
  - Break down plans into issues with dependencies and keep up-to-date during development
  - Instruct subagents to consult `bd` regularly
  - Use this to offload detail from your working memory and record extra details, bugs along the way with the user
  
The goal is to avoid 'clinging' to a context window, making it trivial to clear the session and re-hydrate context from `bd`. When you start a task, update FOCUS.md with a high-level understanding of the task. If a user, or another agent, reads your `bd` issues, commits and `FOCUS.md` they should be able to immediately take over and help with the work.

Overview

This skill guides managing tasks within a session using bd (beads) for subtasks and local todo lists, with a NOTES.md fallback. It helps break down work into issues, track progress, manage dependencies, and coordinate across sessions and agents. The workflows aim to make context easy to clear and rehydrate from local task state.

How this skill works

Use bd to create and update local issues, record dependencies, and maintain a running todo list. When starting work, write a high-level summary to FOCUS.md so others or future sessions can immediately pick up the task. If bd is unavailable, use NOTES.md to capture the same structure and progress details.

When to use it

Breaking a plan into smaller, trackable issues and subtasks
Tracking progress and annotating intermediate results during development
Coordinating work across multiple agents or parallel worktrees
Managing task dependencies and handoffs across sessions
Preparing context so another person or agent can take over work quickly

Best practices

Run bd quickstart to initialize a local bead workspace and familiarize yourself with bd --help
Always update FOCUS.md with a concise high-level goal when you start or accept a task
Create explicit bd issues for each subtask and link dependencies rather than keeping everything in short-term memory
Instruct subagents to consult bd regularly and to update their assigned issues after progress
Record bugs, decisions, and stray details in bd issue notes so history is preserved and context can be rehydrated

Example use cases

Break a research project into prioritized issues with dependencies and track progress across several local branches
Assign a subagent a bd issue, have them update the issue as they work, and use FOCUS.md so an override agent can continue
Use bd to record intermittent findings and reproduce steps across multiple worktrees without relying on the session memory
Fallback to NOTES.md to capture the same structure when bd is not installed, then migrate notes into bd later

FAQ

What if bd is not installed or available?

Use NOTES.md to capture FOCUS content, subtasks, dependencies, and progress. Migrate those notes into bd when it becomes available.

How should FOCUS.md be written?

Keep it short and actionable: one paragraph with the goal, scope, success criteria, and any immediate next steps so another agent can continue with minimal ramp-up.