backlog

Backlog

A task tracker shaped like a maildir. Each task is one markdown file; its directory is its state. Tasks move forward through a pipeline of directories; there is no backward verb.

• backlog/todo/ — available to claim
• backlog/doing/ — claimed, in flight
• backlog/done/ — completed (and cancelled — the log line discriminates)
• backlog/failed/ — dead-letter for tasks that couldn't proceed (created on demand)

The default pipeline is todo → doing → done. A project may add intermediate in-flight directories (e.g. reviewing/) by declaring the pipeline in backlog/AGENTS.md. See references/pipeline.md.

To claim is to advance from todo/ to the first in-flight dir. The backend declared by backlog/AGENTS.md provides the lock mechanism — maildir-git lets racing git mvs collide at merge; maildir-shared uses an atomic create in a git-common-dir shared directory so the race is caught at claim time across worktrees.

Slash invocation

Invokable as /backlog <subcommand> [args]. The canonical mechanism is scripts/backlog.sh — it reads backlog/AGENTS.md, detects the backend, and dispatches. Agents should prefer the script over re-implementing bash inline.

The script is scripts/backlog.sh in this skill's base directory. Semantics for each verb live in references/worker.md; mechanism details (what the script actually does) live in references/backends/<name>.md. The test harness scripts/test.sh exercises the maildir backends end-to-end including a real git worktree-based race test, and syntax-checks every bundled script.

File shape

Above the divider: what the author meant. Below: what the workers did.

Two halves, divided by --- with blank lines around it so markdown renders it as a horizontal rule.

---
priority: 2
dependencies:
  other-task-slug: "why we depend on it"
---

# Task Title

[problem statement, key decisions, phases, acceptance criteria]

---

- 2026-05-16T14:22:00Z advanced to=doing claimer=conductor:austin-v3 branch=feat/foo
- 2026-05-16T16:45:00Z progress | auth prototype passing locally
- 2026-05-17T11:03:00Z advanced to=done | PR=https://github.com/.../pull/123

Frontmatter and description above the divider are author-set and frozen after first commit (one exception: retry may edit them, since retry IS a correction). Below the divider is an append-only event log written by workers — see references/worker.md for the verb recipes that maintain it.

Frontmatter (optional)

Every field has a default, so a minimal task can omit frontmatter entirely:

# Quick fix

The login button is misaligned on mobile.

---

Defaults: priority=999, timeout=7d, dependencies={}. Add fields above the title to override.

• priority — integer, 1 = highest. Default 999 (sorts after every declared priority). Declare a number when scheduling order matters.
• timeout — humanish: 4h, 3d, 2w. Default 7d. Clock anchors to the most recent advanced or rescued log line — each forward step gets its own stage budget under the same number. Use shorter for automated agent tasks; longer for tasks needing synchronous human input or external dependencies. Project-wide defaults can be stated in backlog/AGENTS.md.
• dependencies — map of slug → reason. Default empty. Declare only hard preconditions; a task is takeable when every dep slug resolves to a file under done/.

Additional keys an author writes are preserved but not interpreted by any recipe. Full schema, kinds table, and "reading state" queries: references/agents-schema.md.

Add a task

Gather slug (kebab-case), category (plan / followup / task-list / ideas, filename suffix), and a description.

scripts/backlog.sh add <slug> [category]
# then edit backlog/todo/<slug>-<category>.md to fill in
# frontmatter (priority/timeout/dependencies) and the body

The script writes a skeleton file in backlog/todo/ and commits with add(<slug>-<category>). Edit the file in-place to fill in the spec (frontmatter + description); follow-up commits to the same file before claim are fine.

Quality: write enough that a fresh session can execute without ever having met you — specific paths, verification commands, deps declared if any. Commit before anyone can claim.

Outcome contract: by default, a claim ends with the worker opening a merge-ready PR — the user clicks, reviews, merges. The task is agent-done when its file lands in done/ with an advanced to=done | PR=<url> log line; the human's merge closes the loop. Lead time from agent-done to merged is later trackable from that timestamp. If the task wants something else (draft PR for exploratory work, no PR for batched grooming, etc.), say so in the spec — the default is review-ready.

Working the backlog

For advance, progress, cancel, fail, rescue, retry, status, and maintain — the verb semantics plus the rules workers must follow — see references/worker.md. The canonical implementation lives in scripts/ (invoke scripts/backlog.sh <verb>); the backend declaration in backlog/AGENTS.md selects which implementation runs. Mechanism prose for each backend: references/backends/<name>.md. For extending the pipeline with intermediate dirs (e.g. reviewing/) and how advance reads the ordering, see references/pipeline.md.

Roadmap and reflection

backlog/ROADMAP.md sits above the queue — Intent, Principles, Current Focus, Priorities (named arcs), Non-goals — and answers why these tasks, in this order. Tasks optionally link via arc: frontmatter. Shape and conventions: references/roadmap.md. For reflecting on the backlog, adding to the roadmap, or initializing one, load references/reflect.md and follow its posture.

References

• scripts/backlog.sh — canonical dispatch entrypoint; reads backlog/AGENTS.md to detect backend
• scripts/lib.sh — shared helpers (pipeline parser, timeout parser, claimer detection, divider resilience)
• scripts/backlog-maildir-git.sh — maildir-git implementation
• scripts/backlog-maildir-shared.sh — maildir-shared implementation
• scripts/backlog-github-issues.sh — github-issues implementation
• scripts/backlog-jira.sh — Jira implementation over Atlassian CLI (acli)
• scripts/backlog-gitea.sh — Gitea implementation over tea api (self-hosted, GitHub-compatible forge)
• scripts/test.sh — full verb cycle + cross-worktree race harness on temp repos (maildir backends only)
• scripts/test-gitea.sh — offline gitea-backend harness over a mock tea (verb cycle, claim conflict, pagination); run separately from test.sh
• references/worker.md — verb semantics for workers (advance, progress, cancel, fail, rescue, retry, status, maintain)
• references/worker-loop.md — canonical /backlog worker recipe (load, maintain, rank, claim, execute, close, report)
• references/backends/maildir-git.md — default backend; mechanism docs for git-tracked maildir
• references/backends/maildir-shared.md — multi-worktree backend; mechanism docs for git-common-dir shared dir
• references/backends/github-issues.md — cross-machine backend; mechanism docs for gh issue-backed storage
• references/backends/jira.md — cross-machine backend; mechanism docs for Jira work item-backed storage via acli
• references/backends/gitea.md — self-hosted backend; mechanism docs for Gitea issue-backed storage via tea api
• references/pipeline.md — declaring the pipeline; how advance knows where to go; conventions for intermediate dirs
• references/agents-schema.md — frontmatter schema, log line format, kinds table, reading-state queries
• references/parallel-agents.md — distributed-systems patterns and design rationale
• references/workflows.md — init (first-time setup) and migrate (from earlier layouts)
• references/maintain.md — advisory walk buckets (mechanical maintenance)
• references/roadmap.md — backlog/ROADMAP.md shape and the arc: linkage convention
• references/reflect.md — critical-collaborative planning posture for reflecting on the backlog or editing the roadmap
• references/README.md — background, design philosophy, related projects