---
description: Generate an actionable, dependency-ordered tasks.md for the feature based on available design artifacts.
handoffs: 
  - label: Analyze For Consistency
    agent: speckit.analyze
    prompt: Run a project analysis for consistency
    send: true
  - label: Implement Project
    agent: speckit.implement
    prompt: Start the implementation in phases
    send: true
---

## User Input

```text
$ARGUMENTS
```

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

## Outline

1. **Setup**: Run `.specify/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh --json` from repo root and parse FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS list. All paths must be absolute. For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'\''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

2. **Load design documents**: Read from FEATURE_DIR:
   - **Required**: `plan.md` (tech stack, libraries, structure), `spec.md` (user stories with priorities), `ux_reference.md` (experience source of truth)
   - **Optional**: `data-model.md` (entities), `contracts/` (API endpoints), `research.md` (decisions), `quickstart.md` (test scenarios)
   - **Required when present in plan output**: ADR artifacts such as `docs/architecture.md` or feature-local architecture decision files containing `[DEF:id:ADR]` nodes
   - Note: Not all projects have all documents. Generate tasks based on what's available.

3. **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.)
   - Load ADR nodes and build a decision-memory inventory: `DecisionId`, `@RATIONALE`, `@REJECTED`, dependent modules
   - 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
   - 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)
   - Validate guardrail continuity: no task may realize an ADR path named in `@REJECTED`

4. **Generate `tasks.md`**: Use `.specify/templates/tasks-template.md` as structure, fill with:
   - 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)
   - Decision-memory notes for guarded tasks when ADRs or known traps apply

5. **Report**: Output path to generated `tasks.md` and summary:
   - 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)
   - ADR propagation summary: which ADRs were inherited into task guardrails and which paths were rejected

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.

### UX & Semantic Preservation (CRITICAL)

- **Source of Truth**: `ux_reference.md` for UX, `.ai/standards/semantics.md` for code, and ADR artifacts for upstream technology decisions.
- **Violation Warning**: If any task violates UX, ADR guardrails, or GRACE standards, flag it immediately.
- **Verification Task (UX)**: Add a task at the end of each Story phase: `- [ ] Txxx [USx] Verify implementation matches ux_reference.md (Happy Path & Errors)`
- **Verification Task (Audit)**: Add a mandatory audit task at the end of each Story phase: `- [ ] Txxx [USx] Acceptance: Perform semantic audit & algorithm emulation by Tester`
- **Guardrail Rule**: If an ADR or contract says `@REJECTED`, task text must not schedule that path as implementation work.

### Checklist Format (REQUIRED)

Every task MUST strictly follow this format:

```text
- [ ] [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 (CRITICAL TIER)**:
   - Identify components marked as `@TIER: CRITICAL` in `contracts/modules.md`.
   - For these components, **MUST** append the summary of `@PRE`, `@POST`, `@UX_STATE`, and test contracts (`@TEST_FIXTURE`, `@TEST_EDGE`) directly to the task description.
   - Example: `- [ ] T005 [P] [US1] Implement Auth (CRITICAL: PRE: token exists, POST: returns User, TESTS: 2 edges) in src/auth.py`
   - 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 ADRs and Decision Memory**:
   - For each implementation task constrained by an ADR, append a concise guardrail summary drawn from `@RATIONALE` and `@REJECTED`.
   - Example: `- [ ] T021 [US1] Implement payload parsing guardrails in src/api/input.py (RATIONALE: strict validation because frontend sends numeric strings; REJECTED: json.loads() without schema validation)`
   - If a task would naturally branch into an ADR-rejected alternative, rewrite the task around the accepted path instead of leaving the choice ambiguous.
   - If no safe executable path remains because ADR context is incomplete, stop and emit `[NEED_CONTEXT: target]`.

4. **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

5. **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

### Decision-Memory Validation Gate

Before finalizing `tasks.md`, verify all of the following:
- Every repo-shaping ADR from planning is either represented in a setup/foundational task or inherited by a downstream story task.
- Every guarded task that could tempt an implementer into a known wrong branch carries preventive `@RATIONALE` / `@REJECTED` guidance in its text.
- No task instructs the implementer to realize an ADR path already named as rejected.
- At least one explicit audit/verification task exists for checking rejected-path regressions in code review or test stages.
