create_tasks

Purpose

Produce a scope-faithful task graph and compact execution index. The primary writes; research agents supply evidence only.

Inputs

• $ARGUMENTS: explicit feature root/name or descendant requirements artifact; --depth xs|light|standard|comprehensive (default standard); mutually exclusive --tasks-only or --finalize-index; optional --orchestrated.
• Read selected scope/summary, PRD, plan, UX, context, and research in full. Plan Out-of-Bounds and Verification are load-bearing. Thin requirements route to spectre-plan; never invent scope.

Working Set

• Reuse a managed FEATURE_ROOT only when explicit/current-thread evidence ties it to this work (physical directory wins; never branch/recency/lifecycle/scans); distinct work ignores ambient roots. Otherwise, including on collision, standalone MUST first load and follow Skill(spectre-feature-root) through DONE; orchestrated calls escalate. Keep writes beneath it and pass it unchanged.
• Repair stale feature/root metadata in artifacts this workflow touches.
• Ensure {FEATURE_ROOT}/specs. Default pair: EXECUTE_FILE={FEATURE_ROOT}/specs/execute.md, DETAIL_FILE={FEATURE_ROOT}/specs/tasks.json; use same-basename feature-scoped pairs on collision. Fixtures: references/tasks.example.json, execute.example.md.
• When targets/patterns are unclear, use read-only @spectre_finder, @spectre_analyst, or @spectre_patterns; skip for LIGHT/clear work. Agents return <=2,000 tokens; fold accepted evidence into task_context.md.

Outputs + DONE

tasks.json is indented, reparsed JSON with exactly meta and phases top-level keys:

• meta: feature, feature_root, generated_at, schema_version, objective, scope, out_of_bounds, requirements_trace, architecture_context, coverage_summary.
• Phase: id, title, summary, parents[].
• Parent: id, title, description, predecessor, unblocks, optional risk, subtasks[].
• Subtask: id, title, type, produces, consumed_by, replaces, context[], optional predecessor, acceptance_criteria[].
• Context: path, anchor, note. Criterion: type (test|observable|state), text.
• Task definitions are immutable during Execute: no lifecycle status, run/check/evidence data, index, indexes, wave_plan, or waves. Execution progress lives only in the local workflow store.

execute.md starts with Feature:/Feature Root: and sections Document Manifest, Task Detail Source, Execution Summary, Wave Plan, Parent Task Index, Slicing Rules. It declares discovered artifacts/root/JSON path, graph counts, and parents without bodies/criteria/context/status; tells executors not to read JSON whole. Waves have id, label, parent_task_ids, after, rationale; slicing may span phases.

DONE when files satisfy these contracts; tasks.json reparses/self-locates; every REQ/Verification signal maps to a criterion; meta.out_of_bounds is preserved and obeyed; every parent has predecessor/unblocks; every build has produces/consumed_by/replaces; criteria, RED/context/slicing, consumers, and targeted index reads are valid.

Method / guardrails

1. Build Phase -> Parent -> Subtask -> Acceptance criterion ids (1, 1.1, 1.1.1) from numbered REQs. STRICT COMPLIANCE: deliver only explicit scope.
2. Phase 0 exists only for a real external dependency or capability precondition that must be verified before implementation; depth alone never creates it.
3. Use 2-3 single-purpose criteria per subtask. Split on an independently implementable outcome, dependency edge, ownership boundary, or required mid-task scope judgment; file/LOC size is a warning, never a split by itself.
4. Put RED-before-GREEN in each behavior-changing build subtask. Create a separate RED subtask only when its failing contract/fixture is independently dispatchable and consumed by later work; LIGHT requires RED when risky, ambiguous, or regression-prone.
5. Context is 2-4 file:line references plus one canonical pattern and one plan anchor for STANDARD/COMPREHENSIVE; LIGHT uses 1-2 references plus a plan anchor. Provide evidence, not snippets or implementation scripts.
6. Mark parent risk only when a named threatened invariant and downstream consumer cross an auth/trust, persistence/migration, concurrency/order/retry, destructive, high-fan-out, or shared-contract boundary. Omit it when focused checks settle the risk. Derive semantic predecessor/unblocks edges and topological waves at parent granularity; phases are organizational.
7. Execution slicing only: depth shapes granularity after planning; this workflow never derives Plan size or overrides spectre-plan-route. xs = one explicitly rerouted parent; light = 1-3 parents/optional waves; standard = concise graph; comprehensive = full context, RED, coverage, semantic dependencies, post-review waves.
8. Validate coverage, verification mapping, integration consumers, dependencies, and Out-of-Bounds before writing. Do not add terminal verification/E2E tasks for checks Execute or Prove owns; a qualification task is valid only when it produces an explicit prerequisite or product-consumed artifact at a product-owned path. Never encode vague criteria or orphan outputs.

Mode contract

• Default: write/reparse tasks.json and derive execute.md from the same in-memory graph.
• --tasks-only: write/reparse only tasks.json; semantic review follows comprehensive orchestration.
• --finalize-index: require finalized tasks.json; project only meta, phase ids/titles, parent ids/titles, subtask ids, predecessor, unblocks, and risk; leave JSON byte-for-byte unchanged; derive counts/index/topological waves into execute.md once.

The primary directly writes only the selected canonical artifacts. Do not delegate their authorship/revision or emit tasks.md, fallbacks, converters, compilers, or persistent projections.

Handoff

Report mode, written paths, and {X} phases, {Y} parents, {Z} subtasks; add {N} waves only for a finalized index. --orchestrated omits user-facing Next Steps. Standalone load-bearing user-facing behavior without adequate UX/prototype acceptance evidence routes to spectre-ux if unresolved, else spectre-prototype; regenerate tasks. Comprehensive --tasks-only routes to spectre-task_review; otherwise route to spectre-execute {EXECUTE_INDEX} --origin plan, plus a pause handoff when stopping.

Escalate-If

• plan.md says Execution Mode: direct -> stop; require explicit structured re-route and update it before task writes.
• Requirements are too thin -> spectre-scope or spectre-plan.
• Out-of-Bounds or Verification is missing -> flag it; proceed only with otherwise-clear scope.
• A requirement cannot become an executable test|observable|state criterion -> surface it.
• Any task would expand scope -> stop for confirmation.

Next step: follow the mode- and state-specific handoff above.