task-journal

name	task-journal
description	Persistent task log across sessions: pending tasks, completed work, known issues, backlog. Use when starting a session, completing a task, hitting a blocker, or asked what is pending or in progress.

Task Journal Skill

Purpose

Persistent task tracking across sessions. Records what was done, what's pending, and what broke — so nothing falls through the cracks when sessions restart or context is compacted.

Activation

• Write: After completing any task, encountering a blocker, or discovering a new issue
• Read: At session start, or when user asks "what's pending?" or "what did we do?"

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How It Works

A rolling journal is maintained at: .claude/idev/task-journal/journal.md

Unlike session-resume (which tracks the CURRENT session), the journal is a persistent log that accumulates across sessions.

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Journal Format

# Task Journal
Last updated: YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm

## Active / In Progress
- [ ] [FEATURE] Task description
  - File: path/to/file
  - Status: what's been done so far
  - Blocker: what's blocking (if any)

## Completed (Recent)
- [x] [FEATURE] Task description — YYYY-MM-DD
  - Files changed: file1, file2, file3
  - Summary: one-line summary of what was done

## Known Issues
- [!] [FEATURE] Issue description — YYYY-MM-DD
  - File: path/to/file
  - Severity: low|medium|high|critical
  - Notes: debugging info, what was tried

## Backlog (User Mentioned)
- [ ] [FEATURE] Task description
  - Context: what the user said about it

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Write Rules

When a task is completed:

1. Move from "Active" to "Completed (Recent)"
2. Add date and files changed
3. Add one-line summary

When a blocker is found:

1. Add to "Known Issues" with severity
2. Update "Active" entry with blocker description
3. Include what was tried and what to check next

When user mentions future work:

1. Add to "Backlog" with the user's context
2. Do NOT start working on backlog items unless user asks

Housekeeping:

- Keep "Completed" list to last 20 entries (archive older ones)
- Keep "Known Issues" until explicitly resolved
- Keep "Backlog" until user addresses or dismisses
- Remove duplicate entries

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Read Rules

At session start:

1. Read journal.md (~50-100 lines)
2. If "Active" items exist → inform user
3. If "Known Issues" exist → mention briefly
4. Do NOT read "Completed" unless user asks for history

When user asks "what's pending?":

1. Show "Active" + "Known Issues" + "Backlog"
2. Exclude "Completed"

When user asks "what did we do?":

1. Show "Completed (Recent)"
2. Group by date if multiple sessions

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Integration with Other Skills

Task Journal works WITH session-resume:
  - session-resume = ephemeral (current session snapshot, overwritten each time)
  - task-journal = persistent (rolling log across all sessions)

Workflow:
  1. Session starts → load session-resume (what was I doing?)
  2. Session starts → load task-journal (what's the big picture?)
  3. Task done → update task-journal (log it)
  4. Session ends → update session-resume (snapshot current state)

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Anti-Patterns

1. Do NOT write to journal for trivial actions (reading files, searching)
2. Do NOT duplicate the same entry multiple times
3. Do NOT let the journal grow beyond ~150 lines (archive old completed items)
4. Do NOT use the journal as a substitute for actually reading code
5. Do NOT auto-generate backlog items — only log what the user explicitly mentions