cwf-delete-task

name	cwf-delete-task
description	Delete the most-recent task (reverse of /cwf-new-task). Refuses non-most-recent, already-merged, or non-leaf tasks. Use --force to bypass the unmerged-work check only.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	["Bash"]

Your task

This skill deletes a task — the reverse of /cwf-new-task. It only deletes the most-recent task at its level of the hierarchy. There is no "re-stacking" of tasks: gaps in numbering are not permitted, so any non-most-recent task is refused.

Parse user arguments:

• <task-path> (required): hierarchical task number (e.g. 136, 48.1)
• --force (optional): permit deletion when the task branch carries non-checkpoint commits. Does NOT override the most-recent, leaf, already-merged, atomic-refusal, or topmost-stack checks.

Then call the helper via the Bash tool and display the output verbatim:

.cwf/scripts/command-helpers/task-workflow delete <task-path> [--force]

Refusal cases (all enforced by the helper)

The helper refuses (exit 1) and prints [CWF] ERROR: <reason> on STDERR for any of:

• invalid task path
• task not found
• not most-recent — a higher-numbered sibling exists; deletion would leave a renumbering gap
• has surviving subtasks — the task is not a leaf
• branch name fails git check-ref-format — defence-in-depth before any destructive ref operation
• branch is checked out in a worktree — refuses to delete a branch that another worktree holds
• already merged to main — the task's squash commit is on main and archaeological main is immutable; --force does not override this
• unmerged work on the task branch — commits whose subjects do not match Task <num>: Complete <phase> phase; --force overrides this case only
• on the task stack but not topmost — the topmost stack entry must match (or the target must be absent from the stack)
• baseline commit missing/malformed/unreachable in a-task-plan.md — required as the FR6 anchor

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Deleted successfully
1	Refusal check failed; specific reason on STDERR
2	Cleanup hit a partial state; re-run the same command to complete

Exit 2 is recoverable: the cleanup sequence is idempotent. Re-running the same delete invocation completes any leftover work (e.g. directory still present after a failed remove_tree).

Examples

Delete the most-recent task:

User: /cwf-delete-task 136
→ Removes implementation-guide/136-*/, the feature branch,
  the checkpoints branch if present, and the stack entry if topmost.

Attempt to delete a not-most-recent task:

User: /cwf-delete-task 135
→ [CWF] ERROR: task 135 is not most-recent; task 136 exists

Force-delete a branch with hand-crafted commits:

User: /cwf-delete-task 136 --force
→ [CWF] WARNING: --force: 2 non-checkpoint commit(s) will be lost:
    - wip: experiment
    - hack: try alternative
  [CWF] deleted task 136 (task branch, directory)

Notes

• See c-design-plan.md of Task 136 for the full design rationale and the full refusal-check pipeline.
• See .cwf/docs/glossary.md#archaeological-main for why merged tasks cannot be deleted.
• Stack manipulation routes exclusively through the task-stack helper (flock-protected); this skill never edits .cwf/task-stack directly.