mde-task-lifecycle

name	mde-task-lifecycle
description	Five-phase orchestrator for mdeai.co tasks — plan, research, implement, test, ship. Routes each phase to specialist skills (mde-writing-plans, testing for Vitest/Playwright, `/deploy-check` for pre-ship gates, mdeai-executor) and owns boundaries between them. Use when the user wants to work on a task by ID (work on task 17A, implement 18B, ship this prompt, process the backlog, next P0, go through the lifecycle, close out a task, run a task), or asks to move anything in tasks/prompts/ from spec to shipped. Does NOT write PRDs (use mde-writing-plans), debug arbitrary bugs (use systematic-debugging), or author new skills (use mde-prompting). Replaces overlapping ad-hoc skills create-tasks, spec-tasks, tasks, tasks-generator, prd-taskmaster, task-prd-creator, executing-tasks.
title	mde-task-lifecycle — five-phase orchestrator
impact	HIGH
impactDescription	Routes plan → research → implement → test → ship with gates
tags	mde-task-lifecycle, workflow, tasks, backlog, shipping
paths	["tasks/**",".claude/commands/**"]

mde-task-lifecycle

BLUF: One skill, five phases, one bookkeeping contract. Each phase has its own module file. SKILL.md routes; modules execute.

---

When to invoke

Trigger phrase	Action
"Work on task <id>" / "Implement 17A"	Load prompt, route through phases 2-5
"Process backlog" / "Next P0"	Read tasks/prompts/INDEX.md, pick next unstarted P0, run all phases
"Plan a task for <feature>"	Phase 1 only — write the prompt
"Research <topic> before we build"	Phase 2 only — produce audit notes
"Ship <prompt>" / "Close out <id>"	Phase 5 only — bookkeeping + gates
"Run lifecycle on <id>"	All 5 phases in order
Status update on a shipped task	Phase 5 only

Don't invoke for

• New PRD section or planning prose → mde-writing-plans
• Pure debugging without a task ID → systematic-debugging
• Authoring or editing a skill → mde-prompting
• One-off PR creation unrelated to a task → mde-github
• Commit-only requests with no task context → git-commit

---

Five phases at a glance

#	Phase	Module	Specialist skill(s)	Output
1	Plan	planning.md	mde-writing-plans	Prompt at tasks/prompts/{core,advanced,production}/<NN><X>-name.md per tasks/tasks-template.md
2	Research	research.md	(none — built-in)	Audit notes, source-cited risks, validated assumptions
3	Implement	implementation.md	mdeai-executor (subagent), systematic-debugging	Code changes; npm run build green
4	Test	testing.md	testing (vitest.md, playwright.md), testing-strategy	Passing tests + smoke evidence
5	Ship	shipping.md	/deploy-check, git-commit, mde-github	Updated todo.md + CHANGELOG.md + prompt frontmatter status: Done

---

Phase sequencing rules

Rule	Detail
Skip Phase 1	Only when a prompt already exists at tasks/prompts/.../<id>-*.md.
Skip Phase 2	Only when the prompt's wiring plan is fully concrete and the change is trivial (≤3 file edits).
Skip Phase 3	Only on docs-only / changelog-only tasks.
Skip Phase 4	Never on code changes. Docs-only tasks may skip with a note.
Skip Phase 5	Never. Phase 5 is the only durable proof the work shipped.
Loop back	Phase 4 failure → Phase 3 (do not advance until green). Phase 2 finds a contradiction → Phase 1 (re-plan).

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Routing decision tree

User intent
  │
  ├─ Prompt file exists for <id>?
  │   ├─ No  → Phase 1 (planning.md)
  │   └─ Yes → continue
  │
  ├─ status: Done in frontmatter?
  │   ├─ Yes → report shipped; offer next P0
  │   └─ No  → continue
  │
  ├─ Need external/codebase facts?
  │   ├─ Yes → Phase 2 (research.md)
  │   └─ No  → continue
  │
  ├─ Code change required?
  │   ├─ Yes → Phase 3 (implementation.md) → Phase 4 (testing.md)
  │   └─ No  → continue
  │
  └─ Phase 5 (shipping.md) — always.

---

Quick links

Resource	Path
Phase 1 — planning	planning.md
Phase 2 — research	research.md
Phase 3 — implementation	implementation.md
Phase 4 — testing	testing.md
Phase 5 — shipping	shipping.md
Prompt template cheat sheet	references/prompt-template-cheatsheet.md
Audit checklist	references/audit-checklist.md
Migration safety	references/migration-safety.md
Testing matrix	references/testing-matrix.md
Changelog & commit templates	references/changelog-templates.md
Source-of-truth template	tasks/tasks-template.md
Prompt INDEX	tasks/prompts/INDEX.md
Coverage matrix	tasks/trio/00-trio-task-coverage-matrix.md
Live status	tasks/todo.md
Daily log	CHANGELOG.md
Project rules	CLAUDE.md
Worktrees (Phase 3/5)	references/worktrees.md · tasks/notes/june4/worktrees-best.md
Revenue tasks (TIER R)	tasks/revenue/INDEX.md · strategy: docs/strategy/index-revenue.md
MASTRA task series	tasks/mastra/maps/tasks/places/
CopilotKit map canvas (core)	F48 → F49 → F50 (after MAP-001)
Event discovery (plans 10–11)	EVP-018 pack · skill routing · 10-plan · 11-openclaw

MASTRA task series (geo-chat production plan)

Tasks 043–049 form a staged roadmap for the Mastra concierge geo-chat system. Load them in order when a user asks to "work on MASTRA-04x".

ID	File	Phase	Blocks
PLAN-001	043-mastra-geo-production-plan.md	Master plan (read first)	044–049
MASTRA-044	044-mastra-deploy-verification.md	Phase 0 — Deploy Mastra beta	045
MASTRA-045	045-mastra-smoke-hardening.md	Phase 0 — Smoke spec	046, 047
MASTRA-046	046-mastra-action-schema-validation.md	Phase 1 — normalizeToolOutput	047
MASTRA-047	047-mastra-map-pin-merge-versioning.md	Phase 1 — Pin merge + versioning	048
PLACES-005-010	020-place-details-enrichment.md	Phase 2 — Places enrichment	049
GROUNDING-001	010-grounded-search.md	Phase 3 — Maps grounding	—

Phase gate rules:

• MASTRA-044 must pass before MASTRA-045 runs (deploy before smoke)
• MASTRA-045 smoke must be green before Phase 1 work starts
• Phase 2 (048) requires Phase 1 (047) fully shipped
• Phase 3 (049) requires Phase 2 (048) fully shipped + place_id coverage ≥ 80%

---

Worktrees (app code tasks)

Before Phase 3 on mdeapp/src/**: open or reuse a worktree per references/worktrees.md. One SAN → mdeapp/.worktrees/wt-san-NNN-slug + branch ai/san-NNN-slug. After Phase 5 merge: git worktree remove + branch delete. Load mde-worktree-pr-flow for guards and audit scripts.

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Contract

• Atomicity: A task that enters Phase 1 either ships through Phase 5 or fails closed. No half-done artifacts in repo.
• Three-record sync: tasks/todo.md, CHANGELOG.md, and the prompt's frontmatter status: are always consistent at task close-out.
• Traceability: Every shipped task is reachable both forward (prompt → wiring → tests → commit → changelog) and backward (changelog row → commit → prompt ID).
• No silent push: Commits are always created; pushes only on explicit user request (per CLAUDE.md git protocol).