flow-next

name	flow-next
description	Manage .flow/ tasks and specs. Use for show or list tasks, task status, what is ready, show fn-N. NOT for planning or executing (use the plan and work skills).

Flow-Next Task Management

Quick task operations in .flow/. For planning features use /flow-next:plan, for executing use /flow-next:work.

Preamble

CRITICAL: flowctl is BUNDLED — NOT installed globally. which flowctl will fail (expected). Define once; subsequent blocks use $FLOWCTL:

FLOWCTL="$HOME/.codex/scripts/flowctl"
[ -x "$FLOWCTL" ] || FLOWCTL=".flow/bin/flowctl"

Discover all commands/options:

$FLOWCTL --help
$FLOWCTL <command> --help # e.g., $FLOWCTL task --help

Quick Reference

# Check if .flow exists
$FLOWCTL detect --json

# Initialize (if needed)
$FLOWCTL init --json

# List everything (specs + tasks grouped)
$FLOWCTL list --json

# List all specs
$FLOWCTL specs --json

# List all tasks (or filter by spec/status)
$FLOWCTL tasks --json
$FLOWCTL tasks --spec fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL tasks --status todo --json

# View spec with all tasks
$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth # Spec markdown

# View single task
$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth.2 # Task spec

# What's ready to work on?
$FLOWCTL ready --spec fn-1-add-oauth --json

# Create task under existing spec
$FLOWCTL task create --spec fn-1-add-oauth --title "Fix bug X" --json

# Set task description and acceptance (combined, fewer writes; unique per-task temp paths)
$FLOWCTL task set-spec fn-1-add-oauth.2 --description "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-desc-fn-1-add-oauth.2.md" --acceptance "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-accept-fn-1-add-oauth.2.md" --json

# Or use stdin with heredoc (no temp file):
$FLOWCTL task set-description fn-1-add-oauth.2 --file - --json <<'EOF'
Description here
EOF

# Start working on task
$FLOWCTL start fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json

# Mark task done
echo "What was done" > /tmp/summary.md
echo '{"commits":["abc123"],"tests":["npm test"],"prs":[]}' > /tmp/evidence.json
$FLOWCTL done fn-1-add-oauth.2 --summary-file /tmp/summary.md --evidence-json /tmp/evidence.json --json

# Validate structure
$FLOWCTL validate --spec fn-1-add-oauth --json
$FLOWCTL validate --all --json

Common Patterns

"Add a task for X"

1. Find relevant spec:

# List all specs
$FLOWCTL specs --json

# Or show a specific spec to check its scope
$FLOWCTL show fn-1 --json

2. Create task:

$FLOWCTL task create --spec fn-N --title "Short title" --json

3. Add description + acceptance (combined):

# Unique per-task temp paths — written + consumed in this one block
cat > "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-desc-fn-N.M.md" << 'EOF'
**Bug/Feature:** Brief description

**Details:**
- Point 1
- Point 2
EOF
cat > "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-accept-fn-N.M.md" << 'EOF'
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2
EOF
$FLOWCTL task set-spec fn-N.M --description "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-desc-fn-N.M.md" --acceptance "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/flow-accept-fn-N.M.md" --json

"What tasks are there?"

# All specs
$FLOWCTL specs --json

# All tasks
$FLOWCTL tasks --json

# Tasks for specific spec
$FLOWCTL tasks --spec fn-1-add-oauth --json

# Ready tasks for a spec
$FLOWCTL ready --spec fn-1-add-oauth --json

"Show me task X"

$FLOWCTL show fn-1-add-oauth.2 --json # Metadata
$FLOWCTL cat fn-1-add-oauth.2 # Full spec

(Legacy fn-1.2 / fn-1-xxx.2 still works.)

Create new spec (rare - usually via /flow-next:plan)

$FLOWCTL spec create --title "Spec title" --json
# Returns: {"success": true, "id": "fn-N-spec-title", ...}

ID Format

• Spec: fn-N-slug where slug is derived from title (e.g., fn-1-add-oauth, fn-2-fix-login-bug)
• Task: fn-N-slug.M (e.g., fn-1-add-oauth.1, fn-2-fix-login-bug.2)

Legacy formats fn-N and fn-N-xxx (random 3-char suffix) are still supported.

Notes

• Run $FLOWCTL --help to discover all commands and options
• All writes go through flowctl (don't edit JSON/MD files directly)
• --json flag gives machine-readable output
• For complex planning/execution, use /flow-next:plan and /flow-next:work