cli-task-lifecycle

name	cli-task-lifecycle
description	Use the `at` CLI to create, execute, monitor, and complete tasks on the Auto-Tundra daemon. Covers the full bead lifecycle from sling to done.
allowed_tools	["Bash","Read"]
references	["/Users/studio/rust-harness/docs/PROJECT_HANDBOOK.md"]

CLI Task Lifecycle

Trigger

Use this skill when you need to create a task, execute it, check status, or complete work via the Auto-Tundra CLI.

Prerequisites

1. Daemon must be running: cargo run --bin at-daemon (or check with at doctor -p .).
2. At least one API key must be set: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, or OPENAI_API_KEY. Alternatively, have Ollama running locally — the daemon will automatically use it as the local-runtime AI profile.
3. Native CLIs (claude, codex, opencode) must be installed and in $PATH if using specific agent roles.

Quick Reference

Check health first

at doctor -p /Users/studio/rust-harness -j
at status

Create a task (bead)

# Simple
at sling "Fix login bug"

# With priority lane
at sling "Security patch" --lane critical

Create a skill-aware task

# Create + execute
at run \
  -t "Wire GitLab env handling" \
  -s integration-hardening \
  -p /Users/studio/rust-harness

# Create without executing
at run \
  -t "Wire GitLab env handling" \
  -s integration-hardening \
  -p /Users/studio/rust-harness \
  --no-execute

Preview a task without network calls

at run \
  -t "Plan integration wave" \
  -s wave-execution \
  -p /Users/studio/rust-harness \
  --dry-run --emit-prompt -j

Role-scoped execution

at agent run \
  -r qa-reviewer \
  -t "Audit auth edge cases" \
  -s integration-hardening \
  -p /Users/studio/rust-harness \
  -m sonnet -n 2 -j

Monitor and complete

at status                    # Check all beads and active agents
at hook <bead-id>            # Move from Backlog -> Hooked
at sling <bead-id>           # Move from Hooked -> Slung (Active processing)
at review <bead-id>          # Move from Slung -> Review
at done <bead-id>            # Move from Review -> Done
at nudge <agent-id>          # Restart stuck agent (use sparingly)

Note on State Transitions: The event bus enforces strict transitions. A task must flow: Backlog -> Hooked -> Slung -> Review -> Done. You cannot jump states (e.g., Hooked directly to Done will throw a 400 Bad Request).

Output Parsing Rules

1. Always use -j flag for machine-readable JSON output.
2. Use -o /tmp/result.json to write output to a file for later reading.
3. Non-zero exit codes indicate errors; stderr will contain the error message.
4. When the daemon is unreachable, at doctor will report it cleanly.

Common Pitfalls

• Do NOT call at run or at agent run without -p (project path) — it defaults to . which may be wrong.
• Do NOT execute tasks without first running at doctor to verify connectivity.
• Role names for at agent run -r must map to valid task categories (e.g., qa-reviewer → QA, builder → Build).
• If the daemon returns non-JSON (e.g., HTML error page), the CLI handles graceful fallback — but check exit code.