check-tasks

name	check-tasks
description	Scan all tasks, flag overdue / stale items, report health by priority. Brain-only; no external calls.

/check-tasks

Purpose

Surface the active task set with health flags. Used at mid-day re-orientations and as part of /morning-brief.

When to use

• Mid-day, when re-orienting between contexts.
• As a sub-skill called by /morning-brief.
• Manually when the task queue feels chaotic.

Arguments

• --quick (optional) — fast path: reads brain/tasks/_index.html directly (the hand-curated rollup). Output ~20 lines max.
• --project=<slug> (optional) — filter to a specific project.
• --owner=<name> (optional) — filter to a specific owner.

Steps

Quick mode (--quick)

1. Read brain/tasks/_index.html.
2. Read the last 5 entries from logs/changelog.md.
3. Print both, concise. Done.

Full mode

1. List all task pages. Walk brain/tasks/*.html (excluding archive/). For each:

   • Read frontmatter: robin:status, robin:priority, robin:due, robin:owner, robin:project, robin:updated.
   • Skip non-task pages (those with robin:type != "task").

2. Filter.

   • Apply --project= or --owner= filters if given.
   • Bucket: active (status in {open, in-progress, blocked}) vs. done/archived.
   • Default to active only.

3. Sort.

   • Primary: priority (p0 → p1 → p2 → p3).
   • Secondary: due (earliest first), nulls last.
   • Tertiary: updated (most recent first).

4. Compute health flags:

   • Overdue: robin:due < today AND status not in {done, superseded, cancelled}.
   • Stale: robin:updated < today − 3d AND status in {open, in-progress}.
   • Blocked-without-explanation: status == blocked AND no body explanation.
   • High-priority without due: priority in {p0, p1} AND no robin:due.
   • Done recently: status == done AND updated >= today − 7d (surface as positive signal).

5. Compose the report using ../lib/report-template.md:

   ### Tasks
   
   **P0 — today** (N)
   - [[task-slug]] (due YYYY-MM-DD) — summary [overdue!]
   
   **P1 — this week** (N)
   - [[task-slug]] (due YYYY-MM-DD) — summary
   
   **P2** (N)
   - [[task-slug]] — summary [stale 5d]
   
   **P3** (N)
   - (Just count, optionally list.)
   
   **Health flags**
   - Overdue (N): [[task-slug]], [[task-slug]]
   - Stale (N): [[task-slug]]
   - Blocked-without-explanation (N): [[task-slug]]
   - P0/P1 without due (N): [[task-slug]]
   
   **Recent wins**
   - Done in last 7 days: N. [[task-slug]] ([[task-slug]] …)
   

6. Don't write anything to disk. This is a read-only skill.

Output shape

• Quick mode: ~20 lines max.
• Full mode: as long as the task set requires, but most days under 40 lines.

Edge cases

• No tasks. Output "No open tasks." Skip the rest.
• Task with robin:state instead of robin:status. Surface as a frontmatter bug to fix via /lint-wiki. Don't silently include it (the filter on status excludes it).
• Task with no priority. Treat as p3 and surface a flag suggesting the user set one.
• Done tasks older than 14 days. Suggest archiving (move to brain/tasks/archive/).

Side effects

None. Read-only.

Notes

• The hand-curated brain/tasks/_index.html is your fast path. Keep it tight — just P0/P1 with wikilinks. The skill doesn't auto-update the index; that's a manual or /remsleep-time choice.
• The skill never creates tasks. Use /create-task for that.