ark-discard

name	ark-discard
description	Remove an unarchived Ark task in one step. Refuses without --force when seeded files have user content. Use when the user wants to throw away a task they no longer want.

ark-discard <task description>

Remove an unarchived Ark task: drop the slug from the active set, clear any session focus pointing at it, delete the task directory. Discard ≠ archive. Discard throws away tasks the user no longer wants on disk (mistyped slug, abandoned exploration). Archive preserves completed tasks as memory.

Preconditions

• .ark/ is initialized.
• The task is not archived. Already-archived tasks live under tasks/archive/YYYY-MM/<tier>/<slug>/ and are not touched by this command.

Steps

Step 1: Resolve the slug [AI]

Parse <task description>. If a slug is present, use it; otherwise default to this session's focused slug. Plumb --force through if the user passed it.

Step 2: Decide on --force [AI]

By default, discard refuses when any seeded artifact (PRD.md, PLAN.md, REVIEW.md, VERIFY.md) diverges from its template — the "PRD has user content" guard.

If you (the agent) are about to run ark-discard on the user's behalf without their explicit go-ahead, never pass --force. Surface the error and let the user decide.

Step 3: Run the op [AI]

ark agent task discard --slug <slug>
# or, when the user has authorized data loss:
ark agent task discard --slug <slug> --force

Removes the slug from tasks.active, clears session focus pointing at it, and rm -rfs .ark/tasks/<slug>/.

Step 4: Report [AI]

In one line: confirm the discard and the deleted directory path. If the discarded slug was this session's focus, mention that this session no longer has a focused task.

Failure Modes

Code	Cause	Recovery
TaskNotFound	no .ark/tasks/<slug>/, or task already archived	Suggest task list if the user is unsure what's active
TaskStillActive { file }	seeded file diverges from template; --force not set	Show the file name; ask the user whether to re-run with --force
InvalidTaskField	slug failed validation	Reject with the validator's message

See Also

• workflow.md §8 (state & multi-session)
• ark-resume — switch focus instead of discarding