| name | ralph-project-ops |
| description | Shared patterns for modifying an existing Ralph project environment. Load when adding tasks, pivoting project direction, or revising objectives. |
Ralph Project Operations Skill
Load this skill when modifying an existing Ralph environment (add-task, pivot, revise).
Reading Existing State
Before any modification, read all three files:
prd.json — note highest task ID, status counts (pending/in-progress/complete/cancelled)
AGENTS.md — understand current stack, standards, and commands
progress.log — understand execution history and what has already shipped
Task ID Assignment
When adding new tasks, continue from the highest existing task ID:
- Find the maximum numeric suffix across all existing task IDs
- New tasks start at max + 1
- Example: if highest is
task-007, new tasks are task-008, task-009, ...
prd.json Task Statuses
Valid statuses and their semantics:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
pending | Not started, eligible for Ralph execution |
in-progress | Currently being worked on |
complete | Done, verified, committed |
cancelled | No longer needed — kept for traceability |
Never delete tasks from prd.json. Mark them cancelled instead. Deletion breaks the correlation between progress.log entries and task IDs, and destroys git history traceability.
Impact Analysis for Changes
When objectives change, categorize affected existing tasks:
pending tasks — may be kept, cancelled, or have acceptance criteria revised
in-progress tasks — warn the user before modifying; Ralph may be mid-execution
complete tasks — if their output is invalidated by the change, create a new corrective task (e.g., "Revise user model per new authentication requirements") rather than un-completing them
cancelled tasks — can be re-activated by setting back to pending if relevant again
Progress Log Format for Project Operations
Append to progress.log for every project-level change:
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] [PROJECT-OP] add-task: Added task-XXX "Title" (priority: high, deps: [task-003])
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] [PROJECT-OP] pivot: Switched from REST to GraphQL — 4 tasks cancelled, 6 tasks added
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] [PROJECT-OP] revise: Updated AGENTS.md security section; revised acceptance criteria for task-005
AGENTS.md Edit Rules
When modifying AGENTS.md:
- Edit the relevant section in place — do not regenerate the whole file
- Preserve all sections that were not mentioned by the user
- If a new section is needed, append it rather than inserting it mid-file
- All commands must remain real and runnable — never revert to placeholders