task-plan-manager

name	task-plan-manager
description	Planning orchestrator for substantive work. Decompose multi-step or implementation-oriented requests into small actionable subtasks and publish progress through update_plan before execution. Skip planning for brief casual chat, simple questions, and obvious single-step tasks unless the user explicitly asks for a plan.

Task Plan Manager

Overview

Turn each request into execution-ready subtasks and persist them in one living plan file. Preserve prior plan history and append follow-up work instead of rewriting existing batches. Mirror substantive work in update_plan so progress is visible in the plan panel. Default to update_plan only. Do not write real tasks to markdown files unless the user explicitly asks to persist. Skip task lists for brief casual conversation, simple factual replies, and low-complexity single-step work.

Workflow

1. Decide whether planning is needed.

• Skip update_plan for short conversation, lightweight Q&A, translations, rewrites, and obvious one-step actions.
• Use update_plan for multi-step implementation, debugging, file edits, research with several phases, or when the user asks for a plan.

2. Decompose the request into subtasks.

• Generate 2-8 tasks depending on complexity.
• Keep tasks atomic and testable.
• Keep one clear active step and mark the rest as pending.

3. Sync the plan to update_plan immediately.

• Call update_plan before doing substantive work when planning is required.
• Keep exactly one step as in_progress; keep the rest pending or completed.
• When follow-up scope arrives, append new steps instead of replacing existing open steps.
• Update statuses continuously as work advances so the user can see real-time progress.

4. Persist only on explicit request.

• Only when the user explicitly requests writing/saving to file, use scripts/merge_plan.py.
• Default file path for persistence: C:\Users\Amine\.codex\plans\task-plan-manager-plan.md.
• If not explicitly requested, skip file writes.

5. Report back to the user.

• Show which plan file was updated.
• Show the batch id that received new tasks.
• Show the exact added tasks so the user can review quickly.

Planning Rules

• Do not delete historical tasks unless the user explicitly asks.
• Default to appending in the same plan file used previously.
• Keep status markers as checkboxes (- [ ], - [x]) for easy progress updates.
• Keep task text action-first, for example Implement login endpoint.
• If the user adds scope later, append tasks instead of replacing existing open tasks.
• Reflect the same steps in update_plan and keep statuses synchronized with actual execution state.
• Do not persist real tasks to markdown unless user explicitly asks for persistence.
• Do not create a task list for obviously simple or conversational requests unless the user explicitly asks for one.

References

scripts/

• scripts/merge_plan.py: append new task batches or append follow-up tasks to the latest open batch.

references/

• references/planning_rules.md: quality bar for decomposition and backlog hygiene.

assets/

• assets/plan-template.md: initial file structure for a persistent plan.