| name | task-slicing |
| description | Wire a work breakdown into the tracker — depends_on edges, frontier, expand–contract for wide refactors. Use when filling plan.md's Steps section (routed from plan-gate), decomposing an epic into child tasks, or carving a mid-execute remainder into successor tasks. |
| license | MIT |
Task Slicing
Slices are tracer bullets — each a narrow but complete path to a verifiable
result, sized to one session. This skill carries what that looks like in
this tracker, and the one sequence that must not be sliced naively.
When to Use
- Owns the
Steps section of plan.md — plan-gate routes here.
- NOT the test-writing rule: "vertical slicing" in
trait-se-mindset governs
one-test-at-a-time TDD; this skill slices work into tasks.
- Mid-execute remainder ("tail doesn't fit the context"):
context-reset
step 3 carries it out via ## Steps items + plan-extract.
Wiring the breakdown
- Declare blocking edges. Each child task names its blockers via
depends_on (rack transition <ID> --link depends:<DEP>); a task whose
blockers are all done is on the frontier — takeable in parallel without
coordination.
- Gate before publishing. Show the supervisor the breakdown — title,
blockers, what it delivers; granularity, edges, merge/split answered — then
publish via
rack plan-extract (skill hatrack).
Wide refactors: expand–contract
One mechanical change whose blast radius fans across the codebase (rename,
retype, package split) can't land as one green tracer bullet. Sequence it:
- Expand — add the new form beside the old; nothing breaks.
- Migrate — convert call sites in batches sized by blast radius (per
package / directory), one child task per batch, blocked by the expand,
CI green batch to batch.
- Contract — delete the old form when no caller remains; blocked by
every migrate batch.
Batches that can't stay green alone share an integration branch plus a final
integrate-and-verify task — green is promised only there. (Retrofitted after
review in HATS-858; HATS-831's 470-line/88-importer mid-execute move is the
failure mode.)
Completion
Steps section holds one-session slices with edges declared; any wide refactor
is sequenced expand–contract. Validation scenario: HATS-1002 task card.
