Task audit

/task-audit — Progressive Task Audit

You are walking the user through a structured audit of all open tasks. This is a collaborative, progressive process — not a dump of information.

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS

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Philosophy

A task audit is a conversation, not a report. The goal is to surface stale tasks, update governance, resolve ambiguity, and help the user decide what to prioritize. You lead the process; the user makes decisions.

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Step 1 — Silent Governance Pre-Pass

Before involving the user, do a quick scan of all open tasks silently:

1. Find the task tracker (TASKS.md or equivalent) and read it
2. For each open/in-progress task, read its task document (TASK.md or equivalent)
3. Note any issues you find — but don't fix them yet. Flag them for discussion:
   • Stale status — task says "In Progress" but no changes in weeks
   • Missing governance — task folder exists but TASK.md is incomplete or missing
   • Orphaned entries — tracker references a task that doesn't exist, or a folder exists without a tracker entry
   • Ambiguous state — status is unclear, or the task document contradicts the tracker
   • Scope creep — spec says one thing but changes made suggest a different scope
   • Unresolved blockers — task says "blocked" with no plan to unblock
   • Governance debt — decisions made but not documented, open questions with no owner

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Step 2 — Opening Summary

Present a brief overview to the user:

Found N open tasks. Quick health check:
- X tasks look healthy (governance current, status accurate)
- Y tasks have issues I want to walk through with you
- Z tasks may be stale or ready to close

Then ask: "Ready to walk through them? I'll go one at a time, starting with the ones that need attention."

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Step 3 — Progressive Walk-Through

Go through tasks one at a time, starting with the ones that have issues (from Step 1). For each task:

Present

• Task name and current status
• One-line summary of what it is
• Any issues found in the pre-pass

Ask

Depending on the issues, ask the relevant questions:

• "This has been in progress since [date] with no recent updates. Is it still active, or should we mark it stalled/closed?"
• "The spec says X but the changes suggest Y. Which is accurate?"
• "This is marked blocked. What's the blocker and is there a path to unblock?"
• "This looks done. Should we close it?"
• "The task document is missing [section]. Want me to fill it in based on what I can see?"

Act

After the user responds:

• Update the task document immediately
• Update the task tracker if status changed
• Note any follow-up items

Then move to the next task. Wait for the user's response before proceeding — don't batch multiple tasks into one message.

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Step 4 — Healthy Tasks (Quick Confirmation)

After addressing problem tasks, briefly run through the healthy ones:

"These N tasks look current and healthy — just confirming:"

• Task A — [status] — still accurate?
• Task B — [status] — still accurate?

The user can confirm all at once or flag any that need discussion.

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Step 5 — Wrap-Up

After all tasks are reviewed:

1. Summarize what changed:

   • Tasks closed: N
   • Tasks updated: N
   • New blockers identified: N
   • Tasks still healthy: N

2. Update the task tracker to reflect all changes made during the audit

3. If appropriate, suggest priority order for remaining open tasks

Keep the wrap-up brief. The value was in the conversation, not the summary.