IceCube Tasks

🧊 IceCube Tasks — Task orchestration and tracking for AI agents. Manage tasks across sessions, track progress, handle blockers, and maintain execution conti...

Security Scan

The skill's requirements and instructions are consistent with a file-backed task-orchestration helper — it only describes reading/writing a dedicated state/tasks/ directory and does not request unrelated credentials, installs, or network access.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description (task orchestration and tracking) align with the runtime instructions: creating, updating, and reading YAML task files under state/tasks/. There are no unrelated env vars, binaries, or installs requested.

Instruction Scope

Instructions explicitly direct reading and writing files under state/tasks/ (current_dispatch.yaml, task_ledger/, completed/, metrics.yaml). This is expected for persistence, but it means the agent will perform filesystem I/O. The SKILL.md references integrations with other 'icecube-*' skills but does not require or declare them — these references are informational and do not by themselves expand scope.

Install Mechanism

No install spec and no code files are present (instruction-only). This minimizes disk/remote-install risk; nothing will be downloaded or executed automatically beyond the agent following the written file I/O guidance.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The file-writing behavior is proportional to the declared purpose of persistent task tracking.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill persists state to disk (state/tasks/). It does not request always:true and does not modify other skills' configs. Persisting tasks is appropriate for its purpose, but installing it grants the agent permission to create/read/update files in the workspace; verify that this directory is scoped to non-sensitive storage.

Assessment

This skill is internally coherent: it implements persistent task tracking by reading/writing YAML files under state/tasks/. Before installing, confirm where 'state/tasks/' will be stored on your system and that you are comfortable the agent can read/write that location. Do not store secrets or private credentials in task descriptions, as the skill persists task contents to disk. If you rely on other IceCube components (heartbeat, memory, evolution), verify those components exist and are trusted — the SKILL.md mentions them but does not declare dependencies. If you prefer to limit autonomous file writes, run the skill in an isolated workspace or restrict agent permissions accordingly.

Tasks that survive session restarts.

Chat-based task lists die when context compacts. IceCube Tasks lives in files, tracked across sessions.

What This Skill Does

1. Task Persistence

• Tasks stored in state/tasks/ directory
• Survives context compaction
• Survives session restarts
• Survives agent crashes

2. Task Lifecycle

inbox → spec → in_progress → blocked → done
                    ↓
                 cancelled

3. Task Orchestration

• Break down large tasks into subtasks
• Assign to worker agents
• Track completion
• Handle handoffs

4. Blocker Management

• Track blockers explicitly
• Link to dependencies
• Auto-escalate stale blockers
• Resume when unblocked

File Structure

state/tasks/
├── current_dispatch.yaml    # What's being worked on NOW
├── current_schedule.yaml    # What's scheduled
├── unclosed_work.yaml       # All open items
├── task_ledger/
│   ├── TASK-001.yaml
│   ├── TASK-002.yaml
│   └── ...
└── completed/
    ├── TASK-000.yaml
    └── ...

Task File Format

state/tasks/task_ledger/TASK-001.yaml:

id: TASK-001
title: "Publish IceCube Skills to ClawHub"
status: in_progress  # inbox|spec|in_progress|blocked|done|cancelled
created_at: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
updated_at: 2026-03-31 02:15 CST

# What
description: |
  Create and publish IceCube Skills series to ClawHub marketplace.
  
# Why
context: |
  Boss wants to explore creating tools and selling them.
  AI agent memory is an underserved market.
  
# How
steps:
  - id: STEP-1
    task: "Create icecube-memory skill"
    status: done
    completed_at: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
  - id: STEP-2
    task: "Create icecube-heartbeat skill"
    status: done
    completed_at: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
  - id: STEP-3
    task: "Create icecube-evolution skill"
    status: done
    completed_at: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
  - id: STEP-4
    task: "Create icecube-reddit-scout skill"
    status: done
    completed_at: 2026-03-31 02:08 CST
  - id: STEP-5
    task: "Publish to ClawHub"
    status: blocked
    blocked_reason: "GitHub account needs 14 days age"
    blocked_until: 2026-04-10

# Dependencies
depends_on: []
blocks: []

# Assignment
assigned_to: main_agent  # main_agent|worker_1|user

# Priority
priority: high  # critical|high|medium|low
deadline: null

# Success Criteria
success_criteria:
  - All 4 skills published to ClawHub
  - Skills are installable by users
  - Documentation is complete

# Metadata
tags: [skills, clawhub, monetization]
estimated_effort: 2h
actual_effort: 1h

# History
history:
  - timestamp: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
    event: created
  - timestamp: 2026-03-31 01:53 CST
    event: step_completed
    step: STEP-1
  - timestamp: 2026-03-31 02:10 CST
    event: blocked
    reason: "ClawHub requires 14-day-old GitHub account"

Commands

Create Task

# Write to state/tasks/task_ledger/TASK-XXX.yaml
id: TASK-XXX
title: "Task title"
status: inbox
created_at: <now>

Start Task

# Update task file
status: in_progress
updated_at: <now>
assigned_to: <agent>

# Update current_dispatch.yaml
focused_task: TASK-XXX

Block Task

# Update task file
status: blocked
blocked_reason: "Why blocked"
blocked_until: "When it might be resolved"
updated_at: <now>

# Update unclosed_work.yaml
- Add blocker note

Complete Task

# Update task file
status: done
completed_at: <now>

# Move to completed/
# Update current_dispatch.yaml
focused_task: null

Orchestration Patterns

Pattern 1: Sequential

TASK-001 → TASK-002 → TASK-003

Each task blocks the next.

Pattern 2: Parallel

TASK-001 ─┬→ TASK-003
TASK-002 ─┘

TASK-003 depends on both.

Pattern 3: Delegated

main_agent → worker_agent (TASK-001)
          → worker_agent (TASK-002)

Subagents execute parallel tasks.

Pattern 4: User-Blocked

TASK-001 → [waiting for user] → TASK-001 continues

Agent can't proceed without user input.

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't:

• Create tasks without writing to files
• Update status in chat only
• Forget about blocked tasks
• Leave tasks in limbo

✅ Do:

• Write every task to a file
• Update status immediately
• Check blockers regularly
• Close tasks explicitly

Integration with IceCube Suite

icecube-heartbeat: Checks for stale tasks during heartbeat icecube-evolution: Failed tasks feed improvement queue icecube-memory: Task context loaded on startup

Task Recovery

If agent crashes or restarts:

1. Read state/tasks/current_dispatch.yaml
2. Find focused_task
3. Read task file from task_ledger/
4. Resume from last completed step

Metrics

Track in state/tasks/metrics.yaml:

total_created: 47
total_completed: 42
total_cancelled: 3
currently_open: 5
avg_completion_time: 2.3h
blocker_rate: 15%

License

MIT — Use freely.

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Tasks in files survive. Tasks in chat die.