Spec Kit Tasks Skill

When to Use

The implementation plan is ready and you need a dependency-ordered task list.

Inputs

specs//plan.md

and

specs//spec.md

Optional artifacts:

data-model.md

,

contracts/

,

research.md

,

quickstart.md

Any user constraints or priorities from the request

If the plan is missing, ask the user to run speckit-plan first.

Workflow

Setup

Run

.specify/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh --json

from repo root and parse FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS list. All paths must be absolute. For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

Load design documents

Read from FEATURE_DIR:

Required

plan.md (tech stack, libraries, structure), spec.md (user stories with priorities)

Optional

data-model.md (entities), contracts/ (API endpoints), research.md (decisions), quickstart.md (test scenarios)

Note: Not all projects have all documents. Generate tasks based on what's available.

Execute task generation workflow

:

Load plan.md and extract tech stack, libraries, project structure

Load spec.md and extract user stories with their priorities (P1, P2, P3, etc.)

If data-model.md exists: Extract entities and map to user stories

If contracts/ exists: Map endpoints to user stories

If research.md exists: Extract decisions for setup tasks

Generate tasks organized by user story (see Task Generation Rules below)

Generate dependency graph showing user story completion order

Create parallel execution examples per user story

Validate task completeness (each user story has all needed tasks, independently testable)

Generate tasks.md

Use

.specify/templates/tasks-template.md

as structure, fill with:

Correct feature name from plan.md

Phase 1: Setup tasks (project initialization)

Phase 2: Foundational tasks (blocking prerequisites for all user stories)

Phase 3+: One phase per user story (in priority order from spec.md)

Each phase includes: story goal, independent test criteria, tests (if requested), implementation tasks

Final Phase: Polish & cross-cutting concerns

All tasks must follow the strict checklist format (see Task Generation Rules below)

Clear file paths for each task

Dependencies section showing story completion order

Parallel execution examples per story

Implementation strategy section (MVP first, incremental delivery)

Report

Output path to generated tasks.md and summary:

Total task count

Task count per user story

Parallel opportunities identified

Independent test criteria for each story

Suggested MVP scope (typically just User Story 1)

Format validation: Confirm ALL tasks follow the checklist format (checkbox, ID, labels, file paths)

Context for task generation: the user's request and any stated priorities

The tasks.md should be immediately executable - each task must be specific enough that an LLM can complete it without additional context.

Task Generation Rules

CRITICAL

Tasks MUST be organized by user story to enable independent implementation and testing.

Tests are OPTIONAL

Only generate test tasks if explicitly requested in the feature specification or if user requests TDD approach.

Checklist Format (REQUIRED)

Every task MUST strictly follow this format:

- [ ] [TaskID] [P?] [Story?] Description with file path

Format Components

:

Checkbox

ALWAYS start with

- [ ]

(markdown checkbox)

Task ID

Sequential number (T001, T002, T003...) in execution order

[P] marker

Include ONLY if task is parallelizable (different files, no dependencies on incomplete tasks)

[Story] label

REQUIRED for user story phase tasks only

Format: [US1], [US2], [US3], etc. (maps to user stories from spec.md)

Setup phase: NO story label

Foundational phase: NO story label

User Story phases: MUST have story label

Polish phase: NO story label

Description

Clear action with exact file path

Examples

:

✅ CORRECT:

- [ ] T001 Create project structure per implementation plan

✅ CORRECT:

- [ ] T005 [P] Implement authentication middleware in src/middleware/auth.py

✅ CORRECT:

- [ ] T012 [P] [US1] Create User model in src/models/user.py

✅ CORRECT:

- [ ] T014 [US1] Implement UserService in src/services/user_service.py

❌ WRONG:

- [ ] Create User model

(missing ID and Story label)

❌ WRONG:

T001 [US1] Create model

(missing checkbox)

❌ WRONG:

- [ ] [US1] Create User model

(missing Task ID)

❌ WRONG:

- [ ] T001 [US1] Create model

(missing file path)

Task Organization

From User Stories (spec.md)

- PRIMARY ORGANIZATION:

Each user story (P1, P2, P3...) gets its own phase

Map all related components to their story:

Models needed for that story

Services needed for that story

Endpoints/UI needed for that story

If tests requested: Tests specific to that story

Mark story dependencies (most stories should be independent)

From Contracts

:

Map each contract/endpoint → to the user story it serves

If tests requested: Each contract → contract test task [P] before implementation in that story's phase

From Data Model

:

Map each entity to the user story(ies) that need it

If entity serves multiple stories: Put in earliest story or Setup phase

Relationships → service layer tasks in appropriate story phase

From Setup/Infrastructure

:

Shared infrastructure → Setup phase (Phase 1)

Foundational/blocking tasks → Foundational phase (Phase 2)

Story-specific setup → within that story's phase

Phase Structure

Phase 1

Setup (project initialization)

Phase 2

Foundational (blocking prerequisites - MUST complete before user stories)

Phase 3+

User Stories in priority order (P1, P2, P3...)

Within each story: Tests (if requested) → Models → Services → Endpoints → Integration

Each phase should be a complete, independently testable increment

Final Phase

Polish & Cross-Cutting Concerns Outputs specs//tasks.md Next Steps After tasks are generated: Analyze cross-artifact consistency with speckit-analyze. Implement the plan with speckit-implement.