maintain-tasks

# Task Management for Session Continuity

Tasks are your **working memory that survives compaction**. Use them to maintain intent, sequence, and coordination across the natural lifecycle of a session.

## Tasks vs Issue Trackers

| Tool | Purpose | Scope |
|------|---------|-------|
| **Tasks** | Session/project working memory | Current effort, active coordination |
| **Linear/GitHub** | Team-visible project management | Cross-session, multi-person tracking |

Tasks are NOT a replacement for filing issues. They are your **local execution state** — what you're doing now, what comes next, who (which agent) is responsible.

**Sync pattern:**
1. Pull work from Linear/GitHub into Tasks for execution
2. Work through Tasks within the session
3. Update Linear/GitHub at completion boundaries

## Why Tasks Survive Compaction

When context compacts, conversation history gets summarized. But Tasks persist in full:

- Task subjects and descriptions remain intact
- Dependencies (`blockedBy`, `blocks`) preserved
- Status (`pending`, `in_progress`, `completed`) preserved
- **Subagent assignments preserved** (critical — see below)

This means after compaction, you can read TaskList and know exactly where you were, what's next, and who's responsible.

## Subagent Assignment (Critical)

**Always assign subagents explicitly in task subjects.**

After compaction, nuanced instructions like "have the reviewer check this" can lose fidelity. Explicit assignment survives:

```
[engineer] Implement auth refresh endpoint
[reviewer] Review auth implementation for security
[tester] Validate auth flow end-to-end
```

The `[agent-name]` prefix is not decoration — it's **recoverable intent**. After compaction, you can scan TaskList and immediately know which agent handles each task.

### Assignment Patterns

```
# Explicit agent assignment
[engineer] Build the feature
[analyst] Research the approach
[reviewer] Check for issues
[tester] Validate behavior

# Background agents (include task ID for ret