Open Task Model v0.1.0

Source: task-model/index.md

Open Task Model v0.1.0

Status

Draft

Overview

Open Task Model v0.1.0 defines a single work object called Task.

This version specifies the task data model and the semantics required to determine task readiness. It does not define storage, transport, encoding framing, or synchronization mechanisms.

Task Object

A Task has the following fields:

• id: ULID. Must be unique within the task set.
• kind: Task category. Typical values include bug, feature, task, epic, and chore.
• title: Short human-readable summary.
• description: Longer description of the work.
• design: Implementation or design notes.
• notes: Freeform working notes.
• priority: Integer from 0 to 4, where 4 means backlog.
• status: Task state. Implementations must support at least open and closed.
• lease: Nullable ULID identifying the currently active lease for the task.
• depends_on: List of task IDs that must be closed before this task is ready.
• parent_id: Nullable task ID for hierarchical grouping.
• created_by: Cryptographic actor identity in the form id:ret:<hex>.
• created_at: Creation timestamp.
• updated_at: Last-update timestamp.
• closed_at: Nullable close timestamp.
• close_reason: Nullable reason for closure.
• tags: List of strings.

Field Semantics

Identity

• id is the stable identifier for the task.
• created_by identifies the actor that created the task.

Hierarchy

• parent_id links a task to a parent task.
• A parent task may be used for grouping, planning, or decomposition.

Dependencies

• depends_on lists prerequisite tasks.
• A task named in depends_on must be closed before the dependent task can be considered ready.

Lifecycle

• status is authoritative and must not be inferred from timestamps.
• created_at and updated_at are required lifecycle timestamps.
• closed_at and close_reason should be set when status = "closed".

Priority

• priority = 0 is the highest urgency.
• priority = 4 represents backlog work.

Lease

• lease is either null or the ULID of the currently active lease for the task.
• Lease semantics are implementation-defined in this version.

Readiness

A task is ready when all of the following are true:

• status = "open"
• every task named in depends_on is closed

Example

{
  "id": "01JQ7M7H8YF2Q3K9T6N4WZ1B5C",
  "kind": "task",
  "title": "Harden IBKR persistent session and reconnect handling",
  "description": "",
  "design": "Use exponential backoff and keep reconnect state isolated from session bootstrap.",
  "notes": "Waiting on execution read model and upstream readiness.",
  "priority": 4,
  "status": "open",
  "lease": "01JQ7N0E5R6S8T1U2V3W4X5Y6Z",
  "depends_on": [
    "01JQ7M9N3J6Q8V1R4S2T5Y7Z8A"
  ],
  "parent_id": "01JQ7M6B0P4D2R8X9C1V3N5K7M",
  "created_by": "id:ret:7b9f3c1d8a4e6f2b0c9d5a1e7f3b6c2d",
  "created_at": "2026-03-22T06:36:16.685455Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-03-23T14:22:00Z",
  "closed_at": null,
  "close_reason": null,
  "tags": ["ibkr", "reconnect", "backend"]
}