Proposal: Evolving the Minimal Task Bar (Phase 1)

[BerkayYilmaz11]

Frame already has a minimal task experience with tasks.json and lightweight AI-driven task suggestions.

Instead of introducing a completely new planning system, I think a better direction is to evolve the existing Minimal Task Bar step by step.

This proposal focuses on Phase 1 — making tasks more structured and actionable while keeping everything lightweight.

Phase 1

1. Epic-Based Grouping

Extend the current task list to support simple epic grouping:
• Epic
• Task
• Task
• Task

This adds structure without introducing a heavy planning system.

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2. Epic Suggestion on Task Creation

When a task is created:
• compare it with existing tasks
• suggest a matching epic if similarity is high

Example:
• Parser Reliability
• Create new epic
• No epic

This should be suggestion-based, not automatic.

⸻

3. Task Status + State-Aware Card Actions

Each task has a simple status:
• Todo
• In Progress
• Done

But more importantly, the available card actions should change based on status.

Todo
• Start
• Edit
• Assign Epic

In Progress
• Open Branch
• Mark Done
• Update

Done
• Reopen
• View Branch

This makes task cards actionable instead of purely informational.

⸻

4. Start Task → Auto Branch Creation

When a user clicks Start:
• create a branch:
task/-slug
• attach it to the task
• update status to in_progress

This is the core execution-oriented action in Phase 1.

⸻

5. Terminal Commands for Tasks and Epics

Tasks and epics should not be managed only from the UI.

It should also be possible to use commands from any terminal inside the editor, for example:
• /task create
• /task update
• /task done
• /epic create
• /epic update

This is especially useful for users already working heavily in terminal or AI-agent workflows.

The command layer and the card UI should operate on the same underlying tasks.json structure.

⸻

6. Keep tasks.json as Source of Truth

No new planning system is required for Phase 1.

Just extend the current structure with a few additional fields such as:
• status
• epic
• branch

Example:

{ "id": "TASK-12", "title": "Fix parser edge cases", "status": "in_progress", "epic": "Parser Reliability", "branch": "task/TASK-12-parser-edge-cases" }

Why this feels like the right Phase 1

This phase:
• builds on the current Minimal Task Bar
• keeps things lightweight
• introduces epics without too much complexity
• makes tasks directly actionable through cards
• adds terminal-first workflows alongside UI workflows
• connects tasks to execution with branch creation

⸻

Future Phases

Phase 2
• Plan button / planning flow
• better AI task extraction
• task splitting

Phase 3
• AI-powered card actions like “Create Tests”
• activity-based task updates
• commit / PR linking

Phase 4
• optional external sync (Trello / Linear via MCP)

The Minimal Task Bar should evolve from a passive list into a lightweight execution surface — with epic grouping, state-aware card actions, and terminal commands that work from anywhere inside the editor.