Flow Completer

Completion Pattern: Verify → Update Status → Advance Pointer → Report

Task Completion Workflow

Step 1: Read Task File

Before marking task complete, read the task file to understand current state:

READ: .flow/phase-N/task-M.md

Extract:

• Task name and status
• All iterations (if task has iterations)
• All action items (if standalone task)
• Current work status

Step 2: Verify Task Completion

Verification Checklist:

IF task has iterations:
    FOR EACH iteration:
        IF status = ⏳ PENDING or 🚧 IN PROGRESS:
            ❌ FAIL: "Iteration N: [Name] is not complete"
        IF status = ❌ CANCELLED or 🔮 DEFERRED:
            ✅ PASS (acceptable, not blocking)
        IF status = ✅ COMPLETE:
            ✅ PASS
    IF ALL iterations are ✅/❌/🔮:
        ✅ PASS task verification

ELSE IF standalone task:
    IF any action items unchecked `- [ ]`:
        ❌ FAIL: "X action items incomplete"
    IF all action items checked `- [x]`:
        ✅ PASS task verification

Additional Checks:

• Implementation notes updated (if task had implementation)
• Files modified documented
• No unresolved blockers mentioned
• Verification section filled out

Step 3: Mark Task Complete

If verification passes:

1. Update task file:

   # Task N: Name
   
   **Status**: ✅ COMPLETE (2025-MM-DD)
   

2. Update DASHBOARD.md:

   • Find task in "Progress Overview"
   • Change marker: ⏳ Task N: Name → ✅ Task N: Name
   • Update phase completion percentage
   • Advance "Current Work" pointer to next pending task

3. Report to user:

   ✅ Task N: [Name] marked complete!
   
   Completed:
   - [X] iterations complete (or Y cancelled/deferred)
   - All action items verified
   - Documentation updated
   
   Next: [Next task or phase status]
   

Step 4: Handle Incomplete Work

If verification fails:

1. Report incomplete items:

   ❌ Cannot mark task complete. Incomplete work found:
   
   Iterations:
   - ⏳ Iteration 2: [Name] - Status: PENDING
   - 🚧 Iteration 3: [Name] - Status: IN PROGRESS
   
   OR
   
   Action Items:
   - [ ] 3 unchecked action items
   
   Complete these first, then use `/flow-task-complete` again.
   

2. Suggest actions:

   • If iterations pending: "Use /flow-next-iteration to continue work"
   • If action items unchecked: "Complete remaining action items"
   • If user wants to defer: "Use /flow-iteration-add to mark iteration 🔮 DEFERRED"

Phase Completion Workflow

Step 1: List All Tasks in Phase

READ: .flow/phase-N/ directory

Extract:

• All task files in phase directory
• Count total tasks
• Determine status of each task

Step 2: Verify Phase Completion

Verification Checklist:

FOR EACH task in phase:
    IF task status = ⏳ PENDING or 🚧 IN PROGRESS:
        ❌ FAIL: "Task N: [Name] is not complete"
    IF task status = ❌ CANCELLED:
        ✅ PASS (acceptable, not blocking)
    IF task status = ✅ COMPLETE:
        ✅ PASS

IF ALL tasks are ✅/❌:
    ✅ PASS phase verification

Additional Checks:

• Phase goals achieved (check DASHBOARD.md phase description)
• All deliverables complete
• No pending work in any task

Step 3: Mark Phase Complete

If verification passes:

1. Update DASHBOARD.md:

   • Find phase in "Progress Overview"
   • Change header: ### Phase N: Name → ### Phase N: Name ✅
   • Update phase status line
   • Advance "Current Work" to next phase

2. Report to user:

   ✅ Phase N: [Name] marked complete!
   
   Completed:
   - [X] tasks complete (Y cancelled)
   - All phase goals achieved
   
   Next Phase: Phase [N+1]: [Name]
   OR
   Project complete! 🎉
   

Step 4: Handle Incomplete Work

If verification fails:

1. Report incomplete tasks:

   ❌ Cannot mark phase complete. Incomplete tasks found:
   
   Tasks:
   - ⏳ Task 2: [Name] - Status: PENDING
   - 🚧 Task 3: [Name] - Status: IN PROGRESS
   
   Complete these first, or cancel if scope changed.
   

2. Suggest actions:

   • "Use /flow-task-start to continue Task N"
   • "Use /flow-task-complete to finish Task N"
   • If scope changed: "Consider marking Task N as ❌ CANCELLED"

Completion Slash Commands

/flow-task-complete

Use when: All iterations/action items done for current task

Prerequisites:

• All iterations ✅ COMPLETE (or ❌/🔮)
• All action items checked off (if standalone)
• Documentation updated

Effect:

• Marks task ✅ COMPLETE with date
• Updates DASHBOARD.md progress
• Advances current work pointer

/flow-phase-complete

Use when: All tasks done in current phase

Prerequisites:

• All tasks ✅ COMPLETE (or ❌ CANCELLED)
• Phase goals achieved

Effect:

• Marks phase ✅ COMPLETE
• Updates DASHBOARD.md
• Advances to next phase or project end

Edge Cases

Cancelled or Deferred Work

Cancelled Iterations (❌):

• Not blocking for task completion
• Document why cancelled in iteration notes
• Examples: Scope changed, not needed, replaced by better approach

Deferred Iterations (🔮):

• Not blocking for task completion
• Document why deferred (V2, future version)
• Examples: Nice-to-have, optimization, future enhancement

Cancelled Tasks (❌):

• Not blocking for phase completion
• Document why cancelled in task notes
• Examples: Duplicate work, scope change, no longer needed

Partial Completion

Scenario: Task has 5 iterations, 3 complete, 2 deferred

✅ Iteration 1: Basic Implementation - COMPLETE
✅ Iteration 2: Core Features - COMPLETE
✅ Iteration 3: Testing - COMPLETE
🔮 Iteration 4: Advanced Features - DEFERRED (V2)
🔮 Iteration 5: Optimizations - DEFERRED (V2)

Action: Task can be marked complete! Deferred work doesn't block.

Report:

✅ Task can be marked complete!

Completed: 3/5 iterations
Deferred to V2: 2 iterations (documented)

This is valid - deferred work doesn't block completion.

Blocked Work

Scenario: Task has iteration marked ❌ BLOCKED

✅ Iteration 1: Setup - COMPLETE
❌ Iteration 2: Implementation - BLOCKED (external dependency unavailable)
⏳ Iteration 3: Testing - PENDING

Action: Cannot mark task complete - blocked iteration needs resolution

Report:

❌ Cannot mark task complete. Found blocked work:

Iteration 2: Implementation - ❌ BLOCKED
Blocker: External dependency unavailable

Resolution options:
1. Unblock iteration and complete it
2. Mark iteration ❌ CANCELLED if no longer needed
3. Mark iteration 🔮 DEFERRED if can be done later

Completion Verification Patterns

Pattern 1: Task with All Iterations Complete

✅ Iteration 1: Skeleton - COMPLETE (2025-10-15)
✅ Iteration 2: Veins - COMPLETE (2025-10-18)
✅ Iteration 3: Flesh - COMPLETE (2025-10-22)

Verification: ✅ PASS - All iterations complete

Action: Mark task complete

Pattern 2: Task with Mixed Status

✅ Iteration 1: Basic Feature - COMPLETE (2025-10-15)
❌ Iteration 2: Advanced Feature - CANCELLED (scope change)
🔮 Iteration 3: Optimization - DEFERRED (V2)

Verification: ✅ PASS - No pending/in-progress iterations

Action: Mark task complete (cancelled and deferred are acceptable)

Pattern 3: Standalone Task

Action Items:
- [x] Create component
- [x] Add tests
- [x] Update documentation
- [x] Deploy to staging

Verification: ✅ PASS - All action items checked

Action: Mark task complete

Pattern 4: Phase with All Tasks Done

### Phase 2: Core Features
- ✅ Task 1: User Authentication - COMPLETE
- ✅ Task 2: API Endpoints - COMPLETE
- ❌ Task 3: Admin Dashboard - CANCELLED (out of V1 scope)
- ✅ Task 4: Error Handling - COMPLETE

Verification: ✅ PASS - No pending/in-progress tasks

Action: Mark phase complete

Best Practices

DO:

• ✅ Verify ALL iterations/tasks before marking complete
• ✅ Check documentation is updated
• ✅ Update both task file AND DASHBOARD.md
• ✅ Advance current work pointer after completion
• ✅ Report summary of what was completed

DON'T:

• ❌ Skip verification checks
• ❌ Mark incomplete work as complete
• ❌ Forget to update DASHBOARD.md
• ❌ Leave current work pointer on completed item
• ❌ Ignore blocked or pending iterations

Examples

Example 1: Completing Task with All Iterations Done

User: "Mark this task complete"

AI Process:
1. Read task file (task-2.md)
2. Find 3 iterations, all marked ✅ COMPLETE
3. Verify documentation updated
4. All checks pass

AI Response:
"✅ Task 2: API Integration marked complete!

Verification Results:
✅ All 3 iterations complete:
  - Iteration 1: Basic Setup (2025-10-15)
  - Iteration 2: Error Handling (2025-10-18)
  - Iteration 3: Testing (2025-10-22)
✅ Implementation notes updated
✅ 12 files modified documented
✅ Tests passing

Updated DASHBOARD.md - Phase 2 now 50% complete (2/4 tasks done)

Next: Task 3: Database Integration (⏳ PENDING)"

Example 2: Cannot Complete - Found Incomplete Work

User: "Finish this task"

AI Process:
1. Read task file (task-3.md)
2. Find 4 iterations: 2 complete, 1 in progress, 1 pending
3. Verification FAILS

AI Response:
"❌ Cannot mark task complete. Found incomplete work:

Iterations Status:
✅ Iteration 1: Schema Design - COMPLETE
✅ Iteration 2: Migrations - COMPLETE
🚧 Iteration 3: Data Access Layer - IN PROGRESS (60% done)
⏳ Iteration 4: Testing - PENDING

Complete Iteration 3 and 4 first, then use `/flow-task-complete`.

Current action items for Iteration 3:
- [x] Create User repository
- [x] Create Post repository
- [ ] Create Comment repository (← CURRENT)
- [ ] Add transaction support
- [ ] Add error handling"

Example 3: Completing Phase

User: "Mark Phase 2 complete"

AI Process:
1. List all tasks in phase-2/ directory
2. Find 5 tasks: 4 complete, 1 cancelled
3. Verify phase goals achieved
4. All checks pass

AI Response:
"✅ Phase 2: Core Features marked complete!

Verification Results:
✅ All tasks done:
  - Task 1: User Auth - COMPLETE
  - Task 2: API Endpoints - COMPLETE
  - Task 3: Data Layer - COMPLETE
  - Task 4: Error Handling - COMPLETE
  - Task 5: Admin Panel - CANCELLED (scope change, documented)
✅ Phase goals achieved:
  - User authentication working
  - API fully functional
  - Data persistence implemented
  - Error handling in place

Phase 2 Duration: 3 weeks (Oct 1 - Oct 22)

Updated DASHBOARD.md - Project now 66% complete (2/3 phases done)

Next Phase: Phase 3: Testing & Polish (⏳ PENDING)"

Example 4: Completing Task with Deferred Work

User: "Complete this task"

AI Process:
1. Read task file (task-4.md)
2. Find 5 iterations: 3 complete, 2 deferred to V2
3. Verification PASSES (deferred is acceptable)

AI Response:
"✅ Task 4: Performance Optimization can be marked complete!

Verification Results:
✅ Core iterations complete (3/5):
  - Iteration 1: Identify Bottlenecks - COMPLETE
  - Iteration 2: Database Indexing - COMPLETE
  - Iteration 3: Caching Layer - COMPLETE
🔮 Deferred to V2 (2/5):
  - Iteration 4: Advanced Caching - DEFERRED (nice-to-have)
  - Iteration 5: Load Balancing - DEFERRED (premature optimization)

This is valid! Deferred work doesn't block task completion.

Updated task status to ✅ COMPLETE (2025-10-22)
Phase 3 now 75% complete (3/4 tasks done)

Next: Task 5: Documentation (⏳ PENDING)"

Interaction with Other Flow Skills

Build Stage (flow-builder Skill):

• /flow-implement-complete - Marks iteration complete
• That feeds into this skill's task completion checks

Complete Stage (This Skill):

• /flow-task-complete - Mark task done ← YOU ARE HERE
• /flow-phase-complete - Mark phase done ← YOU ARE HERE

Navigate Stage (flow-navigator Skill):

• /flow-status - Check what's left before completing
• /flow-next - See next work after completing

References

• Task Completion Pattern: DEVELOPMENT_FRAMEWORK.md lines 1837-1871
• Status Markers: DEVELOPMENT_FRAMEWORK.md lines 1872-1968
• Phase Management: DEVELOPMENT_FRAMEWORK.md lines 170-237

Completion Gate Checklist

Before Completing Task

[ ] All iterations ✅ COMPLETE (or ❌/🔮)
[ ] OR all action items checked (standalone task)
[ ] Implementation notes updated
[ ] Files modified documented
[ ] No unresolved blockers
[ ] Verification section complete

If ALL checked → Use /flow-task-complete

If ANY unchecked → Complete remaining work first

Before Completing Phase

[ ] All tasks ✅ COMPLETE (or ❌ CANCELLED)
[ ] Phase goals achieved
[ ] All deliverables done
[ ] No pending work in phase

If ALL checked → Use /flow-phase-complete

If ANY unchecked → Complete remaining tasks first