TaskGraph

A CLI tool for managing task dependencies using markdown files.

Each task is a single .md file with YAML frontmatter, making tasks version-controllable, LLM-editable, and naturally concurrent.

Installation

cargo install taskgraph

Quick Start

# Initialize a new task
taskgraph init my-task --name "My Task"

# List all tasks
taskgraph list

# Validate task files
taskgraph validate

# Show topological order
taskgraph topo

# Check for circular dependencies
taskgraph cycles

# Show parallel work groups
taskgraph parallel

Task File Format

---
id: my-task
name: My Task
status: pending
depends_on: [other-task]
scope: narrow
risk: low
---

Detailed description of the task goes here.

Required Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Unique identifier
`name`	string	Human-readable name

Optional Fields

Field	Type	Description
`status`	enum	pending, in-progress, completed, failed, blocked
`depends_on`	string[]	Tasks that must complete first
`scope`	enum	single, narrow, moderate, broad, system
`risk`	enum	trivial, low, medium, high, critical
`impact`	enum	isolated, component, phase, project
`level`	enum	planning, decomposition, implementation, review, research
`tags`	string[]	Arbitrary tags for filtering

Commands

Task Management

Command	Description
`init <id>`	Scaffold a new task file
`validate`	Validate all task files
`list`	List all tasks
`show <id>`	Show task details

Graph Operations

Command	Description
`deps <id>`	Show what a task depends on
`dependents <id>`	Show what depends on a task
`topo`	Show topological order
`cycles`	Check for circular dependencies
`parallel`	Show parallel work groups
`critical`	Show critical path
`bottleneck`	Show bottleneck tasks
`graph`	Output graph in DOT format

Workflow Analysis

Command	Description
`risk`	Show risk distribution across tasks
`decompose`	Flag tasks that should be split
`workflow-cost`	Calculate relative workflow cost
`risk-path`	Find path with highest cumulative risk

Project Structure

project/
└── tasks/
    ├── task-one.md
    ├── task-two.md
    └── ...

Learn More

Workflow Guide — Practical usage patterns and phases
Framework — Why categorical estimates over numeric costs
Architecture — Technical design decisions

Performance

TaskGraph is designed for speed. No caching needed—graph rebuilds are instant:

Tasks	Load Time	Topo Sort	Cycles	Critical Path
50	3ms	3ms	2ms	8ms
500	19ms	21ms	14ms	52ms
1,000	34ms	42ms	26ms	82ms

Benchmarked on AMD EPYC 9004 series. Run ./scripts/benchmark.sh to verify on your system.

Configuration

Create .taskgraph.toml in your project root:

[project]
tasks_dir = "tasks"

TaskGraph searches up the directory tree for config files (like git).

Output Formats

All commands support --format json for programmatic use:

taskgraph list --format json
taskgraph show my-task --format json
taskgraph validate --format json

License

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or MIT license at your option.

taskgraph 0.1.1