--- name: task-bg description: Launch and manage background tasks for parallel droid execution using background-manager.py. Factory Droid has no native run_in_background, so this uses manual Python-based background management. --- Task-bg launches droids as background tasks for parallel execution. Factory Droid CLI does not have native `run_in_background` support, so this skill uses `background-manager.py` to manually manage background task lifecycle: launch, monitor, collect results, and cleanup. - Need to run a droid task in the background while continuing other work - User says "background", "task-bg", "run in background" - Long-running operations (builds, test suites, large refactors) - Multiple independent tasks that should run concurrently - Used internally by ultrawork and ralph for parallel droid orchestration - Quick operations that complete in seconds -- run directly - Tasks that need interactive feedback -- run in foreground - For full parallel orchestration -- use `ultrawork` which manages task-bg internally 1. PARSE - Extract description, prompt, and droid selection 2. LAUNCH - Run `python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch ...` 3. TRACK - Task is recorded in `~/.factory/.omd/background-tasks/` 4. MONITOR - Use `list` for summary or `status ` for specific task 5. COLLECT - Use `output ` to read stdout/stderr 6. REPORT - Summary of all background task outcomes 1. DO NOT run quick operations in background 2. DO NOT forget to collect results 3. DO NOT skip cleanup of completed tasks 4. DO NOT use for tasks needing interactive feedback Factory Droid CLI does not support `run_in_background: true` like some other platforms. Instead, we use `background-manager.py` which: - Executes `droid exec --auto -- ""` as a background process - Tracks tasks in `~/.factory/.omd/background-tasks/` as JSON files (task state) and `.out` files (output) - Provides CLI commands: launch, complete, status, output, list, prune, cleanup, hook-complete - Integrates with the `SubagentStop` hook via `hook-complete` for automatic completion tracking ### Launch a task ```bash python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "" "" [autonomy_level] [model] ``` - `description`: Short task label (3-5 words) - `prompt`: Full task instructions for the droid - `droid`: Droid name (e.g., executor-med, explorer) - `parent_session_id`: Current session ID (use "main" if unknown) - `autonomy_level`: low | medium (default) | high - `model`: Optional model override ### Examples ```bash # Search task (low autonomy - read only) python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Find auth patterns" "Find all authentication implementations in src/" explorer "main" low # Implementation task (medium autonomy - default) python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Fix API errors" "Fix all validation errors in src/api/" executor-med "main" medium # Complex task (high autonomy + model override) python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Refactor auth" "Refactor auth module to support OAuth2" executor-high "main" high opus # Multiple tasks in parallel python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Fix auth" "Fix auth module errors" executor-med "main" python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Fix API" "Fix API route errors" executor-med "main" python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch "Fix UI" "Fix frontend type errors" executor-med "main" ``` ### Monitor tasks ```bash # List all tasks with status summary (total, running, queued, completed, error) python3 hooks/background-manager.py list # Check specific task status (returns full task JSON) python3 hooks/background-manager.py status # Get task stdout/stderr output from .out file python3 hooks/background-manager.py output ``` ### Complete a task manually ```bash python3 hooks/background-manager.py complete "" [error_message] ``` ### Cleanup ```bash # Prune stale/timed-out tasks (marks as ERROR, respects TTL of 30 min) python3 hooks/background-manager.py prune # Reset all tasks from memory (does NOT delete .json files) python3 hooks/background-manager.py cleanup ``` ### Hook integration (internal - called by SubagentStop hook) ```bash # Reads session_id from stdin JSON, finds matching task, marks complete with transcript result python3 hooks/background-manager.py hook-complete ``` | Level | Droid exec flag | Use Case | |-------|----------------|----------| | `low` | `--auto low` | Read-only analysis, search, documentation | | `medium` | `--auto medium` | Most development tasks (DEFAULT) | | `high` | `--auto high` | Complex refactoring, broad file access | | Droid | Best For | |-------|----------| | `basic-searcher` | Simple file/pattern search | | `explore` / `explorer` | Codebase exploration | | `librarian` | External documentation research | | `oracle` | Debugging and root cause analysis | | `executor-low` | Simple changes, config edits | | `executor-med` | Standard implementation (DEFAULT) | | `executor-high` | Complex multi-file changes | | `hephaestus` | Architecture-level work | | `code-reviewer` | Code quality review | | `security-auditor` | Security analysis | | `test-engineer` | Test creation and coverage | 1. **Parse**: Extract description, prompt, and droid selection from user input 2. **Launch**: Run `python3 hooks/background-manager.py launch ...` via Execute tool 3. **Track**: Task is automatically recorded in `~/.factory/.omd/background-tasks/.json` 4. **Monitor**: Use `list` for summary or `status ` for specific task 5. **Collect**: Use `output ` to read stdout/stderr from `.out` 6. **Report**: Summary of all background task outcomes ``` launch() -> RUNNING -> complete() -> COMPLETED -> error -> ERROR -> prune() -> ERROR (timeout/stale) ``` Files per task: - `~/.factory/.omd/background-tasks/.json` - Task state (status, progress, metadata) - `~/.factory/.omd/background-tasks/.out` - Stdout/stderr from `droid exec` Hook: `SubagentStop` event calls `background-manager.py hook-complete` which reads transcript and auto-completes the matching task. ## Background Tasks | Task ID | Droid | Status | Result | |---------|-------|--------|--------| | [id] | executor-med | completed | [summary] | | [id] | test-engineer | running | 50% | ### Completed - [Task]: [result summary] ### Still Running - [Task]: [progress]

task-bg

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