TODO Archive

SkillProductivity

Archive checked TODO.md tasks into `.ai/todos/YYYY-MM/DD.md`, leaving unchecked tasks.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the TODO Archive skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by paulrberg/agent-skills in skills/todo-archive/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

If these instructions are already present in the conversation from a slash or dollar invocation, follow them directly; do not invoke this skill again through a skill tool.

Arguments

  • path (optional): Repository root or any path inside the repository. Default to the current directory.
  • --hint TEXT (optional): Archive only the section whose heading contains TEXT (case-insensitive substring), including its subsections. Without it, archive checked tasks from the whole file. Checked tasks outside the matched section stay in TODO.md.
  • --date YYYY-MM-DD|YYYY_MM_DD (optional): Archive date. Default to today's local date.
  • --dry-run (optional): Preview target paths and rendered content without writing.

Workflow

  1. Resolve the supplied path, or the current directory when omitted. For an existing file, use its containing directory; for a directory, use that directory. Store the absolute directory as start_dir, then resolve its Git root:

    git -C "$start_dir" rev-parse --show-toplevel
    

    Store the result as repo_root. When start_dir is outside a Git repository, use it as repo_root. Stop on a missing input path or another resolution error.

  2. Verify TODO.md exists at the root. If it is missing, stop and report the path checked.

  3. Resolve the skill directory and run its helper:

    uv run python "<skill-dir>/scripts/archive_todo.py" --root "$repo_root"
    

    Pass through --hint, --date, or --dry-run when the user requested them.

  4. Report the rewritten TODO.md, the created or merged archive path, the matched section (when --hint was given), and the archived/remaining task counts. If an archive for the date already exists, the helper appends the new batch to it, retaining one matching top-level heading. If the helper reports no checked tasks, treat it as a no-op. If --hint matches no heading, the helper exits non-zero and lists the available sections; relay them.

  5. If useful, inspect only <repo_root>/TODO.md and the exact archive path returned by the helper. Verify their contents directly; when Git ignores them, compare filesystem snapshots rather than relying on git diff.

Helper Behavior

scripts/archive_todo.py reads only <root>/TODO.md, writes archived tasks to <root>/.ai/todos/YYYY-MM/DD.md, and rewrites <root>/TODO.md with the remaining tasks. It preserves task-free sections and prose verbatim (a minimal # TODO stub only if everything was archived). With --hint, it restricts archiving to the matched heading's subtree and exits non-zero listing available headings when nothing matches. A same-day re-run appends its batch to that day's file, removing the new leading H1 only when it exactly matches the existing archive's leading H1.

Completion

Completion evidence is the helper's archive path plus archived and remaining task counts; a no-checked-task result is a successful no-op. Dry-run completion requires rendered paths/content with no filesystem changes, but the final message still follows the one-line formats below. Report the result as a single line (append a (scope: "<hint>") segment only when --hint was given), with the archive path relative to the repository root:

  • Success: 📦 Archived <n> → <archive path> (created|merged) · <remaining> remaining
  • No-op: ✅ Nothing to archive · <remaining> remaining
  • Dry run: 🔎 Would archive <n> → <archive path> (would create|would merge) · <remaining> would remain

Do not repeat full dry-run document content in the final message or add decoration to TODO/archive files, paths, commands, or helper diagnostics.

Signals

GitHub stars
70
Forks
3
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
todo-archive
Source
github.com/paulrberg/agent-skills