Ticketing primitive — agent operations visible via TaskCreate

rule Thu Jul 02 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) agenttasksvisibilityticketingorchestration

Ticketing primitive

The rule

Every non-trivial agent operation lands in a task. Not just as a mental model — the actual TaskCreate / TaskUpdate tool must fire so the user sees what's happening.

When ticketing is required

Trigger	Task required?
3+ step operation	Yes
Any external-state operation (per `draft-not-send`)	Yes
Multi-file refactor	Yes
Multi-repo sweep	Yes (one task per repo, or one task with subtasks)
Background subagent spawn	Yes (task per subagent)
Single-file edit with clear instruction	Skip
Reading a file to answer a question	Skip
Conversational turn	Skip

Task lifecycle

Before starting: TaskCreate with subject, description, activeForm.
On start: TaskUpdate → in_progress.
On external state changes: mid-task TaskUpdate if scope shifts materially.
On complete: TaskUpdate → completed — but ONLY if the work is truly done + verified. Partial credit = keep it in_progress.
On block: TaskCreate a new task describing the blocker; keep original in_progress.

Anti-patterns

❌ Doing 10 tool calls without a task — user has no way to see progress
❌ Marking completed when tests are red / partial work
❌ Ticketing every trivial single-command edit (task-creation overhead exceeds the work)
❌ Hiding subagent work in chain-of-thought instead of a task
❌ Stale task list from earlier session leaking into current work — clean up first

Why this matters

Per own-memory-rent-intelligence, your memory + orchestration belong to you. Tasks ARE the orchestration record — they're what makes agent work reviewable, resumable, and portable across sessions.

Ticket = "the receipt for this action". No ticket = no accountability. Especially critical for background subagents and long-running sweeps where the main agent may look busy but you can't see individual step status.

Cross-agent parity

All 6 fleet agents (Claude Code + ZCode + OpenCode + Kilo Code + Antigravity + MiMoCode) need a task system OR must document explicitly why they can't. Currently:

Agent	Task tool
Claude Code	Native `TaskCreate` / `TaskUpdate` / `TaskList`
OpenCode	Native task tool
Kilo Code	VS Code extension task view
Antigravity	Native
ZCode	Unknown — verify next session
MiMoCode	Unknown — verify next session

Cross-refs

edit-mode-prefs — pointer to use task-list for ≥3-step tasks
delegate-to-subagents-by-default — subagent spawns get tasks
draft-not-send — external ops get tasks so approval is visible
Source: Nate B Jones 2026-06 — "ticketing is the primitive for agent-work visibility"