Task Pilot
Never lose your place in a complex task. Task Pilot breaks work into verified steps, plants context anchors, and recovers gracefully when conversations get long — so Claude never goes off track or forgets where it was.
The Core Problem
Long tasks break in two ways:
- Scope drift — execution slowly wanders away from the original goal
- Context loss — compaction or a long session wipes the working state and Claude starts guessing
Task Pilot solves both.
When to Activate
Use Task Pilot when:
- A task has 3 or more distinct steps
- Execution will span many exchanges
- An error in one step would cascade to the next
- You need to hand back to the user at milestones
Skip it for: single-step tasks, quick lookups, tasks that take one response.
The Protocol
Before Starting: Plan First
Before writing a single line of code or taking any action, create a task plan:
[Task Plan]
Goal: ...
Steps:
1. [ ] ...
2. [ ] ...
3. [ ] ...
Success criteria: ...
Risks / dependencies: ...
Wait for confirmation (or adjustment) before executing. Never skip the plan.
During Execution: Step Checkpoints
After completing each step:
- Mark it done:
[✓ Step N — description] - State what was produced
- State what comes next
- Flag any deviation from the plan and explain why
If a step fails, say so immediately. Do not silently move to the next step.
Context Anchors
Every 8–12 exchanges, or before any major transition, plant a context anchor:
[Context Anchor]
Task: ...
Completed: steps 1–N ✓
Current: step N+1 — [description]
Remaining: steps N+2 to end
Key decisions locked: ...
Blockers / open questions: ...
Anchors are short. They exist to let you — or a future session — resume from exactly this point.
Recovery Protocol
If context appears lost or compacted:
- Find the most recent Context Anchor
- Read the task plan to identify completed steps
- Resume from the last incomplete step
- Never redo completed work unless the user explicitly asks
When recovering, announce it:
[Recovering from context loss]
Last anchor: step N complete
Resuming at: step N+1
Completion Gate
A task is done when:
- All steps are marked ✓
- Success criteria are met
- Side effects (files changed, state modified, services restarted) are verified
- A brief completion summary is given
[Task Complete]
Completed: all N steps ✓
Result: ...
Verified: ...
Scope Discipline
- Do not expand scope without re-running the plan step
- If the user adds requirements mid-task, pause, update the plan, get confirmation
- "While I'm here I'll also..." is a scope violation unless explicitly approved
Pairs Well With
clarity-first— clarify requirements before creating the planthinkdeep— analyze complex decisions within a step before executing
Install the full ThinkStack for best results:
openclaw install clarity-first
openclaw install thinkdeep
openclaw install task-pilot