Your First Task

What you'll learn

Tasks in Syncropel are more than work items — they carry a hypothesis and success criteria. When a task completes and is reviewed, the outcome feeds into trust scores that improve future work.

Create a task

spl task add "Add input validation to the signup form" \
  --priority high \
  --label code

The output shows a thread ID and an alias (like TASK-0001) that you can use as a shorthand.

A task can be born with its relations, and they are written as real edges rather than prose:

spl task add "Validate the phone field too" --alias TASK-0002 \
  --parent TASK-0001 \
  --depends-on TASK-0001

--parent names the task this one is a child of, --fixes names a defect thread this one fixes, and --depends-on blocks this task until the named ones are approved. Each accepts an alias, a thread id or a record id, and each becomes a parents edge on the new task's first record (also listed under body.relations), so the thread graph sees the relation. Every reference is resolved before anything is written: an alias that does not exist, or a thread you cannot read, refuses the whole command with exit code 2 and nothing lands.

View your tasks

spl task list

ID           STATUS   PRI    GOAL                                    ASSIGN
TASK-0001     inbox    high   Add input validation to the signup...   —

The task starts in inbox status — it exists but nobody has started working on it.

Start working

spl task start TASK-0001

Status changes to active. This records that work has begun.

Complete the task

When the work is done, mark it complete with a summary:

spl task done TASK-0001 --summary "Added email format and password length validation" --domain code

Status changes to review — the task is claimed complete but hasn't been independently verified yet.

Review and approve

An independent reviewer confirms the work meets the criteria:

spl task approve TASK-0001 --domain code --notes "Validation logic verified, tests pass"

Status changes to approved. This creates a trust observation — evidence that the work was completed successfully in the code domain.

If the work shipped in a release, say which one and the verdict is parented to that release's record:

spl task approve TASK-0001 --domain code --grade 0.9 --in-release v0.197.0

--in-release also works on spl task done. A version with no release record in the store refuses with exit code 2 and writes nothing. --grade (0 to 1) carries a quality judgment beside the verdict; a plain accept teaches the trust fold almost nothing.

See trust grow

spl trust

ACTOR                   DOMAIN    SUCCESS   TOTAL   TRUST
did:sync:user:you       code            1       1   0.246

Each approved task adds evidence. Over time, trust scores reflect real track records — not opinions or permissions.

What's next

• Work with threads — understand how tasks relate to threads
• Task management guide — the full task lifecycle
• How trust works — the evidence-based trust model