automaton/tasks/complete/move-completed-tasks-to-complete-folder/RESEARCH.md

RESEARCH: move-completed-tasks-to-complete-folder

Objective

When --transition complete is called, move the task directory from tasks/<name>/ to tasks/complete/<name>/. Keep --list and --audit showing only active tasks. Allow --task <name> to find completed tasks by fallback.

Current Behavior

--transition complete only writes the .state file to "complete". The task directory stays in tasks/<name>/ alongside active tasks, cluttering the listing and audit.

Design

_task_dir fallback

Add a fallback in _task_dir: if tasks/<name>/ doesn't exist, check tasks/complete/<name>/. This ensures --task <name> and --transition still work for completed tasks.

cmd_transition move

After _write_state(task_path, target), if target == "complete", compute the tasks root and move task_path to tasks/complete/<name>/. Create tasks/complete/ if it doesn't exist. Refuse if a completed task with the same name already exists.

_all_task_dirs unchanged

Do NOT scan tasks/complete/ in _all_task_dirs. Completed tasks are out of sight from --list and --audit. The fallback in _task_dir is sufficient for targeted lookups.

cmd_create_task

_task_dir already returns the completed path via fallback, so cmd_create_task will see task_path.exists() and refuse with "already exists". No separate check needed.

Risks

• Audit: --audit uses _all_task_dirs which doesn't scan tasks/complete/, so completed tasks are invisible to audit. This is the desired behavior.
• Loop references: If a loop's current_task points to a completed task, the audit at line 954 checks _task_dir(ltask, args.project).exists() which will find the completed task via fallback. Correct.
• --transition on completed tasks: _task_dir finds the completed task, _require_state reads "complete", and LEGAL_TRANSITIONS.get("complete", []) returns [], so any transition is refused. Correct.