ubiquitous-invention/plans/Plan-agent-coordination/Epic-task-as-runnable-unit/Task-export-db-to-markdown-frontmatter.md

kind	slug	title	plan_slug	epic_slug	status	priority	tenant_id	owner	cursor_todo_id	updated_at
task	export-db-to-markdown-frontmatter	Export DB state back to markdown frontmatter (close the sync loop)	agent-coordination	task-as-runnable-unit	ready	P1	global	unassigned	null	2026-06-03

Task summary

The markdown importer at packages/database/src/markdown-backlog/sync.ts is one-way: it reads plans/**/*.md and upserts into markdown_backlog_items. There is no path back from the DB to the markdown frontmatter. As soon as an agent calls complete_task (status → done), running the importer would clobber that transition back to whatever the markdown still says.

For now we paper over this by running the importer once at bootstrap and ad-hoc thereafter (pnpm --filter @tasks/database import:markdown-backlog). That's tolerable for a single-operator dogfood loop, but it doesn't scale and it's a correctness bug: any change made through the app — status flips, prompt edits, new tasks created in the UI — is at risk of being silently reverted.

This task closes that loop by adding a DB → markdown export.

Description

Scope

Implement exportBacklogItemToMarkdown(db, { workspaceId, backlogItemId }) that:

1. Loads the markdown_backlog_items row.
2. Locates the corresponding .md file on disk using repo_relative_path.
3. Reads the existing file (must preserve the body verbatim).
4. Rewrites the YAML frontmatter so the canonical fields match the DB row:
   • status
   • priority
   • title (only when changed; titles are usually human-authored)
   • updated_at (bumped to today on any rewrite)
   • workflow_prompt → frontmatter agent_prompt: (omit if null; serialize as a block scalar | if multi-line)
5. Preserves every other frontmatter key untouched, in the original order.
6. Writes the file back atomically (write to tmp, rename) to avoid half-written reads from any watcher.

Wire it into:

• complete_task (after the status transition commits): export the touched row.
• claim_task: optional — probably yes when status flipped to in_progress.
• backlog.updateWorkflowPrompt tRPC mutation (apps/web/server/routers/backlog.ts).
• Maybe workspaces.archive cascade for backlog items (lower priority — archive is a UI-driven verb and the markdown may not need to reflect it).

Out of scope:

• Creating brand-new .md files from DB rows (we never UI-create backlog items today; punt to a separate task).
• Two-way conflict resolution. If someone edits both the file and the DB row between importer runs we just take the DB. Document this clearly in config/CursorSync.md.

Implementation notes

• Use a small, well-tested YAML rewriter, not a regex. The yaml package (already a dep of @tasks/database) supports preserving comments and key order via Document parsing. Use Document.parse(source), mutate scalar values in place, and String(doc) to serialize.
• File I/O lives in packages/database/src/markdown-backlog/export.ts. Keep this module free of tRPC / Next imports so the MCP server can call it directly.
• Add Vitest cases covering:
  • Round-trip: read → no change → write produces identical bytes.
  • Status update: ready → done only mutates status and updated_at.
  • Setting agent_prompt: null removes the key (does not write agent_prompt: null).
  • Block-scalar serialization for multi-line prompts.
  • Preserves trailing newline and body separator (---\n\n vs ---\n).
• Behind a workspace-level setting markdown_export_enabled (default true). Some operators may not want the app rewriting their plans/ tree; let them opt out.

Acceptance

1. After calling complete_task with finalStatus: done, the corresponding .md file's frontmatter status reads done on disk.
2. Running pnpm --filter @tasks/database import:markdown-backlog immediately after produces zero new upserts (the file already matches the DB).
3. Vitest coverage of the export helper.
4. config/CursorSync.md is updated to describe the new two-way contract and the conflict policy (DB wins on conflict between importer runs).
5. No diff noise: re-exporting an unchanged row leaves the file byte-identical.

Risks

• YAML formatting is finicky; agents may produce huge accidental diffs the first time this runs. Mitigate with the round-trip test and an --dry-run flag on the export helper for first verification.
• Concurrent writes: an operator editing the .md in their editor at the moment of export could lose changes. The atomic write helps but doesn't fully solve it. Document the contract: while agents are running, treat the .md files as derived state.