[EthanYoQ]

Refs #864

What changes for a user

• In Claude Code without TodoWrite, "Open a todolist" now means a Markdown file written before the first edit, updated as each item is done or skipped, and named in the reply. Before this, the adapter said to keep the list in the reply. A background delegate's reply reaches its parent only at the end, so the list was never a checkpoint.
• A poteto-agent delegate handed playbook steps opens the todolist before its first edit.
• Steps that need a spawn it cannot or was told not to make go back to the parent under "Returned to parent", instead of a dead-end skip.
• The delegate ends its reply with the skill, playbook, and principle files it read, so the parent can see what grounded the work without reading the transcript.

Evidence

From one coordinator run with eight background poteto-agent delegates. Details are in the issue.

• TodoWrite was absent from every delegate's tool list.
• Delegates told to write a todo file wrote it before their first edit. The one not told wrote it after its PR was open.
• Three Feature delegates skipped how, architect, and interrogate as "needs a spawn", and one Bug-fix delegate skipped architect. The parent never saw those skips as work it still owed.

Files

• pstack/docs/harness/claude-code.md: the "Open a todolist" row.
• pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md: one new paragraph.
• harness/pstack/claude-code/...: regenerated with node scripts/generate-pstack-harness-trees.mjs. On Windows the script needs the path fix described in the issue. I applied that fix locally and left it out of this PR.
• node scripts/check-pstack-docs.mjs reports 0 problems.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Note

Low Risk
Documentation and subagent instruction text only; no runtime code, auth, or data paths.

Overview
Claude Code harness: When TodoWrite is unavailable, "Open a todolist" now requires writing a Markdown checklist before the first edit, updating items as done or skip: <reason>, and naming that file in the reply—because background subagents only deliver their final reply to the parent, so an in-reply list was never a real checkpoint.

poteto-agent delegate: Playbook steps from the brief must become a todolist before any edit. Steps that need a Task spawn the delegate cannot (or must not) run are returned to the parent under "Returned to parent" instead of being silently skipped. Replies must end with the skill, playbook, and principle files that were read so the coordinator can see what grounded the work.

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Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 2 potential issues.

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[cursor]

Skip and return statuses conflict

Medium Severity · Logic Bug

The Claude Code todolist fallback marks unfinished items skip: <reason> in the Markdown file, while poteto-agent tells delegates not to skip spawn-needed steps and to list them under Returned to parent only in the reply. The file is the mid-run checkpoint, so those steps still read as chosen skips.

Additional Locations (1)

• pstack/agents/poteto-agent.md#L10-L11

 

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[cursor]

Return rule catches implementation steps

Medium Severity · Logic Bug

The new return rule sends any playbook step that needs a Task spawn the delegate cannot make, or was told not to make, back to the parent. Implementation steps are written as "delegate to a subagent," so they match. Feature is the only playbook that tells a no-spawn delegate to own the diff.

 

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