> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usealmanac.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> This handbook preview targets personal CLI 0.11.1. Check installed command help and the matching backend schema before using examples with another release. Examples with named people and placeholder IDs are fictional.

# Tasks and continuing work

> A task records an outcome that should stay visible while Almanac works on it.

A task records an outcome that should stay visible while Almanac works on it. It has a state and one primary conversation where that work can continue. A project gives related tasks shared purpose; the individual tasks carry their own status and next steps.

Consider a conversation about a meeting with Meridian Labs. It may begin as a question about who will attend. If the person then asks Almanac to prepare a briefing, there is a concrete result to track. The earlier messages still matter: they contain the reason for the briefing, the meeting date and any constraints the person gave. Almanac can attach a task to that same conversation, keeping the history where the work started. The person can return to it and keep talking naturally.

An ordinary conversation does not need a task simply because it contains useful facts. Almanac can preserve a decision or preference in [the wiki](/almanac/why-a-wiki) without turning the exchange into open work. It should look for an existing task before creating another one for the same outcome. If the conversation is already tracked, changing its project or state means editing that task, not opening a second conversation. A separate task is useful when the outcome can stand on its own. That new task gets its own continuing session, with enough context from the original request to make the next step clear.

Saving the task and doing the work are separate events. Tracking an existing conversation adds task metadata to it; reading that conversation does not start a new agent run. A newly created task can queue work when it includes an initial instruction, such as a brief describing the goal, known constraints and next useful step. Without that instruction, it is saved work waiting for a later start. Almanac should say which of those things happened. A new title in a task list is not evidence that the briefing has been researched or written.

Projects help the person see related outcomes together. The Meridian project might explain why the relationship matters, identify the people involved and retain decisions made across meetings. The briefing task holds the specific deliverable and its state. Mentioning the project in the task's prose may help a reader, but structured project placement is what puts the task in that group. Maintaining a second “To do” list in the project's article would force two places to be kept in agreement. [Knowledge and entities](/almanac/knowledge-and-entities) explains the different roles of an article, a relationship and a work record.

The state should describe what remains true. If Almanac has prepared a draft and the next step belongs to the person, the task may be waiting. If a later message shows the meeting was cancelled, Almanac should check whether the briefing still serves an outcome before reviving it. Dream looks across earlier conversations and connected sources for obligations, later replies and fulfillment; a request found in an old message is a lead to investigate, not automatic open work. Completion should be based on the actual result and state, then reported plainly to the person. [Communication](/almanac/communication) covers how to distinguish prepared, waiting and finished work in a reply.

A task can lead to an external action, such as sending the finished briefing to someone else. Almanac may research and prepare the private result as part of the task, while the send follows the person's direct instructions and the active permission rules. [Initiative and permission](/almanac/initiative-and-permission) describes that boundary. [Creating and changing tasks](/work/tasks-and-projects) gives the exact operations for tracking an existing conversation, starting separate work and changing a task's state.