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Task Management Feature

This document describes the A2A task management feature that provides an improved UX for managing background tasks.

Overview

The task management feature provides a dedicated interface for viewing and managing A2A background tasks, similar to the conversation selection interface. This provides a comprehensive task management system with better visibility into task status and history.

Features

Main Chat Interface

  • Shows a simple task count badge (N) in the header when there are active background tasks
  • Removes the detailed task display from the main interface for a cleaner look

Task Management Interface (/tasks)

  • Access: Type /tasks in the chat, or press ↓ in the chat input, select the ⚙ background-jobs indicator with ←/→, and press enter
  • Requirements: The /tasks shortcut requires A2A to be enabled in configuration; the status-indicator route works whenever the ⚙ indicator shows running jobs (shells, subagents, or A2A tasks)
  • Default View: Opens in "All" view showing both active and completed tasks
  • Views: Switch between Active, Completed, and All tasks using number keys 1, 2, 3

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • ↑/↓ or j/k: Navigate between tasks
  • i or Enter: View detailed task information
  • c: Cancel the selected active task
  • /: Search tasks by agent name, task ID, or status
  • r: Refresh task list
  • q or Esc: Exit task management interface

Task Information

When viewing task details (i key), you can see:

  • Task ID
  • Agent name and URL
  • Current status
  • Start time and elapsed duration
  • Context ID (if available)

Task Retention

  • Completed and canceled tasks are retained in-memory for easy reference
  • Default retention: 5 tasks (configurable via a2a.task.completed_task_retention)
  • Tasks are ordered by completion time (most recent first)
  • Automatic cleanup when retention limit is exceeded
  • Note: Retained tasks are lost when the CLI application exits (not persisted to disk)

Usage

Opening Task Management

/tasks

Or, without typing a command: press ↓ in the chat input (while not navigating input history), move to the ⚙ background-jobs indicator with ←/→, and press enter.

Canceling a Task

  1. Open task management with /tasks
  2. Navigate to the task you want to cancel
  3. Press c to cancel
  4. Confirm with y or cancel with n

Viewing Task Details

  1. Open task management with /tasks
  2. Navigate to any task
  3. Press i or Enter to view detailed information
  4. Press i, Esc, or q to close the details view

Searching Tasks

  1. Open task management with /tasks
  2. Press / to enter search mode
  3. Type your search query (searches agent name, task ID, status)
  4. Press Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel search

Configuration

The task management feature is automatically enabled when A2A is enabled in your configuration:

a2a:
  enabled: true
  task:
    completed_task_retention: 5  # Number of completed tasks to retain (default: 5)
  # ... other A2A settings

Configuration options:

  • completed_task_retention: Maximum number of completed/canceled tasks to retain in memory for viewing (default: 5)

If A2A is disabled, the /tasks command will show an error message.

Implementation Details

Architecture

  • Task Manager: TaskManagerImpl (internal/ui/components/task_management_view.go) - Main UI component for task management
  • Task Shortcut: A2ATaskManagementShortcut (internal/shortcuts/task_management.go) - Handles the /tasks command
  • State Manager: Manages in-memory task retention using RetainedTaskInfo structs
  • Events: Uses TasksLoadedEvent and TaskCancelledEvent for state management

State Management

  • Active tasks are loaded from background task polling state in StateManager
  • Completed tasks are stored in-memory using RetainedTaskInfo with automatic retention limits
  • Task retention is managed by StateManager methods: AddTaskToInMemoryRetention(), GetRetainedTasks(), etc.
  • UI state includes current view (Active/Completed/All), search query, selection, and info display modes

View States

  • ViewStateA2ATaskManagement: Dedicated view state for task management
  • Proper transitions back to chat view when exiting
  • Integration with existing view management system

Testing

The feature includes comprehensive tests for:

  • Task retention service functionality
  • Task management shortcut behavior
  • Task cancellation and completion flow
  • A2A configuration requirements

Run tests with:

go test ./internal/ui/components/ -v -run TestTaskRetention
go test ./internal/shortcuts/ -v -run TestTaskManagement