task-status-standardization

Task Status Standardization Rules

🚨 CRITICAL: Always Use Title Case for Task Status

All Exarp tools MUST normalize task status to Title Case before updating.

Standard Status Values

✅ CORRECT (Title Case):

• "Todo" (not "todo", "TODO", "pending")
• "In Progress" (not "in_progress", "in-progress", "In Progress")
• "Review" (not "review", "Review")
• "Done" (not "done", "DONE", "completed")

Required Pattern

ALWAYS use normalize_status_to_title_case() before setting status:

from project_management_automation.utils.todo2_utils import normalize_status_to_title_case

# ✅ CORRECT
task['status'] = normalize_status_to_title_case('done')  # → "Done"
task['status'] = normalize_status_to_title_case('in_progress')  # → "In Progress"
task['status'] = normalize_status_to_title_case('todo')  # → "Todo"

# ❌ WRONG
task['status'] = 'done'  # Will create inconsistency
task['status'] = 'in_progress'  # Wrong format
task['status'] = 'Todo'  # OK but not normalized

Where to Apply

MUST normalize status in:

1. ✅ update_todos_mcp() - Already updated
2. ✅ _update_task_status() in automation base - Already updated
3. ✅ Direct file writes - Use normalization
4. ✅ Status updates in tools - Use normalization
5. ✅ Task creation - Use normalization

Enforcement

Before ANY status update:

1. Import: from project_management_automation.utils.todo2_utils import normalize_status_to_title_case
2. Normalize: status = normalize_status_to_title_case(raw_status)
3. Use normalized value

Status normalization function:

• Location: project_management_automation/utils/todo2_utils.py
• Function: normalize_status_to_title_case(status: str) -> str
• Handles: All case variants, aliases (done→Done, completed→Done), spaces/underscores

Examples

Tool Updates:

# ✅ CORRECT
updates = [{
    'id': task_id,
    'status': normalize_status_to_title_case('done')
}]
update_todos_mcp(updates)

# ❌ WRONG
updates = [{'id': task_id, 'status': 'done'}]  # Will be normalized by update_todos_mcp, but inconsistent