implement-task

A step-by-step approach to implementing a software task by understanding requirements, comparing options, breaking work into subtasks, and testing each part.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for feature work, bug fixes, and other changes that need planning, incremental development, error handling, tests, and documented decisions. TDD means writing tests before the code they check.
Why use it?
It reduces missed requirements and poorly considered trade-offs by making the implementation plan explicit before and during coding.

Cursor rule

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/steipete/agent-rules/implement-task
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/steipete/agent-rules
Per session 296 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 296 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00296 $0.00296
Opus 5 $0.00148 $0.00148
Sonnet 5 $0.00059 $0.00059
Haiku 4.5 $0.00030 $0.00030

Measured 2d ago against content hash a211ee6bfbba, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

implement-task scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

project-rules/implement-task.mdc · 56 lines

What it actually says

Implement Task

Approach task implementation methodically with careful planning and execution.

Process:

1. Think Through Strategy

  • Understand the complete requirement
  • Identify key components needed
  • Consider dependencies and constraints
  • Plan the implementation approach

2. Evaluate Approaches

  • List possible implementation strategies
  • Compare pros and cons of each
  • Consider:
    • Performance implications
    • Maintainability
    • Scalability
    • Code reusability
    • Testing complexity

3. Consider Tradeoffs

  • Short-term vs long-term benefits
  • Complexity vs simplicity
  • Performance vs readability
  • Flexibility vs focused solution
  • Time to implement vs perfect solution

4. Implementation Steps

  1. Break down into subtasks
  2. Start with core functionality
  3. Implement incrementally
  4. Test each component
  5. Integrate components
  6. Add error handling
  7. Optimize if needed
  8. Document decisions

5. Best Practices

  • Write tests first (TDD approach)
  • Keep functions small and focused
  • Use meaningful names
  • Comment complex logic
  • Handle edge cases
  • Consider future maintenance

Checklist:

  • Requirements fully understood
  • Approach documented
  • Tests written
  • Code implemented
  • Edge cases handled
  • Documentation updated
  • Code reviewed
  • Performance acceptable
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 56 lines · 296 tokens per session scan A a211ee6bfbba

Subscribe to this mod's changes

implement-task is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository steipete/agent-rules (5,696 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 296 tokens to every session, about $0.0015 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.