Agent skill

Track Backlog

View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks…

MITAuto-check passedProduct & Project Management

Install Track Backlog

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .claude/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .claude/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .agents/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .agents/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .cursor/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .cursor/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git --path .claude/skills/track-backlog

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .gemini/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .gemini/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .github/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .github/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cdiggins/plato track-backlog --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cdiggins/plato.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/track-backlog .opencode/skills/track-backlog && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "track-backlog" agent skill from https://github.com/cdiggins/plato/tree/main/.claude/skills/track-backlog into .opencode/skills/track-backlog/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "track-backlog", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: track-backlog
GitHub stars: 106
Token cost: ~1k tokens
SKILL.md length: 379 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 5
Repo updated: Sep 26, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks…

Works in 4 steps: Big rocks (1–3): highest impact ready… → Little rocks: S/M items that fill gaps —… → Parallel safety: check each candidate's… → …
The user says /track-backlog
SKILL.md covers Operations (pick by argument…, Queries agents can use directly and Rules
Calls python

What it does

Track Backlog is an agent skill from cdiggins/plato. View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks, parallel-safe). Use when the user says /track-backlog, "what's in progress", "show the backlog", "triage", "promote X", "plan a sprint", "what should we work on next".

Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Product & Project Management, covering Sprint planning and agile. The repository describes itself as: A simple and efficient cross-platform programming language. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

The user says /track-backlog
Whats in progress
Show the backlog
What should we work on next

Example prompts

“s in progress”
“show the backlog”
“triage”
“/track-backlog”

Requirements

Python 3

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Big rocks (1–3): highest impact ready items, typically L/M effort.
Little rocks: S/M items that fill gaps — quick wins, debt paydown, and
Parallel safety: check each candidate's ## Dependencies section
Risk balance: not all high-risk items at once; pair each risky item with

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit f6e02cf. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- python
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Track Backlog loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 92 tokens; SKILL.md has 379 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~92
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from cdiggins/plato at commit f6e02cf, republished under its MIT licence (© cdiggins). 379 words, ~1,013 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/track-backlog/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: track-backlog
description: View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks, parallel-safe). Use when the user says /track-backlog, "what's in progress", "show the backlog", "triage", "promote X", "plan a sprint", "what should we work on next".
argument-hint: status | triage | promote <id> | sprint plan <name> | sprint show

<!-- GENERATED by the WorkQuarry installer — do not hand-edit. Edit the source in the workquarry submodule and re-run install.py. -->

track-backlog — query and manage the backlog

Issue frontmatter (tracker/issues/*.md) is the database; all reads and writes go through tools/track.py. Never hand-edit BACKLOG.md (generated) or frontmatter status fields (use set). Process reference: tracker/readme.md.

Operations (pick by argument or intent)

status (default, no argument)

Show the working picture, three short views:

python tools/track.py list --status in-progress
python tools/track.py list --sprint <current>        # if a sprint is active
python tools/track.py list --status ready --sort priority

Report: what's moving, what's queued, anything stale (in-progress with no recent commits touching its area — flag, don't assume). Keep it to one screen.

triage

python tools/track.py list --status idea --sort priority

For each untriaged item (? fields) or aging idea, propose: priority (severity × frequency × what it blocks), effort, risk, and promote/keep/drop. Present as a short table of proposals; apply only what the user approves, via:

python tools/track.py set <id> --priority p2 --effort M --risk low [--status ready]

Recommend dropping ideas untouched for weeks with no champion — closing with --dropped is cheap; the file remains greppable.

promote `<id>`

Promotion = idea → ready ("an agent may pick this up"). Before flipping:

priority/effort/risk must be real values, not ?
feature/debt/bug REQUIRE a ## Done means section (2–5 verifiable statements) to exist in the body first — add it if missing before promoting
problem needs no acceptance criteria (it closes with an ADR)

python tools/track.py set <id> --status ready --priority ... --effort ... --risk ...

Show full SKILL.md (205 more words)Show less

sprint plan `<name>` (e.g. 2026-01-A)

A sprint is a working set, not a time-box: the batch of issues selected for parallel execution now. Selection is not priority order alone — compose it:

Big rocks (1–3): highest impact ready items, typically L/M effort.
Little rocks: S/M items that fill gaps — quick wins, debt paydown, and items that de-risk future big rocks.
Parallel safety: check each candidate's ## Dependencies section (blocked-by must be empty or done; "touches" must not collide with another sprint member — two agents editing the same area = merge pain). Prefer spreading across areas.
Risk balance: not all high-risk items at once; pair each risky item with sure things so the sprint always ships something. Propose the set with one-line reasoning each; on approval:

python tools/track.py set <id> --sprint <name>     # for each member

Remove with --sprint none. Only one sprint should normally be active.

sprint show

python tools/track.py list --sprint <name>

Plus per-item one-liner: on track / blocked / not started.

Queries agents can use directly

python tools/track.py list --open --area <area> --format csv
python tools/track.py list --status ready --sort priority
python tools/track.py list --type debt

Rules

Every set regenerates BACKLOG.md — no manual index edits, ever.
Don't change priorities silently: triage and promotion changes are proposed to the user first (exception: filing brand-new items, where the filer sets initial values).
Closing items goes through python tools/track.py close <id> --outcome "..." (banner + archive the plan doc; see readme lifecycle step 4).

Files

Just SKILL.md in .claude/skills/track-backlog of cdiggins/plato.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit f6e02cf

Compare with similar skills

Track Backlog next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Track Backlog compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Track Backlog this skillcdiggins/plato	106	—	~1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	11 days ago
Convex Create Componentspokvulcan/poker-planning	114	8 repos	~2.6k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	3 days ago
Convex Migration Helperspokvulcan/poker-planning	114	8 repos	~1.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	3 days ago
Agile Product Owneralirezarezvani/claude-skills	28k	3 repos	~3.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago
Convex Performance Auditspokvulcan/poker-planning	114	7 repos	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	3 days ago
Walking Skeleton Roadmap Scopingprime-radiant-inc/iterative-development	181	—	~1.7k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	4 mo ago

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Questions about Track Backlog

What does Track Backlog do?

View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks…. Track Backlog is an agent skill from cdiggins/plato. View and manage the tracker backlog — show in-progress work, current priorities, sprint contents; triage untriaged items; promote ideas to ready; plan a sprint (big rocks + little rocks, parallel-safe).

When should I use Track Backlog?

Track Backlog fits situations like: the user says /track-backlog; whats in progress; show the backlog; what should we work on next.

How do I install Track Backlog in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/track-backlog in cdiggins/plato) into .claude/skills/track-backlog in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Track Backlog in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/track-backlog in cdiggins/plato) into .agents/skills/track-backlog in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Track Backlog in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cdiggins/plato --skill track-backlog -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/track-backlog, .gemini/skills/track-backlog, .github/skills/track-backlog and .opencode/skills/track-backlog in your project.

What does Track Backlog need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Track Backlog needs the command-line tools its instructions call (python). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Track Backlog access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Track Backlog safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Track Backlog use?

Track Backlog is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Track Backlog use?

About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.1k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Track Backlog?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Track Backlog: Convex Create Component (spokvulcan/poker-planning, 114 stars), Convex Migration Helper (spokvulcan/poker-planning, 114 stars), Agile Product Owner (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars) and Convex Performance Audit (spokvulcan/poker-planning, 114 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Track Backlog?

cdiggins (a GitHub user) maintains it in cdiggins/plato, which has 106 GitHub stars. The repository holds 5 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 26, 2026.

Source: cdiggins/plato on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Track Backlog

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

track-backlog — query and manage the backlog

Operations (pick by argument or intent)

status (default, no argument)

triage

promote <id>

sprint plan <name> (e.g. 2026-01-A)

sprint show

Queries agents can use directly

Rules

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from cdiggins/plato

Related

Questions about Track Backlog

promote `<id>`

sprint plan `<name>` (e.g. 2026-01-A)