Project Manager Pro — SKILL.md

> Conversational task & project management for OpenClaw agents.

> Your agent creates, organizes, prioritizes, and follows up on tasks — no UI required.

Trigger Phrases

Use this skill when the user:

• Asks to add, create, or schedule a task/project/to-do
• Says something like "I need to...", "remind me to...", "don't let me forget..."
• Asks "what's on my plate?", "what should I work on?", "what's due?"
• Requests a project breakdown ("break this down", "plan out X")
• Responds to a proactive check-in (morning/evening/weekly)
• Mentions priorities, deadlines, blockers, or task status
• Says "mark X as done", "I finished X", "block X", "move X to in-progress"
• Asks to see tasks by project, priority, tag, or timeframe
• Requests task export or weekly review

Do NOT use this skill for:

• Calendar scheduling (use calendar tools)
• Team task assignment or collaboration
• Time tracking or Pomodoro sessions
• General reminders without actionable task context

1. Data Model

Task Structure

Every task is stored as a JSON object in the tasks database file at ~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/tasks.json.

{
  "id": "task_20260311_001",
  "title": "Research co-packing facilities in Denver",
  "description": "Find 3+ co-packers that handle hot sauce bottling, get quotes, compare MOQs",
  "priority": "P2",
  "eisenhower": "important-not-urgent",
  "status": "todo",
  "due_date": "2026-03-18",
  "created_date": "2026-03-11",
  "completed_date": null,
  "project": "teekha-launch",
  "parent_task": null,
  "subtasks": ["task_20260311_002", "task_20260311_003", "task_20260311_004"],
  "dependencies": [],
  "blocked_by": [],
  "tags": ["teekha", "vendor", "research"],
  "time_estimate_min": 120,
  "notes": "Cody mentioned preference for facilities within 2-hour drive",
  "source": "user",
  "recurrence": null
}

Project Structure

Projects are stored in ~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/projects.json:

{
  "id": "teekha-launch",
  "name": "Teekha Foods Launch",
  "description": "Launch 3 SKU hot sauce line by Q2 2026",
  "status": "active",
  "created_date": "2026-03-01",
  "target_date": "2026-06-30",
  "tags": ["teekha", "cpg", "launch"],
  "task_count": 0,
  "completed_count": 0
}

File Layout

~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/
├── tasks.json          # All tasks (array)
├── projects.json       # All projects (array)
├── archive/            # Completed tasks moved here monthly
│   └── 2026-03.json
└── check-in-log.json   # Record of check-ins delivered

2. Conversational Task Creation

Parsing Natural Language

When the user says something that implies a task, parse it into structured data. Use these patterns:

Direct task creation:

• "Add a task to call the dentist by Friday" → title: "Call the dentist", due: next Friday, priority: P3
• "I need to file taxes by April 15" → title: "File taxes", due: 2026-04-15, priority: P1 (deadline-driven)
• "Don't forget to buy groceries" → title: "Buy groceries", priority: P3, no due date
• "Remind me to review the pitch deck tomorrow morning" → title: "Review the pitch deck", due: tomorrow

Project creation:

• "I need to launch a website by March 20" → Create project + subtask tree (see Section 3)
• "Plan a trip to Japan for October" → Create project + subtask tree
• "Break down the hot sauce launch" → Create project + subtask tree

Parsing Rules

1. Extract the action verb. The task title should start with a verb: "Call," "Buy," "Review," "Research," "Send," "Schedule."
2. Detect due dates. Parse relative dates ("tomorrow," "next Friday," "end of month") and absolute dates ("March 20," "April 15"). Resolve relative dates against today's date.
3. Infer priority from urgency signals:
• P1: "urgent," "ASAP," "critical," "today," "overdue," deadline within 24 hours
• P2: "important," "this week," "high priority," deadline within 7 days
• P3: Default for most tasks
• P4: "whenever," "low priority," "someday," "nice to have"
4. Detect project association. If the task references an existing project name or tag, associate it automatically.
5. Ask clarifying questions when ambiguous — but keep it to one question max. Don't interrogate.

Response Format for Task Creation

After creating a task, confirm concisely:

✅ Added: "Call the dentist"
   📅 Due: Friday, Mar 13 · 🔴 P2 · 🏷 health

For projects with subtasks, show the tree:

📁 New project: Launch Website (due Mar 20)

├── 🔲 Finalize homepage copy (Mar 12) · P2
├── 🔲 Design landing page mockup (Mar 13) · P2
│   └── 🔲 Get feedback from stakeholders (Mar 14) · P3
├── 🔲 Set up hosting and domain (Mar 14) · P2
├── 🔲 Develop and deploy site (Mar 15-18) · P1
│   ├── 🔲 Build responsive layout (Mar 15-16) · P2
│   └── 🔲 Integrate contact form (Mar 16) · P3
├── 🔲 QA testing across devices (Mar 18) · P1
└── 🔲 Go live and verify DNS (Mar 20) · P1

8 tasks created · Estimated: ~18 hours

3. Smart Decomposition

When to Decompose

Automatically offer to break down a task when:

• The user explicitly says "break this down" or "plan this out"
• The task title implies a multi-step project (launch, move, plan, build, organize, prepare)
• The time estimate would exceed 4 hours for a single task
• The due date is more than 7 days out and the scope is broad

Decomposition Process

1. Identify the end state. What does "done" look like for this project?
2. Work backwards from the deadline. Assign subtask due dates that leave buffer before the final deadline.
3. Group into phases where logical (research → plan → execute → verify).
4. Set dependencies. Mark which tasks can't start until others complete.
5. Estimate time for each subtask. Use these rough baselines:
• Research/discovery tasks: 30-90 min
• Writing/creation tasks: 60-180 min
• Communication tasks (calls, emails): 15-30 min
• Review/decision tasks: 15-60 min
• Technical/build tasks: 120-480 min
• Administrative tasks: 15-60 min
6. Assign priorities within the project based on dependency order and deadline proximity.

Dependency Rules

• A task with unfinished dependencies has status blocked displayed in views
• When a dependency completes, notify the user: "🔓 Unblocked: 'Design landing page' — its dependency 'Finalize copy' is done"
• Circular dependencies are rejected at creation time
• Cross-project dependencies are supported

4. Priority Framework

Default: Eisenhower Matrix

Map every task to one of four quadrants:

Auto-Classification Rules

Urgent if:

• Due today or overdue
• Due within 48 hours and not yet started
• Explicitly marked urgent by user
• Blocking other tasks that are due soon

Important if:

• Part of an active project with a target date
• Tagged with a high-value domain (work, finance, health)
• Has downstream dependencies (other tasks waiting on it)
• User explicitly marked it important

Priority Escalation

The agent automatically escalates priority when:

• A P3/P4 task's due date is within 48 hours → escalate to P2
• A P2 task's due date is within 24 hours → escalate to P1
• A task has been in todo status for more than 7 days → flag in check-in
• A blocker task is preventing 2+ downstream tasks → escalate the blocker to P1

Alternative Frameworks (configurable in settings.json)

• eisenhower (default): Urgent/Important matrix as above
• ice: Impact × Confidence × Ease (1-10 each) — score-based ranking
• value-effort: Value vs Effort quadrants
• simple: Manual P1-P4, no auto-classification

5. Proactive Check-Ins

Morning Check-In (Default: 8:00 AM local time)

Triggered by the agent's scheduled check-in. Present:

1. Overdue tasks (if any) — these come first, always
2. Today's tasks — sorted by priority, then due time
3. Blocked tasks — with explanation of what's blocking them
4. Quick wins — P3/P4 tasks estimated under 15 minutes

Format:

☀️ Morning — Wednesday, March 11

🔴 OVERDUE (1):
  • Submit expense report (was due Mar 9) · P2

📋 TODAY (3):
  • Review pitch deck · P1 · ~30 min
  • Call insurance company · P2 · ~15 min
  • Order packaging samples · P3 · ~10 min

🚫 BLOCKED (1):
  • Design label mockup — waiting on "Finalize brand colors" (in-progress)

⚡ QUICK WINS:
  • Reply to vendor email · P4 · ~5 min
  • Update LinkedIn headline · P4 · ~5 min

What do you want to tackle first?

Evening Review (Default: 7:00 PM local time)

Summarize the day:

🌙 Evening Review — Wednesday, March 11

✅ Completed today (2):
  • Review pitch deck
  • Order packaging samples

🔄 Still open (2):
  • Call insurance company (moved to tomorrow)
  • Submit expense report (overdue — day 3)

📊 Week progress: 8/14 tasks done (57%)

Anything to add for tomorrow?

Weekly Summary (Default: Sunday 10:00 AM)

📊 Weekly Summary — Week of March 8-14

✅ Completed: 12 tasks
🆕 Created: 8 tasks
📈 Net progress: +4 tasks cleared

🏆 Biggest wins:
  • Finished "Research co-packers" project (5 subtasks)
  • Cleared all P1 tasks by Wednesday

⚠️ Attention needed:
  • "Submit expense report" overdue 5 days
  • "Teekha Launch" project is 34% complete, target date June 30

📅 Next week preview:
  • 6 tasks due
  • 2 tasks blocked (waiting on vendor responses)

Want to adjust priorities for next week?

Check-In Configuration

Users can customize in config/settings.json:

• Enable/disable each check-in type
• Change times
• Change weekly summary day
• Set quiet hours (no check-ins)

6. Task Views

Today View

Show all tasks due today + overdue, sorted by priority:

📋 Today — Wednesday, March 11

🔴 P1:
  • Review pitch deck · ~30 min
  
🟡 P2:
  • Call insurance company · ~15 min
  • Submit expense report ⚠️ OVERDUE (Mar 9)

🟠 P3:
  • Order packaging samples · ~10 min

───────────
4 tasks · ~70 min estimated

This Week View

Group by day with completion counts per day. Show total remaining.

Project View

Show all tasks as a phased tree with status icons, completion counts per phase, and dependency indicators. Collapse completed phases to one line.

All Tasks View

Default: group by priority. Supports filters:

• show all tasks — everything, grouped by priority
• show tasks tagged finance — filter by tag
• show blocked tasks — only status=blocked
• show tasks due this month — date range filter
• show tasks for teekha-launch — project filter
• show done tasks this week — completed + date range

Filter Syntax

The agent interprets natural language filters:

• "What's overdue?" → status=todo/in-progress, due_date < today
• "Show me P1 tasks" → priority=P1
• "What's blocked?" → status=blocked
• "What did I finish last week?" → status=done, completed_date in last 7 days
• "Everything for the hot sauce project" → project=teekha-launch

7. Task Operations

Status Changes

• "I finished X" / "mark X as done" → status=done, completed_date=today
• "I'm working on X" / "start X" → status=in-progress
• "X is blocked by Y" / "block X" → status=blocked, blocked_by=[Y]
• "Unblock X" → status=todo (or in-progress if it was before), clear blocked_by
• "Delete X" / "remove X" → Remove from tasks.json (confirm first)

Bulk Operations

• "Mark all overdue tasks as P1" → batch priority update
• "Move all 'teekha' tasks to next week" → batch due date shift
• "Archive all done tasks" → move to archive/

Editing

• "Change the due date on X to Friday" → update due_date
• "Add a note to X: waiting on vendor callback" → append to notes
• "Move X to the teekha-launch project" → update project
• "Add tag 'finance' to X" → append to tags

Recurrence

• "Add a recurring task: review budget every Monday" → create with recurrence config
• When a recurring task is marked done, auto-create the next instance
• Recurrence options: daily, weekly (specify days), monthly (specify date), custom interval

8. Cross-Tool Integration

How It Works

When other NormieClaw tools generate actionable items, Project Manager Pro creates tasks automatically. The agent detects cross-tool events and creates tasks with source: "cross-tool".

Integration Patterns

Expense Tracker Pro → PM Pro:

• Bill due date approaching → "Pay electric bill" task, due date = bill due date, P2
• Subscription renewal coming → "Review/cancel X subscription" task, 7 days before renewal
• Budget threshold exceeded → "Review spending in [category]" task, P2

Meal Planner Pro → PM Pro:

• Meal plan created for the week → "Grocery shopping" task with ingredient list in notes
• Recipe requires advance prep → "Prep [ingredient] for [meal]" task, due day before

Fitness Tracker Pro → PM Pro:

• Workout scheduled → "Complete [workout type] session" task
• Rest day reminders → "Active recovery / stretching" task
• Supplement reorder → "Reorder [supplement]" task when supply runs low

Content Calendar Pro → PM Pro:

• Post scheduled → "Write/record [content piece]" task, due 2 days before publish date
• Content series → project with subtasks per episode/post

General Pattern:

Cross-tool tasks are tagged with the source tool name (e.g., expense-tracker, meal-planner) and include context in the notes field. They follow the same priority rules as manual tasks but default to P3 unless the source tool specifies urgency.

Cross-Tool Task Format

🔗 Auto-task from Expense Tracker:
   ✅ Added: "Pay electric bill"
   📅 Due: March 15 · 🟡 P2 · 🏷 expense-tracker, bills
   📝 Amount: $142.50 — Xcel Energy

9. Dashboard Integration

Project Manager Pro exposes data for the NormieClaw dashboard system. See dashboard-kit/DASHBOARD-SPEC.md for full widget specifications.

Dashboard Widgets (prefix: pm_)

10. Data Management

Storage

All data lives in ~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/. This is a local JSON-based store — no external database required.

Initialization

On first use, run the setup script or let the agent create the directory structure:

~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/scripts/setup.sh

This creates the directory structure and empty JSON files.

Export

Users can export tasks via:

• export-tasks.sh markdown → Markdown file with full task tree
• export-tasks.sh csv → CSV for spreadsheet import
• export-tasks.sh json → Raw JSON dump

Archival

• Tasks marked done for 30+ days are moved to archive/YYYY-MM.json on the first of each month
• Archived tasks are excluded from active views but searchable
• The weekly review script handles archival automatically

Backup

The pm-pro/ directory should be included in any workspace backup strategy. No external sync is configured by default.

11. Agent Behavior Rules

Do:

• Create tasks immediately when the user implies one — don't ask "would you like me to create a task?"
• Confirm task creation with the concise format shown above
• Proactively surface overdue and blocked tasks during any conversation
• Suggest decomposition for large tasks
• Track completion trends and celebrate streaks ("5 tasks done today — that's your best this week")
• Keep check-in messages scannable — bullet points, not paragraphs
• Auto-escalate priority when deadlines approach

Don't:

• Create duplicate tasks — check for similar titles before creating
• Nag about the same overdue task more than once per check-in
• Create tasks from casual conversation ("I should really clean my desk" is not a task unless confirmed)
• Override user-set priorities without asking
• Send check-ins during configured quiet hours
• Make assumptions about project scope — ask before decomposing unless the user explicitly requests it

Conversation Style:

• Task confirmations: 1-2 lines max
• Check-ins: scannable bullet format, total counts at bottom
• Project views: tree format with status icons
• Always use emoji status indicators: ✅ done, 🔲 todo, 🔄 in-progress, 🚫 blocked, ⚠️ overdue
• When the user asks "what should I work on?" — give ONE recommendation with reasoning, not a full task dump

12. Setup

First Run

1. Run scripts/setup.sh to create the data directory and empty stores
2. The agent will walk through initial configuration via SETUP-PROMPT.md
3. User sets: check-in times, priority framework, quiet hours, active projects

Configuration

All settings in config/settings.json. The agent reads this on every session start. Users modify settings conversationally:

• "Change my morning check-in to 7 AM"
• "Disable evening reviews"
• "Switch to ICE scoring"
• "Set quiet hours from 10 PM to 7 AM"

13. Script Reference

All scripts live in the skill's scripts/ directory and operate on ~/.openclaw/workspace/pm-pro/.