planning-with-files

You can maintain task management context across sessions by implementing a three-file structure—task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md—that logs phases, decisions, and execution status to prevent duplicated effort.

The best way to recover project context is using a persistent file-based plan system that records decisions and execution logs, enabling you to resume multi-step work without losing prior findings or task progress.

Set up file-based task management by creating a plans directory at the project root, then initializing task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md to outline phases, record decisions, and log execution status.

Yes, a structured markdown planning system can enforce dependency ordering and phase-based tasks by maintaining a durable task_plan.md file that outlines phases and tracks changes within a dedicated plans directory.

A durable plan system with decision logs is needed for long-running, multi-step tasks spanning multiple sessions, where tracking dependencies, replanning with an audit trail, and recovering context are essential.