stepstone

stepstone is a CLI tool that stores a project roadmap as a committed file in the repository itself. Goals are added from the terminal and written to `.worklist/worklist.json` at the repo root, where they can be read and changed by both people and coding agents through the same commands. It is distributed on npm and can be run without installation via `npx -y stepstone@latest`. Each Project Goal has a title, an optional description, a status, and a slug ID minted from the title and frozen afterwards, so references in commit messages or pull requests survive later renames. Statuses are `open`, `active`, `done` and `archived`; at most one goal is active, and `set_active` demotes the previous holder. Completing, reopening, archiving or deleting a goal requires explicit confirmation, given either as a `--confirm` flag or a keystroke. Dependency edges record which goals must land first. Blocked state is derived from those edges on every read rather than stored. The `ready` command reports the whole parallel frontier, `next` names the first goal to start, and `waves` lays unfinished goals out in the earliest layer each could begin in, based on dependencies rather than file order. Any command accepts `--json` for a deterministic result envelope aimed at agents and scripts instead of prose. The README describes a single application service, one cross-process lock, and one atomic file replacement behind every interface, so a CLI call, an open terminal board and a live session can share a repository without corrupting the file. Optional preconditions, a file-wide revision and a goal's `updatedAt`, turn a stale read into a reported conflict instead of a silent overwrite. `project ui` opens a full-screen terminal board over the same goals. For agent use, a standalone Agent Skill can be installed with the `skills` CLI and teaches an agent the workflow, invoking the npm CLI as needed. A Pi extension adds Session Tasks (a branch-aware queue of concrete session chunks, kept separate from the roadmap), a `/tasks` dashboard over both lists, a widget naming the active goal and next unfinished tasks, and a model-facing `worklist` tool. Prepared checkouts carry a goal in an ignored root `STEPSTONE_GOAL.md`, so work can be picked up without Stepstone launching the harness; the project states that no loaded CLI code imports a Pi package and that CI packs the tarball and drives installed bins with no Pi present. Documentation covers CLI usage, the goal model, dependencies, dispatch and workspace claiming, storage schema and migrations, the terminal board, the Agent Skill and the Pi extension. The project was published as `pi-worklist` through 0.17.0 and continues under the current name. It is MIT licensed.