Feature Proposal: Support Project Task Integration in /tasks

[alonf]

Motivation

Spec-Kit currently generates a tasks.md file with a list of tasks. While this ensures local traceability, serious projects often rely on project management platforms such as GitHub Projects, Azure DevOps Boards, or Jira to coordinate and track work across multiple features.

Relying solely on local Markdown files creates friction for teams that:

• Already manage their workflow in a PM tool
• Want to track task progress, ownership, and status across the entire project
• Need tighter integration with CI/CD pipelines and Git flow

Adding support for syncing tasks directly into a project management system ensures that Spec-Kit’s Spec → Plan → Tasks → Implementation workflow aligns seamlessly with modern software delivery practices.

Proposed Feature

Extend the /tasks command to support project task integration, in addition to (or instead of) generating local tasks.md files.

Key capabilities

• Provider abstraction

  • --sync-provider none|github|azure|jira
  • Implement GitHub Projects first (MVP)
  • Provide stubs for Azure DevOps and Jira for future expansion

• Project resolution

  • --project-owner <@me|org>
  • --project-number <int> to connect to an existing project
  • --create-project --project-title "<title>" to create a new one

• Task modes

  • --sync-mode draft → create Draft Items in the project
  • --sync-mode issue → create Issues in a repo, then link them into the project

• Metadata mapping

  • Parse @assignees, #labels, [P1] priorities, (iter: …) iteration markers
  • Map them to project fields where available

• Idempotency

  • Each task line annotated with a stable GUID (<!-- spec-kit-task-id: ... -->)
  • Prevents duplicate creation across multiple runs

• Dry-run support

  • Allow preview of what would be created before committing changes

Alignment with Spec-Kit Philosophy

This feature is fully consistent with Spec-Kit’s Spec-Driven Development philosophy:

• Specs capture the what and why.
• Plans capture the how.
• Tasks become actionable work tracked in real-world tools.

With project integration:

• The AI Agent can use git, gh, MCP servers, or technology-specific CLIs to manage the project.
• Workflow stays Git-centric and automation-friendly, aligning with Git Flow and modern development practices.
• Agents (Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Gemini, etc.) gain direct control of project tracking as part of the development loop.

MVP Scope

For the first milestone, we propose:

• Implementing GitHub Projects provider

  • Ability to create a new GitHub Project (via GraphQL API or gh CLI)
  • Ability to connect to an existing GitHub Project (by number/owner)
  • Support both Draft Item creation and Issue + Project item workflows
  • ✅ This is guaranteed to work — I have already validated it manually using custom Copilot instructions to create and sync tasks into GitHub Projects.

Future Roadmap

• Add providers for Azure DevOps Boards and Jira
• Allow cross-provider abstractions (same /tasks flow regardless of PM platform)

---

👉 This enhancement keeps Spec-Kit’s current behavior (local tasks.md) as default, while enabling optional sync into real project management tools for teams that need scalable task tracking.

[dragoshont]

@alonf , I think this is quite critical to have. Added my experience with this upgrade here: #1235
Let me know if that fits your case for Azure Devops at least