The task loop
Start, checkpoint, finish, review. What each call does, and what you see in Beck when it happens.
Where tasks come from
Usually from the agent: when you approve its plan, it records the epics and tasks with record_plan. People add tasks by hand, and Plan it turns a document into stories for teammates who are not coding.
The states
Not started → started → Ready for Review → accepted (Completed) or rejected back to the story. Icebox is parking, not a status in the allowed list. Backlog is the picture.
What the agent logs
Attempted, succeeded, failed, blockers, and test checks (passed of total, and what ran). Comments stay on the story. A reject with comments is how the same object comes back. Do not open a new ticket to hold the defect.
Runs and decisions
Each agent session is a run on the Now page, kept current by the calls it already makes. It shows as quiet after 30 minutes without an update. When a choice is yours, the agent asks a decision with the default it is using and keeps going. The answer reaches it on its next start, finish or recommend call.
GitHub
Paste a branch name and a PR URL on the epic if you want the link next to the work. Code review stays in your host. Beck holds whether the story is accepted.
Do
Reject on the same story. Keep progress and comments there.
Don’t
Do not file a new ticket for the same defect. That is how graveyards start.
Questions
Where does In Progress live?
In the backlog. There is no separate Current panel. Ready for Review sits there too.
Can an agent accept its own work?
Only if you set peer_review or full. Default is human_review. See Autonomy.