The project checklist

What it is

Every project has a Checklist tab. It answers one question: where are we, and what is the next big step? It runs from understanding the problem to uploading data, running the model, comparing what-ifs, sharing the result and scheduling it, and the assistant keeps it current as the project changes.

It is a map you move back and forth on, not a one-way list. If new data changes what you thought you knew, or a run fails, the assistant reopens the item that no longer holds and tells you why.

You don't need to read this page to use it. Open the tab, read the Next step card, and press its button.

The eight phases

The tab shows the project's phases in a row. The one you're in is highlighted, and a phase with something to revisit is marked even when it is behind you.

Delivering comes before what-ifs because a comparison needs runs and a dashboard to compare.

Reading the tab

At the top you see the project's Goal, then a Next step card, then the phase row, then each phase with its items.

The Next step is the item you most likely need to act on now. A named next step wins while it is still open. After that, going back beats going forward (an item to revisit comes first), then work already started, then the earliest item still to do.

Each item has a state:

Buttons that do the thing

An item can carry a button for what it asks of you:

Questions

Some items are questions with answer buttons, for example "Can employees work two plants in one week?" Click an answer and it goes to the assistant as a message. The assistant records it in the checklist and, if it changes the project, acts on it.

"Not confirmed"

The file records what the assistant believes; the project records what is true. When an item is ticked but the project says otherwise, it is marked Not confirmed with the reason: no successful run yet, no input file uploaded, no datasource connected, no dashboard in the project, nothing is scheduled or no share link is on. This only happens when the project positively says no. While something is still loading, nothing is flagged.

How it stays up to date

• After a conversation. After a turn that changes the picture (data arrived, a run finished, you made a decision) the assistant updates the checklist and tells you the next step. It changes the checklist without asking you to approve each update. Every other file it changes still goes through your usual approval.
• After something happens in the project. A run finishing, an upload completing, or a datasource, schedule or share link being created triggers a quick review about twenty seconds later. It uses no AI: it reopens a done item the project now denies, and finishes an open item whose button is exactly what just became true (for example, an Add files item once a file is uploaded). Judgement stays with the assistant in the chat. A workspace without an active plan is not changed.

Seeing the next step elsewhere

• A small pill in the project's top bar shows the next step and links to the Checklist tab. An item to revisit is flagged. It is hidden on the Checklist tab itself, and when there is nothing left to do.
• On your projects home, your five most recently edited projects show their next step under the project name.

Going back

Click History at the top of the tab to see every change to the checklist, newest first, and whether the assistant or a person made it. Go back to this restores the checklist as it was at that point.

Going back adds a new change on top, so nothing is lost and you can go forward again the same way. If the checklist changed while you were looking at the history (the assistant was working), Harumi tells you instead of overwriting it; refresh and try again.

When something goes wrong

Editing it yourself

The checklist is a file, CHECKLIST.md, at the top of your project's repository, so it is versioned like your code and you can read it in the Code tab. You can edit it by hand and your edits are kept: the assistant treats them as your statement of what is true, and checks them against the project.

---
harumi: checklist
v: 1
goal: "Cut overtime across 3 plants"
---

## Bring the data <!-- phase:data -->

- [x] Shift history uploaded <!-- id:shifts evidence:input-file -->
- [ ] Upload the HR table <!-- id:hr action:upload -->

A few rules keep it readable:

• The harumi: checklist line marks the file as Harumi's. Without it the file is treated as yours and left alone.
• Each item has a short id that never changes.
• Items are plain text of up to 240 characters. Links, code and HTML are removed.
• A checklist holds up to 200 items and 32 KB.
• Items are never deleted by the assistant; finished-with items move to an Archived section.

Who can see it

Everyone who can open the project can read its checklist. Editors can act on it; viewers see it read-only. It is not shown on public share links.