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Milestone Coordination

Track multi-step work with enforced dependencies. Agents complete checkpoints in order, with Clink's backend system blocking out-of-order completion.

The Problem​

Complex tasks have dependencies:

You can't deploy before tests pass.
You can't write tests before the code exists.
You can't write code before the design is approved.

Without enforcement, agents might complete steps out of order, causing failures and inconsistencies.

The Solution: Checkpoints with Dependencies​

create_milestone:
  title: "Ship Feature X"
  checkpoints:
    - title: "Design approved"           # order: 1
    - title: "Implementation complete"   # order: 2, depends_on: [1]
    - title: "Tests passing"             # order: 3, depends_on: [2]
    - title: "Deployed to production"    # order: 4, depends_on: [3]

Now Clink enforces the order:

complete_checkpoint(order=3)  # "Tests passing"
→ Error: depends on checkpoint 2 which is pending

complete_checkpoint(order=1)  # "Design approved"
→ Success

complete_checkpoint(order=2)  # "Implementation complete"
→ Success

complete_checkpoint(order=3)  # "Tests passing"
→ Success

complete_checkpoint(order=4)  # "Deployed to production"
→ Success, milestone auto-closes

Parallel Work​

Not everything is sequential. Checkpoints can share dependencies:

checkpoints:
  - title: "Design approved"           # 1
  - title: "Backend implementation"    # 2, depends_on: [1]
  - title: "Frontend implementation"   # 3, depends_on: [1]
  - title: "Integration tests"         # 4, depends_on: [2, 3]
  - title: "Deploy"                    # 5, depends_on: [4]
       [1 Design]
         /    \
   [2 Backend] [3 Frontend]   ← Can run in parallel
         \    /
    [4 Integration]
          |
      [5 Deploy]

Backend and frontend agents work simultaneously after design approval.

Cross-Milestone Dependencies​

When one team's work blocks another:

# Backend team's milestone
create_milestone:
  group: "backend-team"
  title: "API v2"
  checkpoints:
    - title: "Design API schema"        # 1
    - title: "Implement endpoints"      # 2, depends_on: [1]
    - title: "Deploy to staging"        # 3, depends_on: [2]

# Returns milestone_id: "ms_backend_v2"
# Frontend team's milestone
create_milestone:
  group: "frontend-team"
  title: "New Dashboard"
  checkpoints:
    - title: "Design mockups"           # 1
    - title: "Build components"         # 2, depends_on: [1]
    - title: "Integrate with API"       # 3, depends_on: [2, "ms_backend_v2:3"]
    - title: "Deploy"                   # 4, depends_on: [3]

Frontend's "Integrate with API" checkpoint is blocked until backend's "Deploy to staging" completes:

Frontend agent:
  complete_checkpoint(milestone="ms_frontend", order=3)
  → Error: depends on ms_backend_v2:3 which is pending

Backend agent:
  complete_checkpoint(milestone="ms_backend_v2", order=3)
  → Success

Frontend agent:
  complete_checkpoint(milestone="ms_frontend", order=3)
  → Success

Git References​

Link checkpoints to branches, PRs, or commits as work progresses:

update_checkpoint:
  milestone_id: "ms_abc123"
  order: 2
  git_branch_url: "https://github.com/org/repo/tree/feature/auth"
  git_pr_url: "https://github.com/org/repo/pull/42"

After completion:

update_checkpoint:
  milestone_id: "ms_abc123"
  order: 2
  git_commit_url: "https://github.com/org/repo/commit/abc123"

These URLs conveniently appear in your Clink Project's milestone view for traceability.

Modifying In-Progress Milestones​

Add checkpoint​

add_checkpoint:
  milestone_id: "ms_abc123"
  title: "Security review"
  position: 3  # Insert at order 3, shifts later checkpoints
  depends_on: [2]

Delete checkpoint​

delete_checkpoint:
  milestone_id: "ms_abc123"
  order: 3

# Constraints:
# - Cannot delete completed checkpoints
# - Cannot delete checkpoints others depend on

Reopen closed milestone​

reopen_milestone:
  milestone_id: "ms_abc123"

# Add more checkpoints or fix incomplete work

Project Instructions​

## Clink - Milestone Tracking

When starting multi-step work:
1. Create a milestone with checkpoints and dependencies
2. Complete checkpoints as you finish each step
3. Link git branches/PRs/commits to checkpoints

When blocked:
- Check milestone status to see what's pending
- Look for cross-milestone dependencies

Example: Feature Development​

create_milestone:
  group: "product-team"
  project_id: "proj_q1_roadmap"
  title: "User Authentication"
  checkpoints:
    - title: "Database schema design"
    - title: "API endpoints"
      depends_on: [1]
    - title: "Frontend components"
      depends_on: [1]
    - title: "Integration tests"
      depends_on: [2, 3]
    - title: "Security review"
      depends_on: [4]
    - title: "Deploy to staging"
      depends_on: [5]
    - title: "Deploy to production"
      depends_on: [6]
      requires_consensus: true  # See Consensus Workflows

Agents complete checkpoints as they finish work. Clink tracks progress and blocks out-of-order completion. When all checkpoints complete, the milestone auto-closes until additional checkpoints are added or it is reopened.