feat(list): work outside a repo; group task list by project + session fallback

[alex-mextner]

What

Make task's read/list/global ops work outside any git repo, and turn task list into a cross-project, session-aware view. Implements two ROADMAP items:

• Commands should work OUTSIDE a repo; task list groups by repo/project
• task list: fallback to all-tasks + session-vs-all messaging

Behavior

• task list outside any repo → ALL tasks across the registered projects, grouped by project (a heading per project, tickets beneath). A project whose backend errors is shown as a degraded group; it never aborts the aggregation.
• task list inside a repo → session scope, falling back to all of that repo's tickets (with a showing all project tasks line) when there's no agent session or the session has no tickets. --all gives the grouped cross-project view from anywhere.
• task read / status / find work outside a repo: an id is routed to a registered project (Linear HYP-3 by team; #123 when exactly one GitHub project is registered); an ambiguous id fails with a clear 3-part error.
• Only task create is repo-bound → a 3-part WHAT/WHY/HOW error outside a repo (honest HOW: --repo owner/name for GitHub, linear.team for Linear).

Design (brainstormed, then reviewed)

A new pure tasklib/projects.py models the projects: registry (in the config cascade, usually the global ~/.config/task-cli/config.yaml). Each entry becomes a config overlay that the existing get_backend() resolves unchanged — zero backend special-casing. Projects dedup by backend coordinate (repo/team), not display name. The multi-backend fan-out is an effect and lives in cli.py. LoadedConfig.with_overlay() is the new (immutable) seam.

_current_project_overlay returns None ONLY when genuinely outside a git work tree; a broken in-repo origin surfaces its real error instead of masquerading as "no projects". Linear list/search now scope to the backend's team (and project, if pinned) so the cross-project view doesn't double-count or leak workspace-wide hits.

Acceptance evidence

task list outside any repo, registry of 3 projects (one Linear group degraded on auth):

$ task list   # OUTSIDE any git repo
showing all project tasks (`task list` defaults to tasks created in the agent session)
web-app · github-issues · 2
  #142 [in-progress] Fix login redirect
  #139 [todo] Upgrade Node 20

api · github-issues · 1
  #88 [todo] Rate-limit /search

HYP · linear · degraded
  ! linear: no team with key 'HYP' (run linear auth)

3-part errors outside a repo (no traceback, exit 2):

$ task list           → error: no projects to list. You are outside a git repo …  (why/fix)
$ task create …       → error: cannot create a ticket: no project context …  (why/fix: --repo owner/name)
$ task read #5        → error: cannot resolve which project ticket '#5' belongs to …

Tests

160 passed (pytest) + tests/smoke.sh green (adds an outside-a-repo clean-degradation check). New/extended:

• tests/test_projects.py — registry parsing, coordinate dedup, hostile input.
• tests/test_cli_non_repo.py — grouped list, degraded groups, JSON shape, id routing (GitHub single / ambiguous / Linear-by-team / two-same-team), session fallback, current marker (incl. repo-in-registry), broken-remote-surfaces-error, 3-part errors (GitHub + Linear).
• tests/test_cli.py — --label filters the session view; a filter that excludes all session tickets does NOT fall back (no cross-session leak).
• tests/test_backends.py — Linear list team+project filter; search team scoping.

Review

Reviewed across models via review --staged (3 rounds). All P1/P2 correctness findings addressed and regression-tested (filter-before-fallback leak, Linear same-team routing, current-marker-when-registered, swallowed remote error). Remaining findings are subjective style/refactor — declined per smallest-change.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

💡 Codex Review

Here are some automated review suggestions for this pull request.

Reviewed commit: d629cb49a7

ℹ️ About Codex in GitHub

Your team has set up Codex to review pull requests in this repo. Reviews are triggered when you

• Open a pull request for review
• Mark a draft as ready
• Comment "@codex review".

If Codex has suggestions, it will comment; otherwise it will react with 👍.

Codex can also answer questions or update the PR. Try commenting "@codex address that feedback".

[alex-mextner]

Both P2 review findings fixed in 9143977:

1. Teamless in-repo linear (cli.py): _current_project_overlay no longer returns None for a backend: linear repo missing linear.team. Inside a git work tree it now surfaces the backend's actionable linear backend requires a team key error (mirroring the github repo: auto branch), instead of masking it as 'outside a repo'. Regression test: test_list_in_repo_linear_missing_team_surfaces_config_error_not_outside_repo.

2. GitHub shorthands under a linear default (projects.py): added _backend_from_shape — a registry entry's backend is inferred from its own coordinate keys (repo/github vs team/linear) before falling back to the merged top-level default, so a global {repo: acme/web} is no longer dropped from task list --all inside a linear-backed repo. An explicit per-entry backend still wins. Regression tests: test_github_shorthand_survives_linear_merged_default, test_explicit_entry_backend_still_wins_over_shape.