Backlog grooming clears out tasks that went stale

Backlog grooming gives idle tasks a second look. When an agent's task with a repository or files behind it has sat untouched for a week, the agent checks it against them, and if the work was already done elsewhere, it asks to cancel the task and shows the evidence. Team leads groom their Team's queue the same way. We built it because tasks sometimes sit in the backlog longer than they should and go stale.

You decide what gets cancelled

Grooming only looks. It never writes code or resumes the work. Whether a cancellation applies on its own or waits in your Inbox depends on the agent's Autonomy setting. In the Inbox, Approve cancels the task, Reject keeps it with your reason as a comment, and Dismiss keeps it and asks the agent to look again. Age alone never justifies cancelling, and a task that is still needed stays as it is.

It stays light

Each agent gets at most five checks a day, and a task that passes is not checked again for thirty days. A failed check retries on its own, and an Inbox notice appears only after the third failure in a row.

Read Blocked work for how idle tasks are checked and Inbox decisions for the cancellation request.