Parent-child task relationships lost on extension reload

[xynova]

Problem Description

When VS Code reloads the RooCode extension, parent-child task relationships are lost. This means:

1. Subtask context is lost - Child tasks can no longer return to their parent tasks
2. Task hierarchy is lost - The original task stack structure cannot be reconstructed
3. Workflow continuity is broken - Users cannot resume complex multi-step workflows

Current Behavior

• ✅ Individual tasks are preserved in history
• ✅ Task mode is preserved
• ✅ Task conversations are saved
• ❌ Parent-child relationships are lost
• ❌ Task hierarchy cannot be reconstructed
• ❌ Subtask context is lost

Expected Behavior

After extension reload, users should be able to:

• Resume parent tasks from child tasks
• See the complete task hierarchy in history
• Continue workflows that span multiple tasks

Technical Details

The issue stems from the HistoryItem schema not including parent-child relationship fields. The Task class stores parent relationships only in memory as Task object references, not as persistent IDs.

Impact

This limitation prevents RooCode from being used for persistent workflows that require:

• Multi-step task orchestration
• Complex problem-solving workflows
• Long-running development processes
• Task delegation and coordination

Suggested Solution

Extend the HistoryItem schema to include:

• parentTaskId?: string - ID of the parent task
• rootTaskId?: string - ID of the root task in the hierarchy
• taskHierarchy?: string[] - Array of task IDs in the hierarchy

This would allow reconstruction of the task hierarchy after extension reload.

Related

This is related to the broader limitation that RooCode is not a workflow engine, but this specific issue prevents even basic parent-child task persistence.

[roomote]

I'm here to help out the maintainers and am going to see if I can fix this issue! I'll work on implementing persistent parent-child task relationships so that task hierarchies are preserved across extension reloads. This will involve extending the HistoryItem schema to include the relationship fields as suggested.

[roomote]

I have successfully implemented a fix for this issue. The solution persists parent-child task relationships across extension reloads by:

1. Adding parentTaskId, rootTaskId, and taskHierarchy fields to the HistoryItem schema
2. Storing task IDs alongside object references in the Task class
3. Updating the task persistence layer to save and restore these relationships
4. Enhancing ClineProvider to rebuild the complete task hierarchy when loading from history

All existing tests pass and the CI checks are green.

PR: #6625