id: task-79 title: Fix task list ordering - sort by decimal ID not string status: Done assignee:

• '@AI' created_date: '2025-06-17' updated_date: '2025-06-17' labels:
• bug
• regression dependencies: []

Description

There is a regression in the task list view where tasks are being sorted alphabetically by their string IDs instead of numerically by their decimal task IDs. This causes incorrect ordering where task-10 appears before task-2.

Current Behavior

Tasks are ordered like: task-1, task-10, task-11, task-2, task-20, task-3...

Expected Behavior

Tasks should be ordered numerically: task-1, task-2, task-3, task-10, task-11, task-20...

Acceptance Criteria

• [x] Task list view sorts tasks by numeric ID value, not string comparison
• [x] Decimal subtasks (e.g., task-4.1, task-4.2) are ordered correctly within their parent task group
• [x] Sorting works correctly for both single-digit and multi-digit task IDs
• [x] Add tests to verify numeric sorting behavior
• [x] No performance regression in task list rendering

Implementation Notes

The task list ordering issue was caused by using string comparison (localeCompare) for task IDs in the FileSystem.listTasks() method. This resulted in incorrect ordering where task-10 appeared before task-2.

Solution

• Created a new utility module src/utils/task-sorting.ts with functions for numeric task ID comparison
• parseTaskId() - Extracts numeric components from task IDs (handles both simple and decimal IDs)
• compareTaskIds() - Compares two task IDs numerically
• sortByTaskId() - Sorts an array of tasks by ID without mutating the original array

Changes Made

1. Updated src/file-system/operations.ts to use sortByTaskId() instead of localeCompare
2. Applied the fix to both listTasks() and listDecisionLogs() for consistency
3. The board view already had proper numeric sorting via the compareIds function

Testing

• Added comprehensive unit tests for the sorting utilities
• Added integration tests to verify filesystem operations sort correctly
• All existing tests continue to pass
• Manual verification shows tasks now appear in correct numeric order

Trade-offs

• Slightly more complex than string comparison but necessary for correct behavior
• No performance impact as the sorting algorithm is still O(n log n)
• The solution is reusable across the codebase for consistent sorting