1 files changed, 44 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/internal/askcli/command_start_deps.go b/internal/askcli/command_start_deps.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94a6a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/askcli/command_start_deps.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package askcli
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// verifyDependenciesCompletedForStart returns 0 if every dependency is completed,
+// or 1 after writing an error to stderr when the task must not be started yet.
+func (d *Dispatcher) verifyDependenciesCompletedForStart(ctx context.Context, task TaskExport, stderr io.Writer) int {
+	if len(task.Depends) == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	aliases, err := ensureTaskAliasesForUUIDs(task.Depends)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(stderr, "error: failed to load task aliases: %v\n", err)
+		return 1
+	}
+	var incomplete []string
+	for _, depUUID := range task.Depends {
+		depTasks, code, err := d.exportTasks(ctx, []string{"uuid:" + depUUID, "export"}, stderr)
+		if err != nil {
+			writeInfoError(stderr, err)
+			return code
+		}
+		if len(depTasks) == 0 {
+			fmt.Fprintf(stderr, "error: dependency task not found (%s)\n", displayTaskAlias(depUUID, aliases))
+			return 1
+		}
+		status := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(depTasks[0].Status))
+		if status != "completed" {
+			label := displayTaskAlias(depUUID, aliases)
+			incomplete = append(incomplete, fmt.Sprintf("%s (%s)", label, depTasks[0].Status))
+		}
+	}
+	if len(incomplete) > 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(stderr, "error: cannot start until all dependencies are completed; incomplete: %s\n",
+			strings.Join(incomplete, ", "))
+		return 1
+	}
+	return 0
+}