Tombstone/Marker Files
When to Use This Skill
Poor Fit
- Simple operations where check-before-act suffices
- When marker storage is unreliable
- High-frequency operations (marker overhead adds up)
- When operation result changes over time (markers become stale)
Implementation
Basic Marker File
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Run-Scoped Markers
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Operation-Scoped Markers
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Markers with Metadata
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Directory-Based Markers
See examples.md for detailed code examples.
Techniques
Comparison with Other Patterns
| Aspect | Check-Before-Act | Unique Identifiers | Tombstone Markers | | -------- | ----------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- | | Tracks completion | No | No | Yes | | Works for any operation | No | No | Yes | | Requires storage | No | No | Yes | | Can track partial progress | No | No | Yes | | Cleanup required | No | No | Yes |
Comparison
| Aspect | Check-Before-Act | Unique Identifiers | Tombstone Markers | | -------- | ----------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- | | Tracks completion | No | No | Yes | | Works for any operation | No | No | Yes | | Requires storage | No | No | Yes | | Can track partial progress | No | No | Yes | | Cleanup required | No | No | Yes |
Examples
See examples.md for code examples.