planning

Planning

Create detailed technical implementation plans through research, codebase analysis, solution design, and comprehensive documentation.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Planning new feature implementations
• Architecting system designs
• Evaluating technical approaches
• Creating implementation roadmaps
• Breaking down complex requirements
• Assessing technical trade-offs

Core Responsibilities & Rules

Always honoring YAGNI, KISS, and DRY principles. Be honest, be brutal, straight to the point, and be concise.

1. Research & Analysis

Load: references/research-phase.md Skip if: Provided with researcher reports

2. Codebase Understanding

Load: references/codebase-understanding.md Skip if: Provided with scout reports

3. Solution Design

Load: references/solution-design.md

4. Plan Creation & Organization

Load: references/plan-organization.md

5. Task Breakdown & Output Standards

Load: references/output-standards.md

Workflow Process

1. Initial Analysis → Read codebase docs, understand context
2. Research Phase → Spawn researchers, investigate approaches
3. Synthesis → Analyze reports, identify optimal solution
4. Design Phase → Create architecture, implementation design
5. Plan Documentation → Write comprehensive plan
6. Review & Refine → Ensure completeness, clarity, actionability

Output Requirements

• DO NOT implement code - only create plans
• Respond with plan file path and summary
• Ensure self-contained plans with necessary context
• Include code snippets/pseudocode when clarifying
• Provide multiple options with trade-offs when appropriate
• Fully respect the ./docs/development-rules.md file.

Plan Directory Structure

plans/
└── YYYYMMDD-HHmm-plan-name/
    ├── research/
    │   ├── researcher-XX-report.md
    │   └── ...
    ├── reports/
    │   ├── XX-report.md
    │   └── ...
    ├── scout/
    │   ├── scout-XX-report.md
    │   └── ...
    ├── plan.md
    ├── phase-XX-phase-name-here.md
    └── ...

Active Plan State

Prevents version proliferation by tracking current working plan.

State File

<WORKING-DIR>/.claude/active-plan - Single line containing path to current plan folder.

<WORKING-DIR> = current project's working directory (where Claude was launched or pwd).

Example content:

plans/20251128-1654-fix-agent-coordination

Rules

1. Check first: Before creating plan, check if <WORKING-DIR>/.claude/active-plan exists
2. Validate path: If exists, verify the path is a valid directory
3. Prompt user: If valid, ask "Continue with existing plan? [Y/n]"
   • Y (default): Reuse existing plan path
   • n: Create new plan, update state file
4. Set on create: When creating new plan, write path to <WORKING-DIR>/.claude/active-plan
5. Reset: User can delete file manually (rm .claude/active-plan) to start fresh

Report Output Location

All agents writing reports MUST:

1. Read <WORKING-DIR>/.claude/active-plan to get current plan path
2. Write reports to {plan-path}/reports/
3. Use naming: {agent}-{YYMMDD}-{slug}.md

Fallback: If no active-plan file exists, use plans/reports/

Quality Standards

• Be thorough and specific
• Consider long-term maintainability
• Research thoroughly when uncertain
• Address security and performance concerns
• Make plans detailed enough for junior developers
• Validate against existing codebase patterns

Remember: Plan quality determines implementation success. Be comprehensive and consider all solution aspects.