planning-with-pm

name	planning-with-pm
description	Manages feature planning workflow with provider-agnostic PM operations. Detects active provider and adapts commands accordingly.
argument-hint	[backlog-file]
skills	["planning-with-pm"]
agent-roles	["navigator"]

Planning with PM (Provider-Agnostic)

Replaces planning-with-trello — works with any PM provider or local-only.

When to Use

• Planning new features, bugfixes, or refactors
• Creating sprint backlogs
• Breaking work into tasks with estimates
• Syncing plans to any PM provider (Trello, Linear, Jira, etc.)

Pre-Flight: Detect Provider

bpsai-pair pm status

Decision tree based on output:

Output	Mode	Commands
Provider: <name> (healthy)	PM provider	Use pm commands
No PM provider configured + Trello in config	Trello compat	Use ttask / plan sync-trello
No PM provider configured + no Trello	Local-only	Skip sync steps

# Also check budget
bpsai-pair budget status

Budget Warning: If above 80% daily usage, warn user before proceeding.

Planning Workflow

Step 1: Context Gathering

bpsai-pair status
cat .paircoder/context/state.md
cat .paircoder/context/project.md

Step 2: Intelligence Integration (Optional)

bpsai-pair workspace status
bpsai-pair feedback query feature
bpsai-pair feedback status

Use intelligence data for:

• Token estimates for complexity scoring
• Model recommendations per task type
• Effort-level validation (S/M/L)
• Cross-repo impact detection

Step 3: Design the Plan

Attribute	Format	Example
Slug	kebab-case	webhook-support
Type	feature | bugfix | refactor | chore	feature
Title	Human-readable	"Add Webhook Support"

Valid Plan Types: feature, bugfix, refactor, chore

Step 4: Task Breakdown

Break work into 3-8 tasks with complexity estimates:

Complexity	Effort	Description
0-20	S	Trivial
21-40	S	Simple
41-60	M	Moderate
61-80	L	Complex
81-100	L	Epic (consider splitting)

Task ID Format: T<sprint>.<sequence> (e.g., T28.1, T28.2)

Step 4.5: Scope Detection

After calculating total complexity from the task breakdown, detect whether the work should be scoped as an Epic or a Story:

Condition	Scope	Reason
num_sprint_targets > 1	Epic	Work spans multiple sprints
total_cx > sprint_budget	Epic	Exceeds single-sprint capacity
Otherwise	Story	Fits within one sprint

Default sprint budget: 300 cx (configurable via config.yaml key token_budget.sprint_cx_budget).

When total complexity triggers Epic scope, the suggested sprint count is calculated as ceil(total_cx / sprint_budget).

Note: plan new --total-cx <value> runs this detection automatically via detect_scope() in planning/scope_detector.py. You do not need to call it manually, but understanding the rules helps when reviewing scope decisions.

Step 5: Budget Check

bpsai-pair budget check --estimated-tokens <total_estimate>

If budget check fails: reduce scope, split plans, or get explicit user approval.

Step 6: Create Plan

bpsai-pair plan new <slug> --type <type> --title "<title>" --total-cx <sum>

Scope auto-detection: When --total-cx is provided, scope is auto-detected (see Step 4.5). To override the auto-detected scope, pass --scope epic or --scope story explicitly.

Epic auto-creation: When a PM provider with hierarchy capability is connected, plan new automatically creates an Epic in the provider and stores epic_provider_id in plan metadata.

Step 7: Create Task Files

For each task:

1. Register metadata:

   bpsai-pair plan add-task <plan-slug> \
       --id "T<sprint>.<seq>" \
       --title "<task title>" \
       --complexity <0-100> \
       --priority <P0|P1|P2|P3>
   

2. Write task content to .paircoder/tasks/T<sprint>.<seq>.task.md with:

   • Objective, Files to Update, Implementation Plan
   • Acceptance Criteria (checkboxes)
   • Verification commands

Step 8: Sync to Provider

PM provider mode:

# Sync all local tasks to provider
bpsai-pair pm sync

Trello compat mode:

bpsai-pair plan sync-trello <plan-id> --dry-run
bpsai-pair plan sync-trello <plan-id>

Local-only mode: Skip this step.

Step 9: Custom Fields (PM provider)

bpsai-pair pm set-field <item-id> --field "Project" --value "PairCoder"
bpsai-pair pm set-field <item-id> --field "Stack" --value "Package"
bpsai-pair pm set-field <item-id> --field "Effort" --value "M"

Step 10: Update State

bpsai-pair context-sync \
    --last "Created plan: <plan-id>" \
    --next "Ready to start: <first-task-id>"

Step 11: Report Summary

**Plan Created**: <plan-id>
**Type**: <type>
**Tasks**: <count> tasks, <total-complexity> complexity points

| ID | Title | Priority | Complexity | Effort |
|----|-------|----------|------------|--------|
| T28.1 | ... | P0 | 35 | S |

**Provider**: <provider-name> synced / local-only
Ready to start? Use `/start-task T28.1`

Sprint Lifecycle

Start Sprint

bpsai-pair pm sprint start <plan-id>

Marks the plan as in-progress and fires on_sprint_planned hook.

Complete Sprint

# View summary
bpsai-pair pm sprint complete <plan-id>

# With carry-forward to next sprint
bpsai-pair pm sprint complete <plan-id> --carry-forward <new-plan-id>

Evaluates task statuses, produces summary, optionally moves incomplete tasks.

PM CRUD Commands

All commands require an active PM provider (pm_basic feature).

# Create work items
bpsai-pair pm create --type task --title "New task"
bpsai-pair pm create --type epic --title "New epic"
bpsai-pair pm create --type task --title "Child" --parent EPIC-ID

# Move items between statuses
bpsai-pair pm move <item-id> --status in_progress
bpsai-pair pm move <item-id> --status done

# Add comments
bpsai-pair pm comment <item-id> "Status update: 50% complete"

# Checklist operations
bpsai-pair pm check <item-id> <checklist-item-id>
bpsai-pair pm check <item-id> <checklist-item-id> --uncheck

# Custom fields
bpsai-pair pm set-field <item-id> --field "Project" --value "PairCoder"

# Hierarchy and relationships
bpsai-pair pm children <parent-id>
bpsai-pair pm tree <root-id>
bpsai-pair pm link <parent-id> <child-id>...    # Re-parent items under a new parent
bpsai-pair pm unlink <child-id>                  # Remove parent relationship

# Task lifecycle (via lifecycle manager)
bpsai-pair pm start <item-id>
bpsai-pair pm done <item-id> --summary "Completed feature X"
bpsai-pair pm block <item-id> --reason "Waiting on API"

# Sync and diagnostics
bpsai-pair pm sync
bpsai-pair pm status
bpsai-pair pm diagnostics
bpsai-pair pm config

PairCoder-Specific Defaults

When planning for PairCoder itself:

• Project: PairCoder
• Stack: Package (CLI) or Worker (background jobs)
• Repo URL: https://github.com/BPSAI/paircoder

Error Handling

Scenario	Action
PM provider unhealthy	Fall back to Trello compat or local-only
Sync fails	Plan exists locally — retry sync later
Budget check fails	Do NOT proceed without user acknowledgment
Plan creation fails	Check for duplicate slugs or invalid types
Item not found	Verify provider connection, check item ID format