Author a phased implementation plan for a new feature following the repo's `ai-plans/` conventions. Use when the user asks to "plan", "design", "scope", or "break down" a feature, write an implementation plan / IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md, or turn a spec/idea into a phased roadmap. Always interrogates the requester before drafting.
Installation
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Author a phased implementation plan for a new feature following the repo's `ai-plans/` conventions. Use when the user asks to "plan", "design", "scope", or "break down" a feature, write an implementation plan / IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md, or turn a spec/idea into a phased roadmap. Always interrogates the requester before drafting.
Plan Feature
Plans live in ai-plans/ as YYYY-MM-DD-FEATURE_NAME_IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md (uppercase + underscores). ..._SPEC.md sibling exists → read first. Plan translates spec into phased delivery, doesn't re-derive requirements. No spec? Point at create-spec first; plan without spec = plausible-sounding but unverified. Spec/plan pair share YYYY-MM-DD-FEATURE_NAME prefix.
Step 0 — Interrogate before drafting (NON-NEGOTIABLE)
Never assume requester want."Plan bookmarks feature" hide ≥dozen decisions cheaper to surface now than unwind in Phase 4.
Ask below in batched, numbered groups. Skip only when SPEC.md or prior conversation explicitly answers — never because guess. Can guess but not 100% sure → ask + state default ("default: per-user; confirm or override").
Drop irrelevant groups; don't drop questions inside relevant group:
Use AskUserQuestion for finite-choice questions
Every question in groups B–J with discrete answer set — yes/no, named option, finite enum — must go through AskUserQuestion tool, not free-form prose. Why:
User picks; no retyping context.
Multiple related questions ride one AskUserQuestion call (tool accepts list of questions, each own option set). Batch per group: one call for the Data model & storage group, one for the API surface group, etc.
Short option label per choice; rationale ("default: per-user — confirm or override") goes in question header, not option labels.
Plain prose (no tool) only when answer genuinely open-ended: "walk me through user journey", "what success look like in your words", "what deadline driver". Group A mostly prose; B–J mostly closed-choice.
Iterative asking when no AskUserQuestion (or question open-ended)
Two cases force iterative single-question mode:
AskUserQuestion genuinely unavailable (harness errored on call, not deferred). Try once — confirm actually missing, not schema-deferred.
Question genuinely open-ended (no finite option set — narrative, journey, free-form motivation, deadline date).
Both cases: ask one question at a time, wait for answer, then ask next. Don't dump 5 open questions in one paragraph — user reads three, answers two, third gets lost. Iterate:
> Q1: Who is the primary actor for this flow?
[wait for answer]
> Q2: Walk me through what they do today when they hit this problem.
[wait for answer]
> Q3: …
Closed-choice questions in same group still ride single AskUserQuestion call — only open-ended ones split into one-per-message. Mixing in one group fine: send closed-choice batch via tool, then iterate open ones in plain prose after.
Never flatten ten questions into one prose paragraph just because tool unavailable. Iteration = fallback, not consolidation.
A. Problem & users
Problem this solves, for whom (tenant admins, internal ops, external integrations, end-users via UI)?
Success looks like — what behavior or metric changes?
Workflows requester thinks in scope but actually belong to follow-up?
Who else cares about this landing? Anyone need looping in on contract?
B. Scope & non-goals
Explicitly out of scope for v1? Force non-goals list — where most plans drift.
v1.x / v2 already implied? Name it so we don't bake assumptions into v1's data model.
Phase granularity: one phase per spec use-case (more, smaller PRs) or allow bundling closely-related use-cases (fewer, larger phases)? Default: one use-case per phase — confirm or override. Drives the "One use-case per phase" rule under Phase structure.
C. Data model & storage
New table, new column on existing, JSONB blob, side table, no persistence?
Touching an existing table on a hot path (high-volume, frequently joined, partitioned)? Adding a column there has very different costs than a side table.
Upsert needs last_updated_at guard so we don't overwrite newer state?
H. Rollout & risk
Feature flag — declared in the project's feature-flag module (substitute the actual path during planning). Default YES when feature touches existing flows (changes shape of existing endpoint, alters query path on hot table, modifies routing/matching, mutates data on existing rows, adds branching to use case with callers). Confirm flag key + scope (per-tenant vs per-request, by whatever names the project's flag API uses). Skip only when purely additive new surface (brand-new endpoint, table, admin page no existing code reads/writes) — even then, ask before dropping.
Backfill needed? Idempotent? Resumable?
Migration safety: locks, rewrites, query-plan regressions on hot tables?
Metric / log / dashboard tells us it's working in prod?
Audit logging requirements (whatever audit-trail app/module the project uses)?
How measure producer adoption before downstream phases ship?
E2E coverage (opt-in) — should this plan include happy-path Playwright e2e specs for its new UI flows? Default: NO. E2E specs make the implementation run take a lot longer (browser boot, seeded data, screenshot capture on every affected view, per phase). Opt in only when the flow is high-risk or explicitly QA-gated. When off, phases ship unit + integration tests only and carry no e2e requirement — e2e can still be added later, per-flow, via add-e2e-test.
J. Edge cases & failure modes
Behavior when new field partially populated, malformed, oversized? Reject whole batch, drop offending entry?
Cycle / depth / cardinality limits — where (serializer vs use case vs DB constraint)?
Acceptable to silently truncate vs reject loudly?
Clarity loop — keep asking until done
Don't treat Step 0 as one-pass. After each round of answers, scan for new gaps: contradictions, follow-ups the answer surfaces, decisions that depend on something earlier left vague. Open another batch of questions for those. Repeat.
Loop exit conditions (all required):
Every group A–J either fully answered or explicitly waived.
Every answer's downstream questions also asked + answered.
No "we'll figure that out later" — that's Open Questions material; either it has a recommended default + owner, or it gets resolved now.
You can write each Phase's Goal + Acceptance line right now without inventing.
If any condition fails → another AskUserQuestion round. Don't shortcut to drafting.
After answers stabilize: read back decisions as one-paragraph summary. Then issue one final AskUserQuestion with single question — "Anything I got wrong before I draft?" — options Looks good, Some corrections (I'll list), More to clarify, Stop, rethink. More to clarify → another loop iteration. Only draft when user picks Looks good.
Pushback "just write the plan": write it but mark every assumption explicitly in "Guiding Decisions" table.
Plan structure
# {Feature Name} — Implementation Plan## 1. Goals- 2-5 numbered concrete goals (the contract).
- Then "Non-goals:" bulleted list. **Always include non-goals.**## 2. Guiding Decisions
| Decision | Resolution |
|---|---|
| **Storage shape** | … with the *why*, not just the what. |
| **Match semantics** | … |
| ... | ... |
## 3. Data Model Changes### 3.1 New {Model}
Code block with model. Reference @app/path/to/file.py for files
that need editing. Note exports in __init__.py.
### 3.2 {Existing model}.{new_field}
...
### 3.3 Type plumbing
TypedDicts, dataclasses, NewType updates.
## 4. API Design (omit if no API surface)
### 4.1 {Endpoint group}
Method / path / payload / response shape / errors.
## 5. Phased Rollout
See "Phase structure" below.
## 6. Risk & Rollout Notes
Feature flag (key, scope, default, flip-on criterion, removal path),
locks, query-plan regressions, partition setup, view recreation,
backfill story, rollback story.
## 7. Open Questions
Decisions left to product/eng leadership, with recommended default.
## 8. Touch List
Files to be created / edited / cross-repo, grouped by phase.
Don't invent new top-level sections. Skip non-applicable (e.g. omit "API Design" for pure data-pipeline) but keep numbering consecutive.
Phase structure
Naming: numbers + letters, consistently
Top-level: Phase 1, Phase 2, …
Sub-phases (concern too big for one MR): Phase 2a, Phase 2b, Phase 2c. Use when one logical phase produces >300 LoC PR.
Parallel-track (different repo, different team, runs alongside): Phase 1b. Letter signals "different lane, same time", not "comes after".
Foundation phase: Phase 0 for pure scaffolding (new app skeleton, no behavior change). Optional.
Consistent inside one plan: don't mix Phase 2.1 with Phase 3a.
Each phase MR-sized
Reviewer should read ≤1500 LoC + understand in isolation. Guidelines:
Target: Up to 1500 LoC (tests included).
One concern per phase. "Add field + write migration + wire into 4 use cases + update 3 SQL views" = four phases.
Independently mergeable. Phase N merged + Phase N+1 stalled → system still working. No half-finished features behind flag with no flag-on path.
Own tests. Every phase ships unit/integration tests. No "tests come in Phase 8."
Acceptance criterion. Each phase ends with one-line "Acceptance:" — literally testable.
One use-case per phase (default — confirm in Step 0)
Default ON. Skip only when the Step 0 Phase granularity answer opted into bundling. When on: every spec use-case (entries under Decisions → Use-cases in the SPEC) gets its own phase. Never bundle two use-cases in one phase even when the diff is tiny. Bundling = larger PR + reviewer needs context for both flows + rollback drags both. Cost of an extra phase = one PR header. Cost of a bundled regression = hotfix + split-after-the-fact.
When on, apply even when:
Two use-cases share the same endpoint — split anyway, the second phase is "wire use-case 2 into the existing endpoint." Reviewer reads ≤50 LoC.
Use-cases are CRUD on same entity — Create / Read / Update / Delete are four phases, not one.
"It's just one extra branch" — that branch hides edge cases. Separate phase forces explicit acceptance + tests for that branch.
If the user opted into bundling (Step 0): group closely-related use-cases into one phase where it reduces churn, but each phase still stays MR-sized (≤1500 LoC), one concern, independently mergeable, with its own tests + acceptance. Bundling is a granularity dial, not a license for kitchen-sink phases.
Cross-cutting infra (shared types, migration, scaffolding) lands in a foundation phase before the use-case phases. Each subsequent use-case phase consumes that scaffolding.
Phases creating a new UI flow ship happy-path E2E — only when e2e coverage was opted into
Gated on the Step 0 group I "E2E coverage" answer, which defaults to NO. When e2e coverage was not opted in (the default), skip this section entirely: phases ship unit + integration tests only, name no e2e spec, and add no QA_USE_CASES.md / pr-screenshots/ machinery. E2E specs make the implementation run take a lot longer, so they are opt-in per plan, not automatic.
When e2e coverage was opted in: every phase that introduces or substantially changes a user-facing flow (new page, new modal, new wizard step, new gated action) ships a Playwright e2e test covering at least the happy path in the same MR. Follow the add-e2e-test skill: pick the next free PA### / PR### id, update QA_USE_CASES.md, add the page object + spec. No QA_USE_CASES.md in the project yet? Run create-qa-use-cases first to bootstrap the doc from this plan + spec — add-e2e-test appends, it doesn't create.
In the phase body, name the spec file path under Tests → E2E. If the phase is purely backend (API-only, bot, migration), skip — happy-path E2E only applies when the phase reaches the browser.
Capture screenshots on every affected UI: the e2e spec takes one screenshot per distinct rendered state (landing page, each modal/wizard step, success toast, final state) — not just the final state. Spec writes to Playwright's default per-test output dir via testInfo.outputPath('<id>-<NN>-<view-slug>.png') (zero-padded step number, kebab-case slug describing what's on screen). Never hard-code pr-screenshots/ in the spec. After the suite runs, a copy step moves matching files from test-results/**/ into pr-screenshots/. The pr-screenshots/ directory is gitignored — author drags the files into the PR description in numeric order so reviewers see the journey, not just the destination. See add-e2e-test for the strict filename convention + spec example + copy command.
### Phase N{a} — {Crisp imperative title, ≤8 words}**Goal**: one sentence on user-visible (or producer-visible) outcome.
"Ship value: none on its own" → say so explicitly + justify why scaffolding needed.
**Feature flag**: `{flag-key}` — {gated path; what runs when off vs on}.
Omit only if phase is purely scaffolding (no reachable behavior) or **Guiding Decisions** explicitly marks "no flag — purely additive surface".
Changes:
1. {File or module}: {what changes, what stays}.
2. {Next thing}.
3. ...
Spec use-case: {SPEC **Decisions → Use-cases** id/name this phase implements, or "shared scaffolding — no use-case yet"}.
Tests:
-**Unit**: {file path} — {what it covers}.
-**Integration**: {file path} — {what it covers, including edge cases user flagged in Step 0, AND flag-off test proving existing callers see no behavior change}.
<!-- e2e:start -->
-**E2E** (only when e2e coverage was opted into at Step 0 AND this phase reaches the browser): {e2e/tests/<app>/<id>-<slug>.spec.ts} — happy path covering the new flow. Spec writes screenshots to the Playwright default output dir via `testInfo.outputPath(...)`; post-run copy step moves them into `pr-screenshots/<id>-<step>.png`. Follow [add-e2e-test](../add-e2e-test/SKILL.md).
<!-- e2e:end -->
**Suggested AI model**: {tier choice + why}. See "AI model selection".
**Review models** (optional — omit for the project defaults): reviewer Tier {N}, fixer Tier {N} — {why this phase warrants a non-default review model}. See "AI model selection".
**Reusable skills**: {invoke `Skill(name)` — see "Project skills"}.
Acceptance: {one literal statement true after merge + deploy of this phase, only this phase}.
Gate behavior changes behind feature flag by default
Feature touches any existing flow — existing callers hit new branches, new fields, new constraints, new query plans, differently-shaped responses → plan for flag from Phase 1. Default flag on, not off; ask in the Step 0 Rollout & risk group to confirm but don't silently drop.
In plan:
Declare flag in Guiding Decisions: key, scope (per-request vs per-tenant, using the project's flag API names), default (false), flip-on criterion ("after Phase 5 ships + reprocess job runs clean for 48h on staging").
Show flag definition site (the project's feature-flag module) in Touch List.
Every phase reachable from existing caller: name flag, describe what executes when off (must be pre-feature behavior, byte-for-byte where possible) vs on.
Data model change unconditional (column existing can't be gated)? Make sure reads + writes of column gated; off-flag tenant has zero observable change. Test asserts.
Phase N+1 (or Risk & Rollout Notes entry) for flag rollout: enable for one internal tenant → soak → staging → cohort → globally.
Always end with dedicated final phase to remove flag. Name Phase N — Remove the {flag-key} feature flag. Mandatory when flag declared — flag debt = real debt.
Legitimate skips:
Purely additive new surface: brand-new endpoint at new path, brand-new table, brand-new admin page no existing code reads/writes. Borderline-additive (new app + new endpoints alongside existing surfaces): err on the side of adding the flag — would have needed one if it had touched an existing shared table.
Pure refactor with no behavior change, provable via tests + diff review. Refactors don't need flags; features do.
Unsure? Treat as not additive + add flag. Cost of unused flag = one PR. Cost of non-flagged regression = hotfix + postmortem.
Mandatory final phase: remove flag
Flag declared → last phase must be dedicated removal phase. Don't roll into Phase N's "and also clean up flag"; give own number so survives scope cuts + shows up in tracking.
Gated on real-world signal, not phase number — can't merge until flag on 100% long enough. Mark clearly so doesn't get rushed.
### Phase N — Remove the `{flag-key}` feature flag**Goal**: delete flag + dead off-branch so feature becomes unconditional. **Prerequisite**: flag has been on for 100% of tenants in production for at least {soak window — typically 2 weeks, or one full end-of-month/quarter cycle if feature touches reporting}, with no rollback or incident attributed.
**Feature flag**: removed in this phase.
Changes:
1. Delete flag declaration in the project's feature-flag module.
2. Every site calling the flag's check methods (`is_enabled(...)` / per-tenant variant, by whatever names the project uses): inline on-branch + delete off-branch. Touch list:
- {file 1}
- {file 2}
- …
3. Delete tests exercising flag-off path (added in earlier phases for backwards compatibility).
4. Flag controlled gated paths in tests via fixtures or parametrization → simplify to single (formerly on-flag) branch.
5. Search for stale references: `grep -r "{flag-key}"` + `grep -r "{FLAG_CONSTANT}"` should return zero.
Tests:
- Existing test suite passes unchanged on on-branch.
- Remove flag-parametrized tests no longer make sense.
**Suggested AI model**: Tier 1 (IDs in `resources/ai-models.yaml`). Mechanical deletion + inlining; cheap models excel.
**Reusable skills**: none — pure cleanup.
Acceptance: `grep -r "{flag-key}" app/ tests/` returns nothing, feature behaves identically to flag-on state, full test suite green.
Place as separate, numbered, last-in-list entry inside Phased Rollout. Also in Touch List under its own phase. Required.
Order phases for slowest-moving dependency first
Common mistake: leave cross-repo producer wiring for last, then discover the upstream repo's deploy cadence is two weeks. Order so slowest path starts in Phase 1 (e.g. "accept field, validate, drop on floor") + fast in-repo work fills in behind. Typical sequencing: Phase 1 (API stub) → Phase 1b (cross-repo producer, parallel) → Phase 2+ (in-repo persistence).
Never give time estimates
Don't write "~2 days" / "1 sprint" / "ETA: …". Time estimates for AI-implemented work pointless + become targets LLM optimizes against. LoC sizing (~150 LoC) fine — reviewability signal, not time.
AI model selection per phase
For each phase, suggest cheapest/fastest model likely to one-shot work. Iterating with cheap model usually beats burning Opus tokens on CRUD scaffold.
Scope: the plan always picks the implementer model, and MAY override the reviewer / fixer models per phase.
**Suggested AI model**: drives the implementer subagent that writes the phase — required on every phase.
**Review models**: (optional) overrides the reviewer and/or fixer tier for this phase only. Use it when a phase is riskier than average — high blast-radius change, subtle concurrency / transaction logic, security-sensitive surface, a migration that's hard to undo — and you want a more capable reviewer or fixer than the project default. Name a tier for reviewer, fixer, or both; omit either to leave that role on the default.
Precedence (resolved by implement-plan / review-phase): a phase's **Review models**: override wins → else the project-wide agent_models.reviewer / agent_models.fixer tier in .vinta-ai-workflows.yaml → else the runtime default. So the project keeps sane defaults and the plan only speaks up for the phases that need a different review model.
The mechanical-step models (worktree prep, opening the PR / integrate) are not plan-owned — they stay under agent_models in .vinta-ai-workflows.yaml. Don't add worktree/PR model hints to a phase; they'd be ignored.
Most phases carry only the implementer line. Add **Review models**: deliberately, for the few phases that earn it — not by default on every phase.
Concrete model IDs per tier live in resources/ai-models.yaml — read that file when writing each suggestion. Never recall model names from memory; they go stale as vendors ship. The tiers below define when each applies (stable judgement); the IDs drift, and a nightly job keeps the resource current. Note the file's last_verified date — if it's far in the past, the IDs may be stale; flag that rather than trusting them blindly.
Use for: single migration adding column or index, exporting from __init__.py, registering admin, scaffolding empty Django app, thin serializer mirroring existing pattern verbatim.
Tier 2 — standard pattern application
Use for: repository methods, DRF serializer with non-trivial validation, ViewSet wiring with filterset, pytest unit/integration tests against established fixtures, simple HStore/ArrayField additions.
Tier 3 — multi-file orchestration, business logic, SQL views
Use for: use case coordinating across repositories with non-trivial branching, new vw_* view + non-managed model + migration, serializer with cross-field validation affecting use-case behavior, integration tests covering concurrency edges.
Tier 4 — architectural / novel / hard
Use for: cycle detection in user-mutable trees, transactional batch protocols with deferred constraints, partitioned-to-partitioned FK design, perf tuning slow query against partitioned hot table, debugging heisenbug.
Writing the suggestion
Pick the tier from the rubric above, then pull the matching vendor IDs out of resources/ai-models.yaml:
Suggested AI model: Tier 1 (IDs in resources/ai-models.yaml). Single-field migration + model export, exact precedent in @<app>/<module>/models/<file>.py.
When one tier doesn't fit, name both:
Suggested AI model: Tier 2 for repository + serializer; step up to Tier 3 for the integration test spanning upsert → routing → reprocess. IDs per tier in resources/ai-models.yaml.
Overriding the review models on a critical phase (optional)
Add a **Review models**: line only when the phase justifies a non-default reviewer / fixer. Pick the tier from the same rubric — a higher tier for the review of a delicate change, not for its authoring:
Review models: reviewer Tier 4 — this phase rewrites the transactional batch-apply protocol with deferred constraints; a subtle ordering bug here corrupts data, so the independent review runs on the most capable model. Fixer left on the project default.
Name only the role you're changing (reviewer, fixer, or both). Omitting the line entirely — the common case — leaves both roles on the project's agent_models defaults.
Default to cheapest tier that plausibly works, not safest. Cheap models failing fast beats expensive succeeding slowly.
Project skills to leverage
Skills under the project's ai-tools/skills/ directory encode hard-won conventions. Reference by name in each relevant phase so implementer invokes via Skill(name) instead of re-deriving.
Skill
Invoke when phase…
create-model
adds new Django model / database table
create-postgres-view
adds or modifies vw_* (or MV, function, type)
create-postgres-function
adds or modifies CREATE FUNCTION / upsert_ct_* / ft_* / aggregate
create-cloud-function
scaffolds new serverless function
create-data-export
adds async CSV/Excel export
create-data-import
adds CSV import
graphql-public-query
adds a query/mutation under the project's public GraphQL module
write-tests
writes pytest unit/integration tests following fixture catalog + snapshot conventions
In phase:
Reusable skills: create-postgres-view (for the relevant vw_*.sql change); write-tests (for the integration test under the project's integration-tests dir).
No clean skill match? Omit line — don't fabricate.
File references
@path/to/file.py for files relative to repo root when naming file inside plan body or discovery questions. Project convention; agent harness resolves.
For inline links in narrative prose, GitHub-flavored markdown links work + preferred for line-range deep-links:
See `upsert_records` in [records.py:92-96](../<app>/<module>/models/records.py#L92-L96).
Don't mix styles within one sentence. In Touch List, use @path for new files + [name](relative-path) for edited files when want line numbers.
What to avoid
No §N shorthand for section references — anywhere in the plan body. Use section names: Goals + Non-goals, Guiding Decisions, Data Model Changes, API Design, Phased Rollout, Risk & Rollout Notes, Open Questions, Touch List. Readers shouldn't have to count headings to follow a cross-reference, and section numbering shifts when the spec/plan evolves. Same rule applies to citing SPEC sections (Use-cases, Acceptance scenarios, etc.) — name them.
No time estimates. Use LoC sizing.
No vibes-based guarantees ("should be straightforward", "trivial", "easy lift").
No skipped non-goals section.
No phase that breaks build if merged alone. Each independently mergeable AND independently reversible.
No phase requiring manual kubectl / SSH / "remember to run X" without Risk & Rollout Notes checklist.
No assuming user wants what they asked for. Watch for "wait, also…" + update plan.
Worked references
When in doubt, model the plan after a recent example in ai-plans/ — look for ones that:
wire a cross-repo producer (Phase 1b parallel to in-repo phases) with an "API contract first, persist later" rollout;
split a large mutation phase into 4a/4b/4c/4d sub-phases;
stay small + sharply scoped by following an existing precedent on the same entity;
use a feature-flagged staged rollout across many small phases.
Phase granularity matches the Step 0 answer. Default (one-use-case-per-phase): at least one phase per spec use-case, no phase implements two use-cases. If bundling was chosen: grouped phases stay MR-sized, one concern, independently mergeable. Cross-cutting scaffolding is its own foundation phase either way.
Each phase has Goal / Spec use-case / Feature flag (or explicit waiver) / Changes / Tests / Suggested AI model / Reusable skills / Acceptance.
**Review models**: appears only on phases that justify a non-default reviewer / fixer (not on every phase); each such line names a tier + why. Phases without it inherit the project's agent_models defaults.
If e2e coverage was opted into at Step 0: every phase introducing a new UI flow has an E2E happy-path test in its Tests block, with screenshot output to pr-screenshots/. If it was not opted into (default), no phase carries an e2e spec and there is no QA_USE_CASES.md / pr-screenshots/ reference.
Feature flag declared in Guiding Decisions (key, scope, default, flip-on criterion) unlessGuiding Decisions explicitly justifies "no flag — purely additive surface".
≥1 test per gated phase asserts flag-off behavior unchanged.
If flag declared, final entry under Phased Rollout is dedicated flag-removal phase with prerequisite (soak window), full deletion touch list, grep acceptance check.
No time estimates anywhere.
Cross-repo phases labeled Phase Nb, deploy ordering called out.
