plan

name	plan
description	Strategic planning with optional interview workflow

Plan creates comprehensive, actionable work plans through intelligent interaction. It auto-detects whether to interview the user (broad requests) or plan directly (detailed requests), and supports consensus mode (iterative Planner/Architect/Critic loop with RALPLAN-DR structured deliberation) and review mode (Critic evaluation of existing plans).

<Use_When>

• User wants to plan before implementing -- "plan this", "plan the", "let's plan"
• User wants structured requirements gathering for a vague idea
• User wants an existing plan reviewed -- "review this plan", --review
• User wants multi-perspective consensus on a plan -- --consensus, "ralplan"
• Task is broad or vague and needs scoping before any code is written </Use_When>

<Do_Not_Use_When>

• User wants autonomous end-to-end execution -- use autopilot instead
• User wants to start coding immediately with a clear task -- use ralph or delegate to executor
• User asks a simple question that can be answered directly -- just answer it
• Task is a single focused fix with obvious scope -- skip planning, just do it </Do_Not_Use_When>

<Why_This_Exists> Jumping into code without understanding requirements leads to rework, scope creep, and missed edge cases. Plan provides structured requirements gathering, expert analysis, and quality-gated plans so that execution starts from a solid foundation. The consensus mode adds multi-perspective validation for high-stakes projects. </Why_This_Exists>

<Execution_Policy>

• Auto-detect interview vs direct mode based on request specificity
• Ask one question at a time during interviews -- never batch multiple questions
• Gather codebase facts via explore agent before asking the user about them
• When session guidance enables , prefer for simple read-only repository lookups during planning; keep prompts narrow and concrete, and keep prompt-heavy or ambiguous planning work on the richer normal path and fall back normally if is unavailable.

Adaptive interview (gathering facts before asking): ``` Planner: [spawns explore agent: "find authentication implementation"] Planner: [receives: "Auth is in src/auth/ using JWT with passport.js"] Planner: "I see you're using JWT authentication with passport.js in src/auth/. For this new feature, should we extend the existing auth or add a separate auth flow?" ``` Why good: Answers its own codebase question first, then asks an informed preference question. Single question at a time: ``` Q1: "What's the main goal?" A1: "Improve performance" Q2: "For performance, what matters more -- latency or throughput?" A2: "Latency" Q3: "For latency, are we optimizing for p50 or p99?" ``` Why good: Each question builds on the previous answer. Focused and progressive. Asking about things you could look up: ``` Planner: "Where is authentication implemented in your codebase?" User: "Uh, somewhere in src/auth I think?" ``` Why bad: The planner should spawn an explore agent to find this, not ask the user. Batching multiple questions: ``` "What's the scope? And the timeline? And who's the audience?" ``` Why bad: Three questions at once causes shallow answers. Ask one at a time. Presenting all design options at once: ``` "Here are 4 approaches: Option A... Option B... Option C... Option D... Which do you prefer?" ``` Why bad: Decision fatigue. Present one option with trade-offs, get reaction, then present the next. ## Design Option Presentation