| name | speckit-plan |
| description | Execute the implementation planning workflow using the plan template to generate design artifacts. |
| compatibility | Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory |
| metadata | {"author":"github-spec-kit","source":"templates/commands/plan.md"} |
User Input
$ARGUMENTS
You MUST consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).
Pre-Execution Checks
Check for extension hooks (before planning):
- Check if
.specify/extensions.yml exists in the project root.
- If it exists, read it and look for entries under the
hooks.before_plan key
- If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
- Filter out hooks where
enabled is explicitly false. Treat hooks without an enabled field as enabled by default.
- For each remaining hook, do not attempt to interpret or evaluate hook
condition expressions:
- If the hook has no
condition field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
- If the hook defines a non-empty
condition, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
- For each executable hook, output the following based on its
optional flag:
- Optional hook (
optional: true):
## Extension Hooks
**Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
Command: `/{command}`
Description: {description}
Prompt: {prompt}
To execute: `/{command}`
- Mandatory hook (
optional: false):
## Extension Hooks
**Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
Executing: `/{command}`
EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline.
- If no hooks are registered or
.specify/extensions.yml does not exist, skip silently
Outline
-
Setup: Run .specify/scripts/bash/setup-plan.sh --json from repo root and parse JSON for FEATURE_SPEC, IMPL_PLAN, SPECS_DIR, BRANCH. For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").
-
Load context: Read FEATURE_SPEC and .specify/memory/constitution.md. Load IMPL_PLAN template (already copied).
-
Execute plan workflow: Follow the structure in IMPL_PLAN template to:
- Fill Technical Context (mark unknowns as "NEEDS CLARIFICATION")
- Fill Constitution Check section from constitution
- Evaluate gates (ERROR if violations unjustified)
- Phase 0: Generate research.md (resolve all NEEDS CLARIFICATION)
- Phase 1: Generate data-model.md, contracts/, quickstart.md
- Phase 1: Update agent context by running the agent script
- Re-evaluate Constitution Check post-design
-
Stop and report: Command ends after Phase 2 planning. Report branch, IMPL_PLAN path, and generated artifacts.
-
Check for extension hooks: After reporting, check if .specify/extensions.yml exists in the project root.
- If it exists, read it and look for entries under the
hooks.after_plan key
- If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
- Filter out hooks where
enabled is explicitly false. Treat hooks without an enabled field as enabled by default.
- For each remaining hook, do not attempt to interpret or evaluate hook
condition expressions:
- If the hook has no
condition field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
- If the hook defines a non-empty
condition, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
- For each executable hook, output the following based on its
optional flag:
- Optional hook (
optional: true):
## Extension Hooks
**Optional Hook**: {extension}
Command: `/{command}`
Description: {description}
Prompt: {prompt}
To execute: `/{command}`
- Mandatory hook (
optional: false):
## Extension Hooks
**Automatic Hook**: {extension}
Executing: `/{command}`
EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
- If no hooks are registered or
.specify/extensions.yml does not exist, skip silently
Phases
Phase 0: Outline & Research
-
Extract unknowns from Technical Context above:
- For each NEEDS CLARIFICATION → research task
- For each dependency → best practices task
- For each integration → patterns task
-
Generate and dispatch research agents:
For each unknown in Technical Context:
Task: "Research {unknown} for {feature context}"
For each technology choice:
Task: "Find best practices for {tech} in {domain}"
-
Consolidate findings in research.md using format:
- Decision: [what was chosen]
- Rationale: [why chosen]
- Alternatives considered: [what else evaluated]
Output: research.md with all NEEDS CLARIFICATION resolved
Phase 1: Design & Contracts
Prerequisites: research.md complete
-
Extract entities from feature spec → data-model.md:
- Entity name, fields, relationships
- Validation rules from requirements
- State transitions if applicable
-
Define interface contracts (if project has external interfaces) → /contracts/:
- Identify what interfaces the project exposes to users or other systems
- Document the contract format appropriate for the project type
- Examples: public APIs for libraries, command schemas for CLI tools, endpoints for web services, grammars for parsers, UI contracts for applications
- Skip if project is purely internal (build scripts, one-off tools, etc.)
-
Agent context update:
- Update the plan reference between the
<!-- SPECKIT START --> and <!-- SPECKIT END --> markers in KIMI.md to point to the plan file created in step 1 (the IMPL_PLAN path)
Output: data-model.md, /contracts/*, quickstart.md, updated agent context file
Key rules
- Use absolute paths for filesystem operations; use project-relative paths for references in documentation and agent context files
- ERROR on gate failures or unresolved clarifications