| name | planning |
| description | Structured planning for complex tasks, features, or projects. Activates
when a task requires decomposition, has multiple components, or when
requirements need clarification before implementation.
|
Planning Skill
Core Principle
Planning is root-cause analysis applied to the future. Before planning how to build, understand what the deepest foundational requirement actually is.
Planning Framework
Phase 0: Root Requirement
Before any planning, identify the deepest foundational requirement:
- What is the user actually trying to achieve at the most fundamental level?
- What is the root problem beneath the surface request?
- What would a complete, foundational solution look like?
Phase 1: Research
Before planning implementation — research is mandatory, not optional:
- Research current best practices for this type of work using Tier 1 and Tier 2 sources
- Find reference implementations and prior art on GitHub, in community discourse
- Identify what is known vs. what needs to be discovered
- Use WebSearch for anything that could be verified externally
Phase 2: Clarify
Ensure you understand:
- Goal: What is the desired end state?
- Problem: What root problem does this solve?
- Constraints: What limitations exist?
- Success Criteria: How do we know it is done?
- Non-Goals: What are we explicitly NOT doing?
Clarify ALL unknowns before proceeding. Do not infer when you can verify.
Phase 3: Explore
Investigate options where multiple approaches exist:
- Current state and what exists today
- Options with pros, cons, and effort estimates
- Recommendation with reasoning
Phase 4: Decompose
Break down into atomic tasks:
- P0 (Must Have): Core requirements
- P1 (Should Have): Important improvements
- P2 (Nice to Have): Optional enhancements
- Dependencies between tasks
Phase 5: Sequence
Order the work with verification at each step:
- Each step: what to do, how to verify, how to rollback
- Checkpoints for integration testing
- Recurrence guards for each completed phase
