plan

name

plan

description

Planning for tasks and individual steps. Use to plan a task (discovery-driven requirements gathering producing prd.json + plan.json for the orchestrator), plan implementation, or drill into a numbered plan step for design decisions, edge cases, and test strategy. Triggers on "plan a task", "plan this", "plan implementation", "requirements gathering", "plan step", "Let's work on step 1.2.3", "design decisions", "edge cases", "test strategy", "drill into step".

Plan Skill

Unified planning entry point. Two modes:

• Task mode (--task [description]) — discovery-driven planning. Explores the codebase, gathers requirements, identifies edge cases, and writes prd.json + plan.json under .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/ for the orchestrator.
• Step mode (--step <id>) — interactive drill into a specific numbered step (e.g., 1.2.3) from the active run's plan.json. No code is written; produces requirements, design decisions, and a test strategy.

Default (no args): use AskUserQuestion to pick between the two modes.

Mode Selection

When invoked without --task or --step:

AskUserQuestion:
  question: "What do you want to plan? Task-level discovery produces prd.json + plan.json. Step-level drill refines a single numbered step from the active run."
  header: "Plan"
  options:
    - label: "Task"
      description: "Discovery, requirements, and plan.json for a new task"
    - label: "Step"
      description: "Drill into a numbered step (e.g., 1.2.3) from the active plan.json"

Then ask free-form for the task description or step id, and route accordingly.

Shared Constraints

• Do not write implementation code during planning — surface ambiguity instead of assuming.
• Reference existing code patterns from the codebase when discussing approaches.
• Follow references/interaction-patterns.md (project-level) for AskUserQuestion vs free-form decisions.

---

Mode: Task

Iterative discovery and planning for a task in an existing codebase. Output: prd.json + plan.json under .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/.

Phase 1: Initial Understanding

Gather from the user:

1. Task description — current vs. desired behavior, what triggered the need
2. Success criteria — measurable outcomes, completion signals
3. Constraints — what cannot change, compatibility, performance requirements

Phase 2: Code Discovery

Delegate to the Explore sub-agent for find, imports, usages, structure, tests, history, todos, and analyze passes — it runs these traversals through its built-in tool surface.

1. Locate relevant files, execution paths, entry points
2. Map architecture, dependencies, integration points
3. Trace data flow — ingress, transformations, storage/output

Phase 3: Research & Investigation

1. Technical research — approaches, trade-offs, libraries/patterns
2. Code archaeology — git history, related PRs, explanatory comments
3. Dependency analysis — what depends on this code, blast radius of changes

Phase 4: Edge Case Discovery

Identify edge cases across input boundaries, state conditions, error scenarios. Use references/edge-cases-checklist.md by domain.

Phase 5: Requirements Refinement

1. Clarify ambiguities — discrete interpretations: AskUserQuestion with options + "Research & proceed" (see references/interaction-patterns.md). Open-ended: free-form discussion.
2. Uncover hidden requirements — scaling, audit/compliance, logging
3. Define boundaries — explicit in/out of scope, stated assumptions

Phase 6: Solution Design

1. High-level approach — strategy, key design decisions, architecture changes
2. Implementation strategy — where to change, order of operations, testing
3. Risk mitigation — rollback plan, feature flags, gradual rollout

Phase 6.5: Scrum Task Link (before writing plan.json)

Link this run to a scrum backlog task so reconciliation (orchestrator completion -> scrum task state) can fire. The link is the optional top-level task_id field on plan.json.

1. Run claude-prove scrum next-ready --limit 5 --json. Three branches:

   • Exit 0 with task list -> scrum enabled, ready tasks exist. Present options via AskUserQuestion:

     question: "Which scrum task does this run deliver? Pick from the top 5 ready tasks, create a new one, or skip the link."
     header: "Scrum Task"
     options:
       - label: "<task_id>: <title>"  # one per returned task, up to 3
         description: "<task.status> / wave <task.wave>"
       - label: "Create new task"
         description: "Invoke `claude-prove scrum task create` inline and use the returned id"
       - label: "Skip"
         description: "Proceed without task_id (reconciliation is opt-in)"
     

     If the operator picks an existing task -> stamp task_id: "<id>" on plan.json. If they pick "Create new task" -> ask for a title (free-form), run claude-prove scrum task create --title "<title>" --json, parse the returned id, stamp it on plan.json. If they pick "Skip" -> omit task_id entirely.

   • Exit 0 with empty list -> scrum enabled but no ready tasks. Offer AskUserQuestion with "Create new task" and "Skip" (same flow as above, minus the existing-task options).

   • Non-zero exit -> scrum not enabled on this project. Omit task_id and proceed.

2. When stamping, the field is a free-form non-empty string — no regex validation. Absent is legal; empty string is rejected by the schema validator.

Task 4 (reconciler) consumes this field; setting it here is a no-op until the reconciler lands, but without it the reconciler cannot link runs to scrum tasks.

Output Artifacts

After discovery, emit two JSON files under .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/ — pick <branch> from the intent (feature, fix, chore, refactor, ...) and derive <slug> from a kebab-cased task name (max 40 chars).

Both files are validated by a PostToolUse hook against packages/cli/src/topics/run-state/schemas.ts. Invalid writes block.

prd.json

Shape (see packages/cli/src/topics/run-state/schemas.ts — PRD_SCHEMA):

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "kind": "prd",
  "title": "Human-readable title",
  "context": "Why this run exists (problem framing).",
  "goals": ["Concrete outcome 1", "Concrete outcome 2"],
  "scope": {
    "in": ["What's in"],
    "out": ["What's explicitly deferred"]
  },
  "acceptance_criteria": [
    "Testable criterion 1",
    "Testable criterion 2"
  ],
  "test_strategy": "High-level approach (unit, integration, manual).",
  "body_markdown": "Optional longer narrative sections (discovery notes, rollback plan, monitoring)."
}

plan.json

Shape (see packages/cli/src/topics/run-state/schemas.ts — PLAN_SCHEMA):

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "kind": "plan",
  "mode": "simple | full",
  "task_id": "SCRUM-42",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "1.1",
      "title": "Setup config",
      "wave": 1,
      "deps": [],
      "description": "What this task accomplishes and why.",
      "acceptance_criteria": ["Criterion A", "Criterion B"],
      "worktree": {"path": "", "branch": ""},
      "steps": [
        {
          "id": "1.1.1",
          "title": "Add schema field",
          "description": "Add `foo` to SchemaX in module Y.",
          "acceptance_criteria": ["`tests/test_schema.py` asserts field present"]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Task id convention: <wave>.<seq> — wave groups parallelizable tasks, seq orders within a wave. Step id: <task_id>.<step_seq>. Orchestrator relies on these dotted ids.

Mode: simple when total step count is ≤3; full otherwise.

Worktree: leave empty at plan time; orchestrator fills this in when spawning the wave.

task_id (optional, top-level): scrum backlog task id linking this run. Set per Phase 6.5; omit when scrum is disabled or the operator skips the link.

Initialize the Run

After writing prd.json + plan.json, initialize state.json with:

scripts/prove-run init \
  --branch <branch> --slug <slug> \
  --plan .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/plan.json \
  --prd .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/prd.json

This creates state.json with every task/step in pending and seeds an empty dispatch ledger. Required before /prove:orchestrator can run.

Validation Awareness

Check .claude/.prove.json for configured validators — use those commands in task acceptance criteria. If absent, the orchestrator auto-detects at runtime. See references/validation-config.md (project-level).

---

Mode: Step

Interactive planning for a specific step from the active run's plan.json. No code is written during this phase — planning only.

1. Parse the Step Reference

Extract the step id from the user's request (e.g., 1.2.3). Resolve the active run via the worktree marker, then read the step with:

scripts/prove-run step-info <step-id>

Returns JSON: {task, step, task_state, step_state}. Use it to extract description, acceptance criteria, dependencies.

2. Create Planning Workspace

Scaffold .prove/plans/plan_<step_id>/ with 8 template files. Substitute STEP_ID and TITLE, then create each file with its sections:

STEP_ID="<step-id>"
TITLE="<Task Title>"
TS="$(date +%Y-%m-%d\ %H:%M)"
WORKSPACE=".prove/plans/plan_${STEP_ID}"
mkdir -p "${WORKSPACE}"

Files and sections (create each with cat > "${WORKSPACE}/<name>" <<EOF ... EOF):

File	Sections
00_task_overview.md	Phase, Size (XS/S/M/L/XL/XXL), Status, Dependencies, Original Task Description, Verification Criteria, Related Tasks
01_requirements.md	Functional, Non-Functional (perf/errors/logging/security), Acceptance Criteria, Out of Scope
02_design_decisions.md	Approach Options (pros/cons per option), Selected Approach, Technical Choices, API/Interface Design
03_open_questions.md	Technical, Design, Requirements — each as Q: / A: pairs, resolved by filling in answers
04_potential_issues.md	Technical Risks (risk + mitigation), Edge Cases, Performance Concerns, Integration Points
05_implementation_plan.md	Prerequisites, Implementation Steps (action/files/validation each), Code Structure, Key Notes
06_test_strategy.md	Unit Tests, Integration Tests, Edge Case Tests, Manual Testing Steps, Test Coverage Goals
progress.md	Started (${TS}), Current Phase, Planning Checklist (8 items), Discussion Log

Populate 06_test_strategy.md with validators from .claude/.prove.json. See references/validation-config.md (project-level).

3. Interactive Planning

1. Present the task + step overview (rendered from plan.json)
2. Probe for missing requirements
3. Present design approaches with tradeoffs
4. Surface risks
5. Update planning files during discussion
6. Keep progress.md current (step-mode scratchpad, not state.json)

4. Question Patterns

• Discrete interpretations: AskUserQuestion with options. Include "Research & proceed" when 3 or fewer options.
• Open-ended: free-form ("What should happen when [edge case]?")
• Validation: "How will we know this works?" / "What does success look like?"

5. Handling Dependencies

Check plan.json tasks[].deps for prerequisites. If deps unmet, discuss whether to plan despite them, document interface assumptions, and consider mocks for testing.

6. Ready for Implementation

Verify: open questions resolved, implementation plan actionable, test strategy covers key scenarios, design decisions documented with rationale.

Use AskUserQuestion with header "Ready" and options: "Begin Implementation" / "Review Plan First".

On proceed: the orchestrator drives step execution — step-mode planning does not mutate state.json. Leave that to the orchestrator and its run_state step start / step complete calls.

---

Resources

• references/planning-patterns.md — risk matrices, requirement patterns, design frameworks, complexity estimation (step mode)
• references/edge-cases-checklist.md — edge case checklist by domain (task mode)
• assets/task-planning-prompts.md — prompt templates for planning sessions (task mode)
• packages/cli/src/topics/run-state/schemas.ts — authoritative JSON schemas

Committing

Delegate to the commit skill. Do not create ad-hoc commits.