| name | phx:plan |
| description | Plan features spanning multiple domains: billing (Stripe), auth (RBAC), real-time (Presence), webhooks, jobs (Oban). Use when designing interconnected systems or converting review findings into tasks. |
| effort | high |
| argument-hint | <feature description OR path to review/plan file> |
Plan Elixir/Phoenix Feature
Plan a feature by spawning Elixir specialist agents, then output
structured plan with checkboxes.
What Makes /phx:plan Different from /plan
- Spawns Elixir specialist agents for research
- Plans with
[ecto], [liveview], [oban] task routing
- Checks for Iron Law compliance in the plan
- Includes
mix compile/format/credo/test verification
- Understands Phoenix context boundaries
Usage
/phx:plan Add user avatars with S3 upload
/phx:plan .claude/plans/notifications/reviews/notifications-review.md
/phx:plan Implement notifications --depth deep
/phx:plan .claude/plans/auth/plan.md --existing
Arguments
$ARGUMENTS = Feature description, review file, or existing plan--depth quick|standard|deep = Planning depth (auto-detected)--existing = Enhance an existing plan with deeper research
Workflow
- Gather context — File path (skip to agents), brainstorm
interview.md (skip clarification), clear description, or vague
- Clarify if vague — Ask questions ONE at a time (skip if
brainstorm interview.md exists with Status: COMPLETE)
- Detect depth — Auto-detect quick/standard/deep
- Runtime context (Tidewave) — Gather live schemas, routes,
and warnings before spawning agents (direct path only — the
research orchestrator gathers its own)
- Spawn research — Selective, based on need. 0–2 agents:
spawn directly in parallel. 3+ agents (broad multi-context
feature): spawn ONE
planning-orchestrator to run and compress
the fan-out, then read only its digest and
summaries/consolidated.md. Create a Claude Code task per spawn:
TaskCreate({subject: "{Agent} research", activeForm: "Researching..."}),
mark in_progress on spawn, completed when done
- Wait for ALL agents — Do NOT proceed until all return
"completed". NEVER write plan while any agent is still running
- Breadboard (LiveView) — System map for multi-page features
- Completeness check — MANDATORY when planning from review
- Split decision — One plan or multiple, concrete options
- Generate plan — Checkboxes, phased tasks, code patterns.
Also create
plans/{slug}/scratchpad.md for decisions and dead-ends
- Self-check (deep only) — Three questions in Risks section
- Present and ask — STOP, show summary, let user decide
When planning from review: Every finding must appear in the
plan — either as a task OR explicitly deferred by the user.
See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/planning-workflow.md for detailed step-by-step.
--existing Mode (Deepening)
Enhances an existing plan instead of creating a new one:
- Load plan, search
.claude/solutions/ for known risks
- Spawn SPECIALIST agents (not Explore) for thin sections.
Each agent writes to
.claude/plans/{slug}/research/ and
returns only a 500-word summary. Same agent selection rules
- Wait for ALL agents (mark tasks
completed as each finishes)
- Add implementation detail, resolve spikes, add verification
- Present diff summary — NEVER delete existing tasks
Iron Laws
- NEVER auto-start /phx:work — Always present plan and ask
- Research before assuming — Web-search unfamiliar tech
- Spawn agents selectively — Only relevant, not all
- NEVER write plan while agents still running
- NEVER skip input findings — Every finding MUST have a task
- Do NOT spawn hex-library-researcher for existing deps
- Skip research when planning from review/investigation — When
input is a review file or
/phx:investigate output, the findings
ARE the research. Do NOT spawn agents to re-discover what the
review already found. Convert findings directly to plan tasks.
(Confirmed: 56-session analysis showed same findings discovered
3-4x across review→investigate→plan phases, wasting ~96K tokens)
Integration with Workflow
/phx:plan {feature} <-- YOU ARE HERE
|
/phx:plan --existing (optional enhancement)
|
ASK USER -> /phx:work .claude/plans/{feature}/plan.md
|
/phx:review → /phx:compound
Notes
- Plans saved to
.claude/plans/{slug}/plan.md
- Research reports in
.claude/plans/{slug}/research/ can be deleted after
CRITICAL: After Writing the Plan
STOP. Do NOT proceed to implementation.
After writing .claude/plans/{slug}/plan.md:
- Summarize: task count, phases, key decisions
- Use
AskUserQuestion with options:
- "Start in fresh session" (recommended for 5+ tasks)
- "Get a briefing" (
/phx:brief — interactive walkthrough)
- "Start here"
- "Review or adjust the plan"
- Wait for user response. Never auto-start work.
When user selects "Start in fresh session", print:
1. Run `/new` to start a fresh session
2. Then run one of:
/phx:work .claude/plans/{slug}/plan.md
/phx:full .claude/plans/{slug}/plan.md (includes review + compound)
This is Iron Law #1. Violating it wastes user context.
References (DO NOT read — for human reference only)
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/planning-workflow.md — Detailed step-by-step${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/plan-template.md${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/complexity-detail.md${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/example-plan.md${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/agent-selection.md${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/breadboarding.md
