group-into-features

name	group-into-features
description	Group loose Switchboard plans into features — scan pre-coding columns, cluster by capability, propose all groupings for one approval, then create features via create-feature.js
allowed-tools	Bash
user-invokable	false

Skill: Group Into Features

You are grouping loose Switchboard plans into features. Follow this flow exactly — do not create any feature before the user approves.

When to Use

Triggered when the user asks to "group plans into a feature", "organise loose plans into features", or "suggest feature groupings", OR by clicking the Suggest Features board button (which copies this skill's text with the workspace root injected).

If the user already knows which plans to group (no discovery needed), use create-feature-from-plans instead — it skips the scan/propose/confirm flow and goes straight to creation.

Flow

1. SCAN

Read the board snapshot:

cat {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban-board.md

Scope: CREATED and PLAN REVIEWED columns only. Ignore BACKLOG and all post-coding columns.

Each plan line ends with an HTML comment, e.g.:

- [.switchboard/plans/foo.md](...) — Foo <!-- planId:abc-123 -->
- [.switchboard/features/feature-def.md](...) — Bar Feature <!-- planId:def-456 feature -->
- [.switchboard/plans/baz.md](...) — Baz <!-- planId:ghi-789 subtask-of:"Bar Feature" -->

Skip lines tagged feature (they are features) or subtask-of:... (already assigned). Use the planId: value from the comment — NOT the filename — when calling create-feature.js. (A path under .switchboard/features/ also indicates a feature, but subtask detection requires the subtask-of tag — do not rely on filenames alone.)

1a. PROJECT SCOPE

The active project filter is injected above as {{ACTIVE_PROJECT_FILTER}}.

• If a project name is injected: only consider plans tagged project:"<that name>".
• If no project name is injected (empty, __unassigned__, or the literal placeholder): ignore all plans that have a project:"..." tag — only untagged plans are candidates.

2. READ PLAN BODIES

For each candidate plan in scope, read the full plan file. Extract: goal, problem summary, dependencies, tags. Use this — not just titles — to determine groupings. Read plans in parallel where possible. If >25 candidates, first-pass cluster by title then deep-read within each cluster.

3. PROPOSE (single message, all groups at once)

Group by underlying capability theme, not by surface keyword. Cross-provider plans that address the same capability go into one feature. Minimum 2 plans per feature. Single-plan "groups" go in the Standalone section. Flag POSSIBLE OVERLAP / REDUNDANCY / GAP where detected.

Cross-column warning: If a proposed feature contains plans from different kanban columns (e.g. one CREATED + one PLAN REVIEWED), you MUST flag this prominently in the proposal with a ⚠ CROSS-COLUMN warning. Explain:

• The CREATED plan(s) have NOT been plan-reviewed yet.
• If the feature is dragged to a coder column, the CREATED subtask(s) will skip PLAN REVIEW entirely and go straight to coding without refinement.
• To fix this after feature creation: select the feature card on the kanban board and press the Replan button (the re-plan icon in the PLAN REVIEWED column header). This sends the CREATED subtasks to the planner agent for improve-plan refinement, moving them to PLAN REVIEWED.
• Only once all subtasks are in PLAN REVIEWED should the feature be dragged to a coder column.

For each proposed feature, write:

• Feature name
• Goal: 2-4 sentences describing what the feature achieves, what problem it solves, and why these plans are grouped together.
• How the Subtasks Achieve This: one bullet per member plan explaining what it does and how it contributes to the feature's goal. Format:
  • Plan Name:
• Dependencies & sequencing: note any ordering constraints between subtasks (e.g. "Subtask A must land before Subtask B can be tested") and any cross-subtask dependencies. If there are none, state "No hard ordering constraints; subtasks can be executed in parallel."
• Member plans with planId, one-line summary, and current kanban column

List genuinely standalone plans separately. Then stop and wait.

4. CONFIRM

Wait for user approval or edits. Do not touch the database until confirmed.

5. EXECUTE

For each approved group, pass the Goal text as the description argument. Escape any double quotes in the Goal text (replace " with ") or rephrase to avoid them, so the bash command does not break. Also avoid $, backticks, and backslashes in the Goal text — these are shell metacharacters inside double quotes.

node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/create-feature.js "<feature name>" '["planId1","planId2",...]' "{{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}" "<goal text with escaped quotes>"

The description becomes the ## Goal section in the feature file. After all features are created, write the ## How the Subtasks Achieve This section and the ## Dependencies & sequencing section into each feature file manually (the create-feature script only writes the Goal). Use the text from your step 3 proposal — paste the How the Subtasks Achieve This section between the Goal and the <!-- BEGIN SUBTASKS --> marker, then paste the Dependencies & sequencing section immediately after the Subtasks block. Both sections are preserved by _regenerateFeatureFile on subsequent subtask changes, so they only need to be written once.

Cross-column note in the feature file: If the feature has subtasks in different kanban columns (e.g. some CREATED, some PLAN REVIEWED), add a ⚠ Cross-Column Review Note section immediately after the Subtasks block (before Dependencies & sequencing). Write:

This feature contains subtasks in different kanban columns. The subtasks in CREATED have NOT been plan-reviewed yet. Before dragging this feature to a coder column, select the feature on the kanban board and press the Replan button (re-plan icon in the PLAN REVIEWED column header) to send the CREATED subtasks to the planner for improve-plan refinement. Only review/refine the CREATED subtasks — the PLAN REVIEWED subtasks have already been reviewed.

This note is preserved by _regenerateFeatureFile along with the other manual sections.

To add more plans to a feature later, use assign-to-feature.js with the feature planId from the create-feature.js output.

6. BACKLOG (optional, after execution)

Ask the user: "Would you like me to analyse the BACKLOG for feature groupings too?" Do NOT re-read the board or inspect the BACKLOG column yourself. If the user says yes, repeat steps 1-5 scoped to the BACKLOG column. If the user says no or does not respond, stop.

Notes

• Feature creation updates the Switchboard board and writes a .switchboard/features/ file. It does NOT sync to Linear/ClickUp.
• The create-feature.js / assign-to-feature.js verb scripts are documented in .agents/skills/kanban_operations/SKILL.md.
• The confirm gate is load-bearing in interactive mode: never create any feature before the user approves. Unattended mode's authorization comes from the user pressing Start orchestrator.

Unattended mode (orchestration)

This section applies ONLY when the invoking prompt contains the directive UNATTENDED=true (which the Orchestration kickoff prompt injects). It is the explicit, documented exception to the confirm gate above.

• Follow steps 1, 1a, 2, 3 as written, but step 3's proposal is written to the reply for the session log, not for approval; skip step 4 (CONFIRM) entirely and proceed to step 5 EXECUTE immediately. Never skip step 4 outside unattended mode.
• After EXECUTE: the Miscellaneous sweep. Every in-scope plan that ended up standalone (including the PROPOSE step's "Standalone" section) is assigned to a feature named Miscellaneous, so the batch has no ungrouped remainder:
  • Search the in-scope column snapshots for an existing line — Miscellaneous <!-- planId:<id> feature ... --> whose project scope matches the active filter. If found, run: node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/assign-to-feature.js "<featurePlanId>" '["id1","id2",...]' "{{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}"
  • If not found (or assignment fails with the locked-column error), run: node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/create-feature.js "Miscellaneous" '["id1","id2",...]' "{{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}" "Catch-all feature for standalone plans swept during orchestration kickoff."
  • Zero leftovers → skip the sweep entirely (the /kanban/feature route rejects empty planIds — do not attempt a blank Miscellaneous).
• Repeat the EXECUTE shell-safety rules here: escape " in goal text; avoid $, backticks, backslashes. No human reviews the generated commands in this mode, so escaping is mandatory, not hygiene.
• Skip step 6 (BACKLOG) in unattended mode — BACKLOG stays human-curated.