| name | plan-proposal |
| description | Develop-side planning orchestrator for an OpenSpec change. Chains artifact creation (openspec-new-change/-ff/-continue) → doubt-driven-review of proposal.md + design.md → scenario-design → category-routed fold of automated scenarios into tasks.md, then STOPS at the git-worktree boundary for the human checkpoint. Main interactive session only; never a subagent. Triggers: "plan this change", "draft the proposal and plan", "scaffold + review + fold", "prep a change for building". |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0","scope":"project"} |
plan-proposal
Orchestrates the planning phase of an OpenSpec change on develop. Composes
existing skills — it does not reimplement them. Twin of ship-it, which owns
the implementation phase inside the worktree. The two split at the git-worktree
boundary, which is also the interactive/headless line.
flowchart LR
subgraph Planning ["PLANNING — develop, human present"]
A["new/ff/continue"] --> B["doubt-review"]
B --> C["scenario-design + category-fold + manifest"]
C --> D["plan-proposal (this skill)"]
end
D -->|"boundary: commit + spawn worktree"| E["ship-it"]
subgraph Implementation ["IMPLEMENTATION — worktree"]
E
end
Hard constraint — main session only (never a subagent)
plan-proposal MUST run in the main interactive session. It invokes
doubt-driven-review (which spawns a fresh-context reviewer, and interactively a
second cross-model reviewer — nested subagent spawn is blocked) and
scenario-design (whose proposal/design-stage HARD gate calls ask_user). Both
need a live main session.
Guard: if you detect you are running inside a subagent context (nested
reviewer spawn would be blocked, or ask_user is unavailable), STOP and
surface: "plan-proposal must run in the main session — doubt-review and the
scenario-design gate cannot run nested. Re-invoke from the main session on
develop." Do not degrade the doubt-review to a self-questioning fallback.
Preconditions
- On the
develop branch (planning happens on develop; the worktree is spawned
from the planning commit).
openspec CLI available; resolve the change name from --change <name>, the
conversation, or openspec list --json (ask if ambiguous).
- Announce: "Planning change:
<change> (override with /plan-proposal <other>)."
Procedure
1. Ensure planning artifacts exist
Bring the change to a drafted state using the existing generated skills — do not
hand-roll the directory:
- No change dir yet →
openspec-new-change (or -ff for the fast path).
- Partial artifacts →
openspec-continue-change.
Artifacts live at openspec/changes/<change>/: proposal.md, design.md (when
the change warrants one), specs/**/spec.md, tasks.md.
2. Doubt-review proposal.md + design.md (trigger: drafted or modified)
Whenever proposal.md or design.md is created or changed in this session,
invoke doubt-driven-review on the changed artifact:
- Pass ARTIFACT + CONTRACT only — never the CLAIM, never your reasoning.
- ARTIFACT = the proposal/design prose (decompose if large per doubt-review).
- CONTRACT = the requirements/constraints the artifact must satisfy (the specs
deltas, the non-goals, the invariants it asserts).
- Surface the cross-model offer — this is an interactive session, so the
offer is mandatory (doubt-review Step 3 "always offer, never silently skip").
- Reconcile every finding against the artifact text using doubt-review's
precedence (contract-misread → actionable → trade-off → noise). When a finding
is valid + actionable, PAUSE: the artifact is corrected before proceeding.
Do not fold scenarios until the doubt cycle reaches a stop condition (trivial
findings, 3 cycles, or explicit "ship it").
3. scenario-design → category-routed fold into tasks.md
Run scenario-design for the change (proposal/design stage → HARD gate; it may
ask_user and STOP on a spec gap — that is expected, answer and continue). It
writes openspec/changes/<change>/test-plan.md — the manifest, carrying a
level + disposition (automated | manual-only) per scenario row.
Then fold each row into tasks.md:
-
automated rows → one vanilla - [ ] task each, routed to its category:
manifest level | home | check-first (reuse infra) |
|---|
| L1 | packages/*/**/__tests__/*.test.ts (vitest) | sibling *.test.ts |
| L2 | qa/tests/*.sh | *.ps1 | existing qa test for that OS |
| L3 | tests/e2e/*.spec.ts (docker harness) | existing spec for that surface |
| electron | ci-electron.yml / _electron-build.yml | existing electron job |
| ci | ci.yml / workflow-level | existing workflow assertion |
Before tasking new infra, scan for an existing test of that type to extend.
Each folded test task MUST carry:
- a harness-exemplar pointer — the nearest existing spec/test of that
category to copy harness glue from (e.g.
see tests/e2e/reconnect.spec.ts).
Bare "author X.spec.ts" tasks are forbidden — ship-it resolves the
exemplar path into the task context it hands apply.
- the scenario Triple (
input · trigger · observable) as plain text.
- a manifest reference as ordinary prose — either
(test-plan #<id>) or an
inline (test-plan: automated) — so ship-it/ship-change can map it back.
-
manual-only rows → a plain manual task tagged (test-plan: manual-only);
no test is folded. ship-change defers these post-merge (its manifest-aware
defer rule).
Parser-safety (load-bearing): tasks.md MUST stay vanilla checkbox format.
No custom token, no bracketed tag, no non-standard syntax on a task line — only
- [ ] <text> where the manifest reference is ordinary prose. openspec status --json and the generated apply skill parse this file; a stray token could
break them. Verify openspec status --change <change> --json reports the same
task counts after folding as the plain checkboxes imply.
4. Commit planning artifacts + stop at the worktree boundary
Commit proposal.md, design.md, specs/**, tasks.md, and test-plan.md to
develop. The worktree is spawned from that commit via the existing worktree
flow (dashboard "start work" / git worktree add).
Then STOP. plan-proposal does not enter the implementation phase. Report:
Planning complete for <change>. Artifacts committed to develop; worktree
ready. Automated scenarios folded to tasks (manifest dispositions in
test-plan.md). Next: run ship-it inside the worktree to build + ship.
If a design issue surfaces during build, ship-it writes SHIP_IT_BLOCKED.md
and hands back here.
Guardrails
- Main session only — refuse and surface if nested (see Hard constraint).
- Never pass the CLAIM to the reviewer; ARTIFACT + CONTRACT only.
- Never fold before reconciling actionable doubt-review findings.
tasks.md stays vanilla — the manifest (test-plan.md), not a task tag,
is the automated-vs-manual source of truth.
- Never author test/app code here — folding writes tasks;
ship-it authors
the tests. This skill plans; it does not implement.
- Stop at the boundary — do not continue into implementation.
Composed skills
openspec-new-change / -ff / -continue · doubt-driven-review ·
scenario-design (+ its test-plan.md manifest) · handoff to ship-it.