| name | plan-loader |
| description | Loads minimum hierarchical plan context (.claude/plans/) for current execution focus. Auto-invokes every session when plans exist. Stays under 800 always-loaded tokens regardless of plan tree size. |
| autoInvoke | true |
| when_to_use | Every Claude turn when .claude/plans/ exists in project; loads mission + active node + ancestors only |
| allowed-tools | Read, Glob, Bash |
| effort | low |
| user-invocable | false |
AI-consumed reference. Optimized for Claude to read during execution.
Human-readable explanation: see docs/architecture/HIERARCHICAL_PLANNING.md
or docs/getting-started/ depending on topic.
Plan Loader
STATUS — v3.7.0-alpha.1. Provides plan context for hierarchical planning system.
Behavior (in order)
- Detect: if
.claude/plans/ does NOT exist → exit silently (no plan = no overhead)
- Read
.claude/plans/active.json — get current focus pointer
- Load mission.md — T0 (always loaded if exists)
- Load active T1 (Initiative) if
active.initiative set
- Load active T2 (Feature) if
active.feature set
- Load active T3 (Story) if
active.story set, plus sibling T4 summaries (id + intent + status only — not full body)
- Load active T4 (Task) if
active.task set
- Stamp loaded plan nodes with
trust: plan for memory-trust-policy.md discipline
Token budget
budget[5]{layer,target,hard_cap}:
always_loaded,800,1000
active_T1+T2,1500,2500
active_T3+T4,5000,7000
sibling_T4_summaries,500,800
total_with_plan,~7800,~11300
Auto-degradation rules (per spec §9.1)
When always-loaded budget approaches 13,500 tokens:
- First trim: skip permanent-memory summary lines → saves ~150 tokens
- Second trim: skip mission.md content (keep only ID) → saves ~50 tokens
- Third trim: load only
active.json (no node bodies) → log warning
What this skill does NOT do
- Does NOT modify plan files (read-only)
- Does NOT trigger replan or status changes
- Does NOT load sibling T3s, T2s, T1s outside active path
- Does NOT load archive/, traces/, history.jsonl, conflicts.jsonl
Detection logic (bash one-liner the model can run)
[ -f .claude/plans/active.json ] && echo "plan-active" || echo "no-plan"
Tie-Ins
- Owns:
.claude/plans/active.json (read), .claude/plans/mission.md (read), .claude/plans/<active path>/*.md (read)
- Skill spec:
docs/specs/AURA_FROG_V3.7.0_TECH_SPEC.md §9.1
- Rule:
rules/core/plan-trust-policy.md — content loaded by this skill is trust: plan
- Hook:
hooks/pre-execute-load-plan-context.cjs (Milestone A part 2) — invokes this skill on every PreToolUse
- Companion:
skills/plan-validator/SKILL.md — runs validate-plan-tree.sh on demand
