planning-engine

name	planning-engine
description	Use when producing a lightweight implementation plan before coding, including scope, affected systems, migration, rollback, tests, reuse, and architecture impact.

Planning Engine

Use this skill before implementation when sequencing, migration, rollback, validation, or coordination risk needs structure. Cross-file impact alone does not require a plan.

Goal

Create a short, executable plan that helps agents implement the right change in the right order.

If the goal, non-goals, constraints, acceptance criteria, or target docs are not stable, run clarification-gate before writing the plan.

Plan Requirements

A plan should answer:

• What changes
• Why it changes
• Affected systems
• Existing code or docs to reuse
• Migration requirements
• Rollback strategy
• Testing strategy
• Architecture impact
• Risks and open questions
• Version impact and whether user confirmation is needed

Output

Use templates/PLAN.template.md as the default shape. Save plans under docs/plans/ when the repository keeps persistent plans. Otherwise, keep the plan in the conversation and execute it.

Rules

• Keep plans lightweight.
• Prefer the shortest viable path.
• Do not turn routine changes into ceremony.
• Do not create a plan solely because a change touches multiple files.
• Use a spec instead when durable behavior, acceptance criteria, or compatibility alignment is the only need; use both only when execution risk also justifies a plan.
• Put active tasks in docs/TASKS.md only when execution spans multiple stages, people, or agents.
• Do not proceed to implementation if the plan exposes unresolved blockers that would make the work risky or incoherent.
• Use Clarification Gate output as the preferred input when the request started broad, ambiguous, or cross-cutting.
• Use version-governance when the plan implies patch, minor, or major release impact.