Skip to content

plan

Epic decomposition into trackable issues. Triggers: "create a plan", "plan implementation", "break down into tasks", "decompose into features", "create beads issues from research", "what issues should we create", "plan out the work".

Source: skills/plan/SKILL.md

Quick Ref: Decompose goal into trackable issues with waves. Output: .agents/plans/*.md + bd issues.

YOU MUST EXECUTE THIS WORKFLOW. Do not just describe it.

CLI dependencies: bd (issue creation). If bd is unavailable, write the plan to .agents/plans/ as markdown with issue descriptions, and use TaskList for tracking instead. The plan document is always created regardless of bd availability.

Flags

Flag Default Description
--auto off Skip human approval gate. Used by /rpi --auto for fully autonomous lifecycle.
--fast-path off Force Minimal detail template (see Step 3.2)
--skip-symbol-check off Skip symbol verification in Step 3.6 (for greenfield plans)
--skip-audit-gate off Skip baseline audit gate in Step 6 (for documentation-only plans)

Execution Steps

Given /plan <goal> [--auto]:

Step 0: Bead-Input Pre-Flight (Stale-Scope Gate)

When the input to /plan is a bead ID (matches pattern [a-z]{2,6}-[0-9a-z.]+) AND any of the following conditions hold, automatically run ao beads verify <bead-id> as the very first action before any other planning step:

  • complexity is "full"
  • the bead is older than 7 days
  • the bead description was filed by a prior session (e.g., handoff-sourced, deferred, or reopened)
Bash
# Example guard — run before Step 1
if [[ "$INPUT" =~ ^[a-z]{2,6}-[0-9a-z.]+$ ]]; then
    ao beads verify "$INPUT" || true
fi

If ao beads verify reports any STALE citations, present them to the user (or log them to the execution packet in --auto mode) and ask for scope re-validation before proceeding to Step 1. Do not decompose against stale evidence.

This implements the shared stale-scope validation rule — re-validate inherited scope estimates against HEAD before acting on deferred beads, handoff docs, or prior-session plans.

Step 1: Setup

Bash
mkdir -p .agents/plans

Step 2: Check for Prior Research + Knowledge Flywheel

ls -la .agents/research/ and use Grep to find prior research. If found, read it before planning.

Then run ao search / ao lookup for prior planning patterns and apply (not just retrieve) any relevant learnings as planning constraints. Record citations with ao metrics cite --type applied|retrieved.

Read references/pre-decomposition.md for full flywheel-search commands, the apply-retrieved-knowledge contract, and section-evidence handling.

Step 2.1: Load Compiled Prevention First (Mandatory)

Load compiled planning rules from .agents/planning-rules/*.md (primary) and fall back to .agents/findings/registry.jsonl. Match by finding ID, applicable_when, language, literal goal-text overlap, and changed-file overlap. Cap at top 5.

Record applied finding IDs and how they changed the plan. Fail open on missing/malformed files. Read references/pre-decomposition.md for the full ranked-packet contract.

Active findings from .agents/findings/registry.jsonl are a fallback planning input. Every written plan must include an Applied findings: line, even when the value is none.

Step 2.2: Read and Validate Research Content

If research files exist, read the most recent one and verify it contains substantive sections (Summary, Findings, Architecture, Executive Summary, Recommendations) before proceeding. See references/pre-decomposition.md for the validation grep and warning behavior.

Step 3: Explore the Codebase (if needed)

Dispatch an Explore sub-agent (Task tool) with a prompt that demands symbol-level detail: file inventory, function/method signatures, struct/type definitions, reuse points with file:line, test file locations and naming conventions, import paths. Read references/pre-decomposition.md for the canonical explore prompt.

Pre-Planning Baseline Audit (Mandatory)

Before decomposing, run grep/wc/ls commands to quantify files to change, sections to add/remove, LOC to modify, coverage gaps. Record commands alongside results. File size limits (800-line SKILL.md lint limit) and test fixture counts are mandatory checks. Ground truth with numbers prevents scope creep.

Read references/pre-decomposition.md for the bad/good examples table and the full audit recipe.

Step 3.2: Scale Detail by Complexity

Auto-select plan detail level based on issue count and goal complexity:

Level Criteria Template Description
Minimal 1-2 issues, fast complexity Bullet points per issue Title, 2-line description, acceptance criteria, files list
Standard 3-6 issues, standard complexity Current plan format Full implementation specs, tests, verification
Deep 7+ issues, full complexity, or --deep Extended format Symbol-level specs, data transformation tables, design briefs, cross-wave registry

Read references/detail-templates.md for the template definitions.

Override: --deep forces Deep regardless of issue count. --fast-path forces Minimal.

Step 3.5: Generate Implementation Detail (Mandatory)

After exploring the codebase, generate symbol-level implementation detail for EVERY file in the plan. A worker reading the plan should know exactly what to write without rediscovering function names, parameters, or code locations.

Read references/implementation-detail.md for the full contract: file inventory table, per-section implementation specs (function signatures, reuse points, inline code blocks, struct fields, CLI flag definitions), named test functions with pyramid levels, verification procedures, data transformation mapping tables, and symbol verification.

Step 3.6: Symbol Verification (Mandatory)

See the Symbol Verification section in references/implementation-detail.md. For each symbol cited in the plan, grep the codebase to verify it exists. If >20% of cited symbols are stale, WARN (do not block) and log them under ## Stale Symbol Warnings. Opt-out: --skip-symbol-check.

Step 4: Decompose into Issues

Analyze the goal and break it into discrete, implementable issues. For each issue define: - Title: Clear action verb (e.g., "Add authentication middleware") - Description: What needs to be done - Dependencies: Which issues must complete first (if any) - Acceptance criteria: How to verify it's done - Test levels: Which pyramid levels (L0–L3) this issue's tests cover

Read references/decomposition.md for: anti-pattern pre-flight, design briefs for rewrites, issue granularity rules, operationalization heuristics, conformance checks, and schema strictness pre-flight.

Step 5: Compute Waves

Group issues by dependencies for parallel execution: - Wave 1: Issues with no dependencies (can run in parallel) - Wave 2: Issues depending only on Wave 1 - Wave 3: Issues depending on Wave 2 - Continue until all issues assigned

Planning Rules Compliance (Mandatory Gate): After computing waves, fill in the Planning Rules Compliance checklist (PR-001 through PR-007) in the plan document — see the table in references/plan-document-template.md. Read references/planning-rules.md for detection questions and evidence. Every rule MUST have an explicit justification or N/A rationale. If any row has an empty Justification column, mark the plan output as INCOMPLETE and do not proceed to Step 5.5.

Step 5.5: File Dependency Matrix (MANDATORY)

Before writing the plan document, produce an explicit file-level dependency matrix mapping each task to every file it reads or writes (columns: Task, File, Access=read/write, Notes). This matrix is the input to the swarm pre-spawn conflict check — without it, handoff to /swarm is blocked. Every write is an ownership claim: two same-wave tasks claiming write on the same file MUST be serialized (blockedBy) or merged. read conflicts with concurrent write but not with other reads. Include tests, docs, schemas, fixtures, generated artifacts, and Codex companion files — not just primary sources. The swarm skill's local-mode Pre-Spawn Conflict Check consumes this matrix.

Read references/wave-matrices.md for the full file-conflict matrix format, an example table, cross-wave shared file registry, generated-artifact companion scope, and dependency-necessity validation rules.

Step 6: Write Plan Document

Write to: .agents/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<goal-slug>.md

Read references/plan-document-template.md for the full canonical template (Context, Files to Modify, Boundaries, Baseline Audit, Implementation, Tests, Conformance Checks, Verification, Issues, Execution Order, Planning Rules Compliance, Post-Merge Cleanup, Next Steps) and the Baseline Audit Gate (BLOCK if missing, WARN if incomplete, --skip-audit-gate to opt out).

Step 7: Create Tasks for In-Session Tracking

Read references/task-creation.md for the full TaskCreate + beads creation workflow, including: persistent beads issues for ratchet tracking, embedding conformance checks as fenced validation blocks in issue bodies, cross-cutting constraint injection on the epic, wave formation via blocks dependencies, and the Step 7b post-creation validation-block verification gate.

Step 8: Request Human Approval (Gate 2)

Skip this step if --auto flag is set. In auto mode, proceed directly to Step 9.

USE AskUserQuestion tool:

Text Only
Tool: AskUserQuestion
Parameters:
  questions:
    - question: "Plan complete with N tasks in M waves. Approve to proceed?"
      header: "Gate 2"
      options:
        - label: "Approve"
          description: "Proceed to /pre-mortem or /crank"
        - label: "Revise"
          description: "Modify the plan before proceeding"
        - label: "Back to Research"
          description: "Need more research before planning"
      multiSelect: false

Wait for approval before reporting completion.

Step 9: Record Ratchet Progress

Bash
ao ratchet record plan 2>/dev/null || true

Step 10: Report to User

Tell the user: 1. Plan document location 2. Number of issues identified 3. Wave structure for parallel execution 4. Tasks created (beads issue IDs or file-backed task refs) 5. Next step: /pre-mortem for failure simulation, then /crank for execution

Key Rules

  • Read research first if it exists
  • Explore codebase to understand current state
  • Identify dependencies between issues
  • Compute waves for parallel execution
  • Always write the plan to .agents/plans/

Examples

/plan "add user authentication" — Reads research, decomposes into 5 issues (middleware, session store, token validation, tests, docs), creates epic with 2 waves, writes plan to .agents/plans/.

/plan --auto "refactor payment module" — Skips approval gates, creates 3-wave/8-issue epic autonomously, ready for /crank.

/plan "remove dead code" — Runs quantitative audit (3,003 LOC), creates issues with exact file/LOC targets, includes deletion verification checks.

/plan "add stale run detection to RPI status" — Symbol-level detail: names exact functions, struct fields, JSON tags, test names. Implementer executes in a single pass.

See references/examples.md for full walkthroughs.

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
bd create fails Run bd init --prefix <prefix> first
Plan too large (>20 issues) Narrow goal or split into multiple epics
Wave structure incorrect Review dependencies: does blocked issue modify blocker's files?
Conformance checks missing Add files_exist, content_check, tests, or command checks

See references/examples.md for more troubleshooting scenarios.

Reference Documents