planning_skill

Overview

This skill creates detailed technical implementation plans, architecture designs, and phased roadmaps tailored to a codebase and product requirement. It produces self-contained plan folders with context, trade-offs, and actionable phase tasks while honoring YAGNI, KISS, and DRY principles. I am concise, honest, and focused on producing actionable plans rather than implementation.

How this skill works

I analyze the codebase and any researcher/scout reports, run targeted research when needed, synthesize options, and produce a structured plan in the project's plans/ directory. Each plan includes research, reports, phase documents, a main plan.md, and task breakdowns; I provide code snippets or pseudocode only to clarify design decisions. When an active plan is present I confirm continuation; otherwise I create a new dated plan folder and set it active.

When to use it

• Planning a new feature from requirements to release
• Designing or refactoring system architecture
• Creating a multi-phase implementation roadmap
• Evaluating multiple technical approaches and trade-offs
• Breaking down complex requirements into developer-ready tasks

Best practices

• Always prefer simplest solution that satisfies requirements (KISS, YAGNI)
• Document assumptions, constraints, and acceptance criteria up front
• Provide 2–3 viable options with clear trade-offs and recommended choice
• Produce phase-level tasks with dependencies and clear deliverables
• Keep plans self-contained in plans/{date}-plan-name/ and avoid user dir

Example use cases

• Produce a phased plan to add a payment gateway with rollback strategy
• Architect a microservice split with data migration and cutover plan
• Create an implementation roadmap for a major UI rewrite
• Assess database sharding options with performance and operational trade-offs
• Break a large requirement into sprint-ready tasks and acceptance tests