feature-planning_skill

Overview

This skill breaks down feature requests into detailed, implementable plans with clear, sequential tasks. It helps turn vague ideas or complex changes into concrete work items, architecture notes, and testing strategies. Use it to align stakeholders and hand off production-ready task specs to implementer agents.

How this skill works

The skill inspects the request, asks clarifying questions when needed, and explores the codebase to locate relevant files and patterns. It analyzes components (database, backend, frontend, tests), identifies dependencies and risks, and produces a task-oriented implementation plan with file references and rationale. The plan is reviewed with the user and formatted for downstream execution by plan-implementer, test-fixing, and git-pushing agents.

When to use it

• Requesting a new feature (e.g., add authentication, build dashboard)
• Proposing an enhancement or performance improvement
• Describing a complex, multi-step change
• When requirements are vague and need clarification
• Preparing work for automated implementer or CI-driven workflows

Best practices

• Start with clarifying questions to define success criteria and constraints
• Explore existing codebase patterns before designing changes
• Break work into small, atomic, and sequential tasks with explicit dependencies
• Include file paths and approximate line numbers to reduce implementation friction
• Document architecture decisions, trade-offs, and edge cases for maintainers

Example use cases

• Turn a product ticket “add export” into a prioritized task list with DB migrations and API endpoints
• Plan migration to a new authentication system including schema changes and rollout steps
• Design a frontend feature with component changes, routing updates, and end-to-end tests
• Scope a performance refactor with benchmarks, risk mitigation, and backward-compatibility tasks
• Convert vague user requests into a reviewed plan ready for automated implementation