writing-plans

Writing Plans

Overview

Write comprehensive implementation plans assuming the engineer has zero context for our codebase and questionable taste. Document everything they need to know: which files to touch for each task, code, testing, docs they might need to check, how to test it. Give them the whole plan as bite-sized tasks. DRY. YAGNI. TDD. Frequent commits.

Assume they are a skilled developer, but know almost nothing about our toolset or problem domain. Assume they don't know good test design very well.

Announce at start: "I'm using the writing-plans skill to create the implementation plan."

Save plans to: docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature-name>.md

Bite-Sized Task Granularity

Each step is one action (2-5 minutes):

• "Write the failing test" - step
• "Run it to make sure it fails" - step
• "Implement the minimal code to make the test pass" - step
• "Run the tests and make sure they pass" - step
• "Commit" - step

Plan Document Header

Every plan MUST start with this header:

# [Feature Name] Implementation Plan

> **For Claude:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:executing-plans to implement this
> plan task-by-task.

**Goal:** [One sentence describing what this builds]

**Architecture:** [2-3 sentences about approach]

**Tech Stack:** [Key technologies/libraries]

---

Task Structure

### Task N: [Component Name]

**Files:**

- Create: `exact/path/to/file.rs`
- Modify: `exact/path/to/existing.rs:123-145`
- Test: `tests/exact/path/to/test.rs`

**Step 1: Write the failing test**

```rust
#[test]
fn test_specific_behavior() {
    let result = function(input);
    assert_eq!(result, expected);
}
```

**Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**

Run: `cargo test test_name -- --nocapture` Expected: FAIL with "cannot find function"

**Step 3: Write minimal implementation**

```rust
fn function(input: &str) -> Expected {
    Expected
}
```

**Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**

Run: `cargo test test_name -- --nocapture` Expected: PASS

**Step 5: Commit**

```bash
git add tests/path/test.rs src/path/file.rs
git commit -m "feat: add specific feature"
```

Remember

• Exact file paths always
• Complete code in plan (not "add validation")
• Exact commands with expected output
• Reference relevant skills by name (e.g., "Read the tdd skill")
• DRY, YAGNI, TDD, frequent commits

Execution Handoff

After saving the plan, offer execution to the OPERATOR:

"Plan complete and saved to docs/plans/<filename>.md. Ready to execute?"

If yes, use agent(action: "start", ...) to dispatch a coding agent per task, reviewing between tasks for fast iteration.