Generate Plan

Use this skill to produce the authoritative implementation plan artifact set for the kit's work.

This skill is the canonical planning contract for the repo. Planning discipline previously spread across vc:plan now belongs here plus the plan-agent prompt.

Normal output is one plan file.

For large multi-phase programs, this skill instead defines how to create an umbrella plan plus phase-plan set under one feature folder. See process/development-protocols/phase-programs.md.

Optional input: a feature idea plus simple or complex when the user already knows the intended depth.

Workflow

1. Read references/generate-plan.md for the full plan contract.
2. Run date +%d-%m-%y before choosing the filename.
3. If complexity is not obvious, ask whether the plan is SIMPLE or COMPLEX.
4. Save the plan to process/general-plans/active/ unless the work belongs to an existing process/features/{feature}/active/ folder.
5. Read process/context/all-context.md when present to choose relevant context docs.
6. For complex plans, read process/context/planning/example-complex-prd.md before writing.
7. Include automated and manual verification gates from process/context/tests/all-tests.md.
8. For new or newly touched direct *_PLAN_*.md plans, include explicit sections for Touchpoints, Public Contracts, Blast Radius, Verification Evidence, and Resume and Execution Handoff.
9. Keep resume/dependency notes Markdown-structured for now; do not invent a second machine-only schema.
10. If the work is a large multi-phase program, create or update a feature folder plan set:

• one umbrella/orchestration plan
• one direct plan file per phase
• one durable report destination per phase

11. Validate the generated artifact:

node .claude/skills/vc-generate-plan/scripts/validate-plan-artifact.mjs <plan-path>

Important Rules

• For standard work, create exactly one plan file.
• For a phase program, create one umbrella plan plus one direct plan file per phase.
• Prefer process/features/{feature}/active/ when the topic maps to an existing feature folder.
• Keep phase status honest: code-only completion is CODE DONE, not VERIFIED.
• Make execution trust explicit inside the plan: what code or data can change, what contracts are exposed, what proof is required, and how EXECUTE should resume after compaction.
• End with the next instruction for RIPER-5 or Cursor Plan mode.
• Treat validation failures as blockers before presenting the plan as ready.
• Fold red-team questions, dependency mapping, verification gates, and ambiguity checks into the generated plan itself instead of relying on a parallel plan-owner workflow.
• Do not hide a large program inside one giant plan if execution will actually happen phase by phase.
• Preserve the older complex-plan behavior by keeping pre-phase research and proof gates inside each phase plan; the new protocol changes the artifact shape, not the rigor.