Skill: plan

Trigger: "plan [feature]" · "I want to build X" · "design X" · "plan mode" · "thinking about building X"

Steps

Step 1 — Open or create the plan file

• Derive a slug from the feature name: lowercase, hyphens (e.g. your-journey, email-throttle)
• Check if [MEM]/plans/[slug].md already exists
  • Yes → read it, display the full file, skip to Step 4
  • No → copy [MEM]/plans/_template.md to [MEM]/plans/[slug].md, fill in Feature Name + Created date + Project name
• [MEM] = .claude/memory/ relative to project root

Step 2 — Understand the problem

Ask or infer from context:

• What problem does this solve?
• Who is it for?
• What does "this worked" look like for the user?

Write answers into the Problem section. Display the full plan.

Step 3 — Research before drafting

Before writing a single option:

• Grep the codebase for any existing related functionality
• If [MEM]/decisions.md exists, read it — any settled decisions that apply?
• If [MEM]/tasks/regret.md exists, read it — any rejected approaches to avoid re-proposing?

Surface anything relevant inline: "Found existing X in file Y — Option A could build on this."

Step 4 — Draft options

Generate 2–4 distinct options. For each:

• Give it a clear name (e.g. "Passive Timeline", "Full Write Surface", "Email Only")
• Rate on three axes: Build cost (Low/Medium/High), User friction (None/Low/Medium/High), Payoff (Low/Medium/High)
• Write 2–3 lines of notes — what it does, key trade-off
• End with a Build cost comparison table

Write to the Options section. Display the full plan.

Step 5 — Decision

Ask which option the user wants, or if they want to defer.

Display the full plan.

Step 6 — Technical spec + Blast Radius (only if Ready to Code)

Fill in the Technical Spec section:

• SQL changes (ALTER TABLE, CREATE TABLE)
• Files to change — ordered table with file + what changes
• New endpoints / API shape
• Any open questions that must be resolved before the first line of code

Then fill in the Blast Radius — required before any code is touched:

If any Blast Radius field is "unknown" — that is an open question. Resolve it before proceeding.

Display the full plan.

Step 7 — Open questions sweep

Review everything written. Add any unresolved questions to the Open Questions checklist. State explicitly: "N open questions before this is ready to code."

Step 8 — Update MEMORY.md plans index (skip if there is no MEMORY.md)

If [MEM]/MEMORY.md exists, add or update the entry:

- [Plan: feature-name](plans/feature-name.md) — Status: Draft/Ready/On Hold — one-line summary

Auto-display rule

After every step that writes to the plan file — read it back and display the full file contents. Never show a diff or summary. Always the full plan. This is not optional.

Closing message

Auto-Chain

• Status = Ready to Code and user says "start coding" → hand off to search-first skill
• Status = Draft with 0 open questions → prompt: "All questions resolved — ready to mark Ready to Code?"