Write a durable plan

Keep the plan useful before, during, and after execution. It is the coordination record, not a disposable answer or a duplicate task tracker.

Find the plan's owner

1. Resolve <vault> to the directory containing its authored or managed index.md front door, then set the shell-local KB_ROOT to that path (KB_ROOT=kb from a typical repository root, or KB_ROOT=. from inside the vault). Read the vault's AGENTS.md and the nearest guide under <vault>/plans/. Pass that resolved root to every command; do not assume the starting directory is the vault.
2. When the plan owns a repository path, resolve the repository root as KB_REPO and load that path's current memory before a whole-vault search:

wordcell context "<repository-path>" --root "$KB_ROOT" --repo "$KB_REPO"

Use --kind file or --kind directory when an absent future path cannot be classified from the filesystem. Read the inherited guides first, then the applicable maintained knowledge, active plans, dated research, reports, and separate historical-plan group.

3. Search existing plans before creating one:

wordcell list --root "$KB_ROOT" --where type=plan --sort area --json
wordcell search "the intended outcome" --root "$KB_ROOT" --json

If wordcell is not installed, do not let retrieval tooling block the plan: use rg or the available file search over <vault>/plans/, titles, aliases, and relevant terms. If the directory is not an initialized hraness/wordcell vault, follow the repository's existing planning convention instead of initializing one without being asked. Semantic search writes only a derived local cache; when that cache location is not writable, use exact search or point XDG_CACHE_HOME at a writable cache directory.

4. Update an existing plan when it already owns the outcome. Create a new file only for independently executable work.
5. Use <vault>/plans/<descriptive-kebab-name>.md unless the local guide already groups plans by area. Do not reorganize older plans merely to impose a new tree.

Write from evidence

Read the plan structure reference, then tailor it to the work. Preserve these invariants:

• State one concrete outcome and the current status.
• Record what is known, what is assumed, and what remains to discover.
• Separate in-scope work from non-goals.
• Put constraints and decisions before the steps they shape.
• Make dependencies and ordering visible.
• Give each acceptance claim a verification method.
• Include rollback or recovery when a change can leave durable state behind.

Turn a missing implementation detail into an ordered discovery gate when the outcome and authorization are already clear and the decision can be made from in-scope evidence. Stop and request direction when the unknown would change the intended outcome, expand authority or external coordination, or choose between materially different products.

Use small frontmatter. Start with type: plan, a descriptive title and one-sentence description, a kebab-case area, and one of proposed, accepted, in-progress, blocked, completed, superseded, or cancelled. When the plan owns work in a code repository, add repository_scopes with the few exact canonical repository-relative files or directories it explains. Use no globs. A future path is valid; update an active plan deliberately when code moves instead of relying on inferred Git renames. Add aliases or tags only when they help humans or structured queries.

Grow the same file during execution

• Change status when reality changes, not in anticipation.
• Check off completed work without deleting the original intent.
• Incorporate decisions, review findings, deviations, and command or test evidence where a future reader can understand their consequence.
• When blocked, name the exact missing condition and the safe work already completed.
• When a plan becomes completed, superseded, or cancelled, write a non-empty ## Result and ## Durable memory. State what shipped or why work stopped in Result. In Durable memory, link each reusable conclusion to the maintained note, guide, documentation, or checked code contract that now owns it. When nothing warrants promotion, say so explicitly and give the reason. Retain the terminal plan as history.
• Do not create separate progress, review, or completion files for the same plan.

Connect and verify

Add wikilinks or typed relationships only where the prose and evidence explain a useful connection. Review the changed plan for reusable concepts before refreshing:

wordcell percolate "<plan-note-id>" --root "$KB_ROOT" --limit 25 --json
wordcell refresh --root "$KB_ROOT"
wordcell check --root "$KB_ROOT"

Run those commands when the plan lives in an initialized hraness/wordcell vault. In a repository-native planning directory, use that repository's own validation instead. Review broken links first, then inspect orphan and mention advisories in context. Promote only concepts likely to be reused, and ground every typed relationship in the plan's prose. An independently useful plan may legitimately remain an orphan in a new or sparse vault. Record that disposition mentally or in the task handoff; do not manufacture links or relations merely to improve graph counts.

In an authored-catalog vault, refresh leaves the front door unchanged and wordcell catalog --root "$KB_ROOT" renders an exhaustive disposable inventory. In a managed vault, independent edit lanes use wordcell check --root "$KB_ROOT" --no-catalog; the integrating lane performs the single catalog refresh.