Plot: Reject Delivery

Reverse a premature delivery — move a plan from Delivered back to Approved so remaining work can be completed. This is the inverse of /plot-deliver. RC tags are preserved as historical records.

Input: $ARGUMENTS is <slug> [reason]

Example: /plot-reject prod-config "5/7 branches unbuilt"

Setup

Add a ## Plot Config section to the adopting project's CLAUDE.md:

## Plot Config
<!-- Optional: uncomment if using a GitHub Projects board -->
<!-- - **Project board:** owner/number (e.g. eins78/5) -->
- **Branch prefixes:** idea/, feature/, bug/, docs/, infra/
- **Plan directory:** docs/plans/
- **Active index:** docs/plans/active/
- **Delivered index:** docs/plans/delivered/

Model Guidance

Steps	Min. Tier	Notes
All (1-8)	Small	Git/gh commands, file edits — no judgment calls

All steps are mechanical: parse input, check state, move files, update metadata.

User interaction: Use AskUserQuestion (Claude Code) / ask_question (Cursor) for all questions, proposals, and confirmations.

1. Parse Input

If $ARGUMENTS is empty or missing:

• List delivered plans: ls docs/plans/delivered/ 2>/dev/null
• If exactly one exists, propose: "Found delivered plan <slug>. Reject it?"
• If multiple exist, list them and ask which one to reject
• If none exist, explain: "No delivered plans found in docs/plans/delivered/."

Extract slug from $ARGUMENTS (first word — trimmed, lowercase, hyphens only).

Extract reason from remaining arguments (everything after the slug). If no reason provided, ask: "Why is this delivery being rejected?"

2. Verify Plan is Delivered

Check that a delivered plan exists for this slug: ls docs/plans/delivered/<slug>.md

• If found in delivered/: resolve the symlink to find the actual plan file path (e.g., docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md). Read the plan file and confirm the Phase field says Delivered.
• If found in active/ instead: "Plan <slug> is in Approved phase (not yet delivered). Nothing to reject."
• If not found anywhere: "No plan found for <slug>."

3. Assess Rejection Scope

Read the plan's branches section (heading containing "Branches"). For each branch listed:

# Check which branches have merged PRs
gh pr list --state merged --head <branch-name> --json number,title --jq '.[0] | "\(.number) \(.title)"'

Skip branches marked with <!-- deferred: ... -->.

Report to the user:

• N branches total in plan (excluding deferred)
• M branches with merged PRs (work that was completed)
• K branches without merged PRs (unbuilt — the reason for rejection)
• Any deferred branches (listed separately)

Present: "Rejecting <slug>: M/N branches were built. K branches remain unbuilt. Reason: . Proceed?"

Special case: If ALL non-deferred branches have merged PRs (fully built), warn: "All plan branches were built and merged. Are you sure this should be rejected rather than fixed with a follow-up?" This catches cases where the issue isn't missing branches but something else (integration bugs, design problems). Require explicit confirmation.

4. Revert Plan Phase

Update the plan file (the resolved symlink target, e.g., docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md):

• Change **Phase:** Delivered → **Phase:** Approved
• If a **Delivered:** YYYY-MM-DD line exists, replace it with: **Rejected:** YYYY-MM-DD (<reason>)
• If no Delivered line exists, add **Rejected:** YYYY-MM-DD (<reason>) to the Status section
• Preserve all other content — branches, design, approvals, everything stays intact

5. Move Symlink Back

Move the symlink from delivered/ back to active/:

git checkout main && git pull origin main

# Remove from delivered/
git rm docs/plans/delivered/<slug>.md

# Re-create in active/ (same relative symlink pattern)
ln -s ../YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md docs/plans/active/<slug>.md

# Stage both the symlink and the plan file (Phase was updated)
git add docs/plans/active/<slug>.md docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md

(Replace YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md with the actual date-prefixed filename from the resolved symlink.)

6. Update Sprint File

If the plan has a Sprint: field in its Status section, find the corresponding sprint file and locate the [<slug>] item.

Uncheck the item: [x] → [ ]

Update the HTML comment annotation with rejection metadata:

- [ ] [slug] description <!-- status: rejected, reason: <reason>, merged: #54 #55, remaining: branch-a branch-b branch-c -->

Where:

• merged: lists the PR numbers that were successfully completed
• remaining: lists the branch names that were never built

If the plan has no Sprint: field, skip this step.

7. Commit and Push

git add docs/plans/ docs/sprints/
git commit -m "plot: reject <slug> — <reason>"
git push

Important: RC tags are NEVER deleted. They are preserved as historical records of what was attempted. The rejection commit documents why the delivery was reversed.

8. Summary

Print:

## Rejected: <slug>

- **Reason:** <reason>
- **Plan file:** docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md (unchanged location)
- **Index:** moved from `delivered/` back to `active/`
- **Branches built:** M/N (list merged PRs: #54, #55)
- **Branches remaining:** K (list: branch-a, branch-b, branch-c)
- **Sprint item:** unchecked with rejection metadata
- **RC tags:** preserved (not deleted)
- **Progress:** [ ] Draft > [x] Approved > [ ] Delivered > [ ] Released

**Next:** Build remaining branches, then re-deliver with `/plot-deliver <slug>`.

Tip: Run /plot to see overall status and what to do next.

Automation Output

When the conversation context indicates automation (see /plot for detection rules), append:

{
  "command": "/plot-reject",
  "slug": "<slug>",
  "phase": "Approved",
  "previous_phase": "Delivered",
  "status": "rejected",
  "reason": "<reason>",
  "prs_merged": [{"number": 54}, {"number": 55}],
  "branches_remaining": ["branch-a", "branch-b"],
  "sprint": "<sprint-slug>",
  "next_action": "/plot-deliver",
  "message": "Plan rejected. M/N branches built, K remaining.",
  "progress": {"draft": true, "approved": true, "delivered": false, "released": false}
}