Planner Skill

Purpose

Two workflows for complex tasks:

1. Planning workflow (planner.py): Create and review implementation plans
2. Execution workflow (executor.py): Execute approved plans through delegation

Invocation Routing

Invoke planner.py when user asks to:

• "plan", "design", "architect" a feature
• "review" an existing plan
• Break down a complex task into milestones

Invoke executor.py when user asks to:

• "execute", "implement", "run" a plan
• "resume" or "continue" execution
• Provides a plan file path for implementation

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When to Use

Use the planner skill when the task has:

• Multiple milestones with dependencies
• Architectural decisions requiring documentation
• Migration steps that need coordination
• Complexity that benefits from forced reflection pauses

When to Skip

Skip the planner skill when the task is:

• Single-step with obvious implementation
• A quick fix or minor change
• Already well-specified by the user

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Scripts

Script	Purpose
scripts/planner.py	Planning and review workflow with step-based state management
scripts/executor.py	Execution workflow for approved plans with milestone delegation

Triggers

Trigger Phrase	Operation
plan this feature	planner.py (planning phase)
create implementation plan	planner.py (planning phase)
review the plan and pick up next item	executor.py (execution phase)
execute the plan at plans/X.md	executor.py (execution phase)
resume execution	executor.py (continue from last step)

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Anti-Patterns

Avoid	Why	Instead
Skipping review phase after planning	Misses quality/temporal issues	Always run review steps 1-2 before execution
Starting execution without /clear	Context pollution from planning	User should /clear before execution workflow
Manually following workflow steps	Script manages state and transitions	Run the script and follow its output
Planning single-step tasks	Overhead exceeds benefit	Implement directly without planner
Editing plan during execution	Creates drift between plan and actions	Return to planning phase for changes

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Verification

After planning:

• Plan file written to specified path
• Review phase completed (both TW and QR steps)
• Review verdict is PASS or PASS_WITH_CONCERNS

After execution:

• All milestones marked complete
• Post-implementation QR passed
• Documentation step completed
• Retrospective generated

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Process

Planning Overview

PLANNING PHASE (steps 1-N)
    |
    v
Write plan to file
    |
    v
REVIEW PHASE (steps 1-2)
    |-- Step 1: @agent-technical-writer (plan-annotation)
    |-- Step 2: @agent-quality-reviewer (plan-review)
    v
APPROVED --> Execution workflow

Planning Preconditions

Before invoking step 1, you MUST have:

1. Plan file path - If user did not specify, ASK before proceeding
2. Clear problem statement - What needs to be accomplished

Planning Invocation

python3 scripts/planner.py \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps <estimated_steps> \
  --thoughts "<your thinking about the problem>"

Planning Arguments

Argument	Description
--phase	Workflow phase: planning (default) or review
--step-number	Current step (starts at 1)
--total-steps	Estimated total steps for this phase
--thoughts	Your thinking, findings, and progress

Planning Steps

1. Confirm preconditions (plan file path, problem statement)
2. Invoke step 1 immediately
3. Complete REQUIRED ACTIONS from output
4. Invoke next step with your thoughts
5. Repeat until STATUS: phase_complete
6. Write plan to file using format below

Phase Transition: Planning to Review

When planning phase completes, the script outputs an explicit ACTION REQUIRED marker:

============================================
>>> ACTION REQUIRED: INVOKE REVIEW PHASE <<<
============================================

You MUST invoke the review phase before proceeding to execution.

The review phase ensures:

• Temporally contaminated comments are fixed (via @agent-technical-writer)
• Code snippets have WHY comments (via @agent-technical-writer)
• Plan is validated for production risks (via @agent-quality-reviewer)
• Documentation needs are identified

Review Phase

After writing the plan file, transition to review phase:

python3 scripts/planner.py \
  --phase review \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "Plan written to [path/to/plan.md]"

Review Step 1: Technical Writer

Delegate to @agent-technical-writer with mode: plan-annotation

Review Step 2: Quality Reviewer

Delegate to @agent-quality-reviewer with mode: plan-review

After Review

• PASS / PASS_WITH_CONCERNS: Ready for execution workflow
• NEEDS_CHANGES: Return to planning phase to address issues

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Execution Workflow (executor.py)

Execution Overview

Step 1: Execution Planning
    |
    v
Step 2: Reconciliation (conditional, if prior work signaled)
    |
    v
Step 3: Milestone Execution (repeat until all complete)
    |
    v
Step 4: Post-Implementation QR
    |
    v
QR issues? --YES--> Step 5: Issue Resolution --> delegate fixes --> Step 4
    |
    NO
    v
Step 6: Documentation
    |
    v
Step 7: Retrospective

Execution Preconditions

Before invoking step 1, you MUST have:

1. Approved plan file - Plan that passed review phase
2. Clear context window - User should /clear before execution

Execution Invocation

python3 scripts/executor.py \
  --plan-file PATH \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 7 \
  --thoughts "<user's request and context>"

Execution Arguments

Argument	Description
--plan-file	Path to the approved plan file
--step-number	Current step (1-7)
--total-steps	Always 7 for executor
--thoughts	Your current thinking and status

Execution Steps

Step	Name	Purpose
1	Execution Planning	Analyze plan, detect reconciliation, strategy
2	Reconciliation	(conditional) Validate existing code vs plan
3	Milestone Execution	Delegate to agents, run tests (repeat)
4	Post-Implementation QR	Quality review of implemented code
5	Issue Resolution	(conditional) Present issues, collect fixes
6	Documentation	TW pass for CLAUDE.md, README.md
7	Retrospective	Present execution summary

Note: Step 3 may be re-invoked multiple times until all milestones complete. Step 4 may loop back through step 5 until QR passes.

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Resources

Resource	Purpose
resources/plan-format.md	Plan template (injected at planning completion)
resources/diff-format.md	Authoritative specification for code change format
resources/temporal-contamination.md	Detecting/fixing temporally contaminated comments
resources/default-conventions.md	Default conventions when project docs are silent

Note: Execution guidance is embedded directly in scripts/executor.py (not in separate resource files) since it's only used by that script.

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References

Reference	Purpose
references/strategy-ooda-loop.md	Map planning and execution phases to OODA stages
references/design-pit-of-success.md	Design milestones so the obvious path produces correct results
references/mental-models-galls-law.md	Validate milestone decomposition against incremental complexity
.claude/skills/analyze/references/engineering-complexity-tiers.md	Classify tasks by tier (single source of truth in analyze skill)
references/explainers-and-intents.md	Write explainers before work, use intents as permission gates
references/agent-architecture-patterns.md	Skill budget rule, 3-file planning pattern, milestone decomposition for agent systems
references/hybrid-memory-architecture.md	Hybrid retrieval cascade, memory decay tiers, decision extraction for planning memory systems

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Quick Reference

# === PLANNING WORKFLOW ===

# Start planning
python3 scripts/planner.py --step-number 1 --total-steps 4 --thoughts "..."

# Continue planning
python3 scripts/planner.py --step-number 2 --total-steps 4 --thoughts "..."

# Start review (after plan written)
python3 scripts/planner.py --phase review --step-number 1 --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "Plan at plans/feature.md"

# Continue review
python3 scripts/planner.py --phase review --step-number 2 --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "TW done, ready for QR"

# === EXECUTION WORKFLOW ===

# Start execution
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Execute the feature plan"

# Continue milestone execution
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 3 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Completed M1, M2. Executing M3..."

# After QR passes
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 6 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "QR passed. Running documentation."

# Generate retrospective
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 7 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Execution complete. Generating retrospective."