Rule of Five — Plans

Each pass has ONE job. Re-read the entire artifact through that lens. See references/pass-order-rationale.md for order rationale.

Quick Start

Create native tasks for 5 passes with sequential dependencies:

TaskCreate: "Pass 1: Draft"
  description: "Shape and structure. All sections sketched. Task list complete. Breadth over depth."
  activeForm: "Drafting"

TaskCreate: "Pass 2: Feasibility"
  description: "Can every step be executed? Dependencies available? Paths valid? Estimates realistic?"
  activeForm: "Checking feasibility"
  addBlockedBy: [draft-task-id]

TaskCreate: "Pass 3: Completeness"
  description: "Every requirement traced to a task? Gaps? Missing rollback? Missing error handling?"
  activeForm: "Checking completeness"
  addBlockedBy: [feasibility-task-id]

TaskCreate: "Pass 4: Risk"
  description: "What could go wrong? Migration risks? Data loss? Breaking changes? Parallel conflicts?"
  activeForm: "Assessing risk"
  addBlockedBy: [completeness-task-id]

TaskCreate: "Pass 5: Optimality"
  description: "Simplest approach? YAGNI? Could tasks be combined? Would you defend every task to a senior colleague?"
  activeForm: "Optimizing"
  addBlockedBy: [risk-task-id]

ENFORCEMENT:

• Each pass is blocked until the previous completes
• Cannot commit until all 5 tasks show status: completed
• TaskList shows your progress through the passes
• Skipping passes is visible - blocked tasks can't be marked in_progress

For each pass: re-read the full artifact, evaluate through that lens only, make changes, then mark task complete.

Detection Triggers

Invoke when: >50 lines of plan/design doc/skill document written, implementation plans, architecture decisions, process documentation, or skill SKILL.md files.

For code, use rule-of-five-code. For tests, use rule-of-five-tests.

Skip for: Minor doc edits, trivial changes under 20 lines, README updates.

Announce: "Applying rule-of-five-plans to [artifact]. Starting 5-pass review."

The 5 Passes

Pass	Focus	Exit when...
Draft	Shape and structure. All sections sketched, task list complete.	All major sections exist; task list complete
Feasibility	Can every step be executed? Deps available? Paths valid? Estimates realistic?	No infeasible steps; all references verified
Completeness	Every requirement traced to a task? Gaps? Missing rollback?	Every requirement maps to task(s)
Risk	What could go wrong? Migration, data loss, breaking changes, parallel conflicts?	Risks identified and mitigated
Optimality	Simplest approach? YAGNI? Could tasks be combined?	You'd defend every task to a senior colleague

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Multiple lenses in one pass	ONE lens per pass. Feasibility pass ignores optimality.
Checking for code bugs in plans	Plans don't have bugs — check feasibility and completeness instead.
Skipping Risk pass on "simple" plans	All 5 or none. Simple plans still have risks (wrong assumptions, missing deps).
Rushing through passes	Each pass: genuinely re-read the full artifact
Optimizing before checking completeness	Completeness before Optimality — don't simplify away requirements.
Not verifying file paths and commands	Feasibility pass: Glob for paths, verify commands exist.

Reference Files

• references/pass-definitions.md: Detailed pass definitions with checklists
• references/pass-order-rationale.md: Why this order for plans