Structured RPI (Research-Plan-Implement)

A 6-phase workflow that decomposes complex tasks into gated stages, each producing a markdown artifact the user approves before advancing.

Quick Start

Use structured RPI to refactor the authentication module.

The workflow walks through six phases sequentially. Each phase produces a concise markdown artifact. You must get user approval before moving to the next phase.

Phases

#	Phase	Artifact	Purpose
1	Questions	Clarifying questions list	Surface unknowns and ambiguity
2	Research	Findings summary	Gather context from code and docs
3	Design Discussion	Design options + tradeoffs	Explore approaches with the user
4	Structure Outline	Component/file outline	Agree on shape before details
5	Plan	Implementation plan (Plan tool)	Concrete steps with acceptance criteria
6	Implement	Working code + verification	Execute the plan

How It Works

1. Announce the phase — State which phase you're entering and what it produces
2. Do the work — Research, analyze, design, or implement as appropriate
3. Present the artifact — Output a markdown artifact with a clear heading
4. Gate — Ask the user to approve, request changes, or skip ahead
5. Advance — Only move to the next phase after explicit user approval

Phase Gate Format

After each artifact, present:

Phase N complete. Ready to proceed to Phase N+1 (Name)?
Options: [approve] [request changes] [skip to phase N+X] [abort]

Key Rules

• Always gate — Never advance without user approval
• Phase 5 uses the Plan tool — Create a structured plan, not just prose
• Artifacts are markdown — Clean, scannable, no JSON blobs
• Keep artifacts concise — Prefer bullet points and tables over walls of text
• Self-contained — This workflow runs in a single session, no delegation

When to Use

Situation	Use Structured RPI?
Complex refactor spanning multiple files	Yes
New feature with unclear requirements	Yes
Bug fix with known cause	No — just fix it
One-file change	No — overkill
User says "plan this out" or "let's think through this"	Yes

When to Skip Phases

• User already provided requirements — Skip Phase 1 (Questions)
• Small scope, well-understood — Skip Phase 2 (Research)
• Single obvious approach — Compress Phase 3 (Design) into Phase 4 (Outline)
• User says "just do it" — Jump to Phase 6 with a lightweight plan

References

• phase-details.md - Detailed phase descriptions, inputs/outputs, done criteria
• structured-outputs.md - Artifact templates for each phase
• exit-conditions.md - When to skip, go back, or exit the workflow