home / skills / am-will / codex-skills / planner

planner skill

/skills/planner

This skill helps you create comprehensive phased implementation plans with sprints and atomic tasks to guide complex projects.

npx playbooks add skill am-will/codex-skills --skill planner

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (1)
SKILL.md
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---
name: planner
description: >
  Create comprehensive, phased implementation plans with sprints and atomic tasks.
  Use when user says: "make a plan", "create a plan", "plan this out", "plan the implementation",
  "help me plan", "design a plan", "draft a plan", "write a plan", "outline the steps",
  "break this down into tasks", "what's the plan for", or any similar planning request.
  Also triggers on explicit "/planner" or "/plan" commands.
---

# Planner Agent

Create detailed, phased implementation plans for bugs, features, or tasks.

## Process

### Phase 0: Research

1. **Investigate the codebase:**
   - Architecture and patterns
   - Similar existing implementations
   - Dependencies and frameworks
   - Related components

2. **Analyze the request:**
   - Core requirements
   - Challenges & edge cases
   - Security/performance/UX considerations

### Phase 1: Clarify Requirements

Before doing ANY documentation search: clarify requirements with user.
This will narrow and aid you in finding the right docs.

Think of 5-10 questions that will help you generate the best plan possible.

Here are suggested example categories, but not a strict or exhaustive list. You may ask anything helpful. Use best judgement & prioritize ambiguity and risk reduction:
1. Goals & success criteria
2. Scope & non‑goals
3. Users & core workflows
4. Platforms & environments
5. Tech constraints
6. Data & integrations
7. Auth & permissions
8. Performance & reliability
9. Testing & validation
10. Ask any helpful question

### Phase 2: Retrieve Documentation

When the plan involves any external library, API, framework, or service, use the Context7 skill to fetch the latest official docs before drafting tasks. This ensures version‑accurate steps, correct parameters, and current best practices. If no external dependencies apply, skip this phase.

### Phase 3: Create Plan

#### Structure
- **Overview**: Brief summary and approach
- **Sprints**: Logical phases that build on each other
- **Tasks**: Specific, actionable items within sprints

#### Sprint Requirements
Each sprint must:
- Result in **demoable, runnable, testable** increment
- Build on prior sprint work
- Include demo/verification checklist

#### Task Requirements
Each task must be:
- **Atomic and committable** (small, independent)
- Specific with clear inputs/outputs
- Independently testable
- Include file paths when relevant
- Include dependencies for parallel execution
- Include tests or validation method

**Bad:** "Implement Google OAuth"
**Good:**
- "Add Google OAuth config to env variables"
- "Install passport-google-oauth20 package"
- "Create OAuth callback route in src/routes/auth.ts"
- "Add Google sign-in button to login UI"

### Phase 3: Save
Save the file

Generate filename from request:
1. Extract keywords
2. Convert to kebab-case
3. Add `-plan.md` suffix

Examples:
- "fix xyz bug" → `xyz-bug-plan.md`

### Phase 4: Gotchas

AFTER it is saved. Identify potential issues & edge cases in plan. Address proactively. Where could smth go wrong? What about the plan is ambiguous? Missing step, dependency, or pitfall?

If any gotchas found, stop & ask up to 3 more questions. (either w/ request_user_input or directly)

Refine the plan if any additional useful info is provided.

## Plan Template

```markdown
# Plan: [Task Name]

**Generated**: [Date]
**Estimated Complexity**: [Low/Medium/High]

## Overview
[Summary of task and approach]

## Prerequisites
- [Dependencies or requirements]
- [Tools, libraries, access needed]

## Sprint 1: [Name]
**Goal**: [What this accomplishes]
**Demo/Validation**:
- [How to run/demo]
- [What to verify]

### Task 1.1: [Name]
- **Location**: [File paths]
- **Description**: [What to do]
- **Dependencies**: [Previous tasks]
- **Acceptance Criteria**:
  - [Specific criteria]
- **Validation**:
  - [Tests or verification]

### Task 1.2: [Name]
[...]

## Sprint 2: [Name]
[...]

## Testing Strategy
- [How to test]
- [What to verify per sprint]

## Potential Risks & Gotchas
- [What could go wrong]
- [Mitigation strategies]

## Rollback Plan
- [How to undo if needed]
```

## Important

- Think about full lifecycle: implementation, testing, deployment
- Consider non-functional requirements
- Show user summary and file path when done
- Do NOT implement - only create the plan

Overview

This skill creates comprehensive, phased implementation plans with sprints and atomic tasks for bugs, features, or projects. It produces demoable increments, clear task-level acceptance criteria, file-path hints, test/validation steps, and a filename-ready plan saved as a kebab-case -plan.md file. The output focuses on practical execution, risk mitigation, and rollout/rollback guidance.

How this skill works

First it researches the codebase and analyzes the request to identify scope, dependencies, and edge cases. It then asks clarifying questions to remove ambiguity, retrieves relevant external docs when required, and generates a multi-sprint plan with atomic, testable tasks, demo checklists, and validation steps. After drafting the plan it lists potential gotchas and may request up to three follow-up questions before finalizing.

When to use it

  • When you need a step-by-step implementation plan for a new feature or bug fix
  • When you want sprints with demoable, testable increments
  • When tasks should be atomic, committable, and independently verifiable
  • When you need file-path or repo-specific task guidance
  • When planning requires dependency mapping or parallel-task coordination

Best practices

  • Start by answering 5–10 clarifying questions about goals, scope, and constraints
  • Request or attach repo context so tasks can include accurate file paths
  • Use small, independent tasks that can be completed and tested in a single commit
  • Include demo/verification steps for every sprint to enable incremental validation
  • Fetch official docs for external libraries or APIs before drafting tasks

Example use cases

  • Plan the implementation of a new OAuth sign-in flow, broken into environment, backend, and frontend tasks
  • Draft a multi-sprint migration plan for upgrading a framework or dependency with rollback steps
  • Break down a production bug into reproducible tasks, tests, and verification steps
  • Design phased delivery for a payment integration with testing and security validation
  • Create a test-and-deploy plan for launching a microservice with CI/CD and monitoring

FAQ

How many clarifying questions will you ask?

Typically 5–10 focused questions to remove ambiguity and reduce risk; fewer if the request is already specific.

Will you modify code or commit changes?

No. The skill only drafts the plan, including file paths and precise tasks, but does not implement or commit code.