# Project Lifecycle

> Multi-workspace Plane sprint board management with intelligent automation, ticket creation, and BMAD workflow integration. Use this skill when: - Creating tickets, task descriptions, or audit findings - Auditing board organization (ticket clustering, label optimization, status bottlenecks) - Selecting the next optimal ticket to work on - Promoting completed tickets to production and generating changelogs - Working with multiple Plane workspaces - Understanding the canonical Plane CRUD → n8n HMAC → Bloodbank → Candystore event side effect - For higher-level orchestration — "what's next", "clear the board", "orchestrate this ticket" — route to the **`momo`** skill, which surveys the board, triages, decides, and delegates implementation to subagents. Triggers: "create ticket", "board audit", "what should I work on", "next ticket", "promote to production", "changelog", "sprint status", "WIP limit", plane ticket operations

- Skill: `delorenj/project-lifecycle` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 11 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add delorenj/project-lifecycle`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/delorenj/project-lifecycle/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector CAUTION)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: delorenj (https://skillmd.com/u/delorenj)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/delorenj/project-lifecycle

---


# Managing Tickets in Plane

## Plane Configuration

**Connection:** Plane MCP server or direct Plane REST API at `https://plane.delo.sh`


**Plane REST API Endpoints:**
- `GET /api/v1/workspaces/{workspace}/projects/{project}/issues/` - List issues
- `POST /api/v1/workspaces/{workspace}/projects/{project}/issues/` - Create issue
- `PATCH /api/v1/workspaces/{workspace}/projects/{project}/issues/{id}/` - Update issue
- `GET /api/v1/workspaces/{workspace}/projects/{project}/states/` - List states/statuses
- `GET /api/v1/workspaces/{workspace}/projects/{project}/labels/` - List labels

**Authentication:** `X-Api-Key` header with value from workspace-specific env var (e.g., `PLANE_API_KEY`)

## Event side effect of Plane writes

Every successful Plane project/issue/comment write is independently reported by
Plane to the one active n8n workflow at
`https://n8n.delo.sh/webhook/plane`. n8n verifies the exact raw-body HMAC using
the secret selected by `webhook_id`, resolves `board_id` through the Hermes
registry, normalizes provider actions, and publishes canonical Bloodbank facts:

| Plane activity | Canonical event |
|---|---|
| project created | `bloodbank.repo.board.created` |
| issue created | `bloodbank.repo.task.created` |
| issue updated, transitioned, or deleted | `bloodbank.repo.task.updated` |
| issue comment created | `bloodbank.repo.task.appended` |

These events are retained in `BLOODBANK_EVENTS` and projected by Candystore.
Do not manually emit a second ticket lifecycle event after Plane CRUD. Explicit
PM judgments remain separate `repo.decision.recorded` events.

The Plane workspace `automaticai` is a tenant slug on the same self-hosted
personal `plane.delo.sh` instance. It is not a separate infrastructure or
credential boundary. Load `bloodbank-integration` → `references/event-journey.md`
when tracing beyond the board operation.

## Core Workflows

### 0. Initialize New Project (First-Time Setup)

When initializing a new project in Plane, execute the full onboarding workflow:

**Trigger:** "initialize project in plane", "setup plane for project", or first ticket creation in unknown project

**Workflow Steps:**

1. **Create/Verify Project**
   - Check if project exists (by identifier)
   - Create if missing with description from README/CLAUDE.md
   - Set project emoji based on theme

2. **Generate Absurd Project Art** (via `fal-text-to-image` skill)
   - Generate themed mascot/header image using project context
   - Prompt formula: `"A weird [PROJECT_THEME] creature in absurdist corporate art style, [PROJECT_SPECIFIC_ELEMENTS], vibrant colors, slightly unsettling but friendly, like a mascot designed by a 5-year-old CEO"`
   - Save to `docs/[project]-mascot.png`
   - Set as Plane project cover image

3. **Create Label Taxonomy**
   - Priority: `must-have`, `should-have`, `could-have` (MoSCoW)
   - Sprint: `sprint-1`, `sprint-2`, `sprint-3`, etc. (workaround for premium cycles)
   - Type: `infrastructure`, `feature`, `ai-pipeline`, `auth`, `monetization`
   - Effort: `effort:S`, `effort:M`, `effort:L`, `effort:XL` (optional)
   - Special: `blocked`, `needs-review` (status helpers)

4. **Seed Backlog from PRD** (if PRD exists)
   - Parse feature list from PRD
   - Create one ticket per feature with:
     - Description from PRD user story
     - Appropriate phase/priority/effort labels
     - Acceptance criteria from PRD

5. **Establish Art Theme** (document in project)
   - Create `docs/PLANE_ART_THEME.md` with:
     - Theme name and visual language
     - Tone description
     - Usage guidelines for ticket categories
     - Original mascot prompt for variations

**Output:**
```
✓ Project initialized: [PROJ] Project Name
  Cover: docs/project-mascot.png (uploaded)
  Labels: 14 created (3 priority, 4 phase, 4 effort, 3 type)
  Backlog: 10 tickets seeded from PRD
  Art Theme: "Theme Name" documented in docs/PLANE_ART_THEME.md
```

See [references/project-initialization.md](references/project-initialization.md) for detailed workflow.

### 1. Create Ticket from Story/Task

Parse input for discrete tasks, extract metadata, check duplicates, create via API.

**Ticket Metadata:**
- Title: Clear, action-oriented
- Description: User story format + acceptance criteria
- Priority: urgent/high/medium/low
- Story points: 1/2/3/5/8/13
- Labels: Auto-detect (security, performance, frontend, backend, sprint-N)

**Output format:**
```
✓ Ticket Created: [CWS-015] Fix API authentication bug
Priority: urgent | Points: 3 | Sprint: 1 | Labels: security, backend
URL: https://plane.delo.sh/<workspace>/projects/<board-id>/issues/<ticket-id>
```

See [references/create-ticket-from-story.md](references/create-ticket-from-story.md) for full workflow.

### 2. Audit Board State

Analyze ticket distribution and recommend optimizations.

**Audit Checklist:**
1. **Ticket Clustering** - Group related tickets (3+ related → parent issue, 5+ → epic)
2. **Label Optimization** - Missing labels, redundant labels, new label recommendations
3. **Status Distribution** - WIP bottlenecks, stale tickets (>14 days in todo)
4. **View Recommendations** - "My Sprint", "Blocked Items", "Quick Wins", "Tech Debt"
5. **Dependency Analysis** - Map dependencies, detect circular refs, identify blockers

**Audit Depths:**
- `quick`: Basic metrics (<5 seconds)
- `standard`: With clustering analysis (<15 seconds)
- `comprehensive`: Full NLP analysis (<60 seconds)

See [references/audit-board-state.md](references/audit-board-state.md) for full workflow.

### 3. Select Next Logical Ticket

Score and recommend optimal ticket based on priority algorithm.

**Selection Algorithm:**
```
score = priority_score + effort_score + age_score + dependency_bonus + critical_path_bonus - blocker_penalty
```

**Scoring Weights:**
- Priority: urgent=10, high=7, medium=3, low=0
- Effort (favor quick wins): 1-2pts=+5, 3-5pts=+3, 8+pts=-2
- Age (address stale): >14 days=+3, >7 days=+2
- Dependency bonus: +2 per ticket unblocked (cap 10)
- Critical path: +8

**Output:**
```
🎯 Recommended: [CWS-004] Fix production build (Score: 21)
Why: URGENT priority, unblocks 2 tickets, on critical path

Alternatives:
1. [CWS-001] API key rotation (18 pts, security critical)
2. [CWS-012] Add CSP (8 pts, quick win - 1 point)

Marking CWS-004 as in-progress...
✓ Status updated, assigned to you, start time logged
```

See [references/select-next-ticket.md](references/select-next-ticket.md) for full algorithm.

### 4. Promote Completed Tickets

After staging merged to main:
1. Query completed tickets in current sprint
2. Verify acceptance criteria met
3. Move to "live" status, add "deployed-production" label
4. Generate changelog from ticket data
5. Send notification email to team

See [assets/changelog-email.md](assets/changelog-email.md) for email template.

## Hook Integration

### Pre-Prompt Hook (Automatic)

Runs before every prompt to check board state.

**Checks:**
- WIP limit exceeded? (warn if >5 in-progress)
- Current ticket context from git branch
- Dependency conflicts
- Urgent tickets needing attention

**Silent mode:** Passes without output if no issues.

### Stop Hook (Automatic)

Runs at session end to update ticket.

**Actions:**
1. Detect ticket from git branch (`CWS-\d+` pattern)
2. Generate session summary (files changed, commits, duration)
3. Prompt for status update (in-progress/completed/blocked)
4. Append development log to ticket description

## BMAD Integration Points

| Workflow | Phase | Action |
|----------|-------|--------|
| `/create-story` | post-creation | Auto-create Plane ticket from story |
| `/sprint-planning` | post-planning | Batch create all sprint tickets |
| `/dev-story` | pre-implementation | Select optimal ticket, mark in-progress |
| `/captain:sync` | continuous | Bidirectional doc/ticket sync |
| `/captain:health` | on-demand | Board health and decomposition check |
| `/captain:prune` | weekly | Backlog cleanup recommendations |

## Registering a project and workspace

Every project that uses a ticket board records the binding in repo-root
`.project.json`:

```json
{
  "project_slug": "33god",
  "ticket_provider": {
    "type": "plane",
    "workspace": "33god",
    "identifier": "33GOD",
    "board_id": "15258893-0206-4e8f-aea6-340eb217988c",
    "state": "linked"
  },
  "agents": {}
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `project_slug` | Canonical repo identity and Hindsight/event `data.repo` value |
| `ticket_provider.workspace` | Plane tenant slug, such as `33god` or `automaticai` |
| `ticket_provider.identifier` | Human-facing project identifier |
| `ticket_provider.board_id` | Plane project UUID and webhook routing key |
| `ticket_provider.state` | `planned` until linked, then `linked` |

Credentials remain workspace-scoped runtime secrets. PJangler reconciles this
manifest into the shared fleet registry; webhook routing reads the registry on
every execution. Do not persist `base_url`, `board_url`, or credentials in the
manifest.

### Finding the project ID

If you don't know the project UUID, query the API:

```bash
curl -s -H "X-Api-Key: $PLANE_33GOD_API_KEY" \
  "https://plane.delo.sh/api/v1/workspaces/33god/projects/" \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys; [print(f'{p[\"identifier\"]}: {p[\"id\"]}') for p in json.load(sys.stdin).get('results', json.load(sys.stdin))]"
```

Or grab it from the Plane UI URL: `https://plane.delo.sh/<workspace>/projects/<project_id>/...`

## Ticket Template

See [assets/ticket-template.md](assets/ticket-template.md) for standard ticket format with:
- User story (As a... I want... So that...)
- Acceptance criteria checklist
- Technical notes and dependencies
- Development log (auto-populated by stop hook)

## Error Handling

**API failures:** Retry with exponential backoff (3 attempts), cache locally for later sync

**Ticket not found:** Search similar IDs, prompt user, offer to create new ticket

**Dependency conflicts:** Warn user, offer options (work on blocker first, continue anyway, remove dependency)

**WIP limit exceeded:** Warn but don't block, suggest completing existing work

## Quick Reference

```bash
# Create ticket
"Create a ticket for fixing the login bug, high priority, 3 points"

# Board audit
"Run a board audit" or "Audit board state --depth comprehensive"

# Next ticket
"What should I work on next?" or "Select next ticket"

# Promote to production
"Promote completed tickets from Sprint 1 and send changelog"

# Check status
"Show sprint progress" or "List my in-progress tickets"
```