Agile Story

Story

Use this skill to create a clear execution plan, ready to implement.

Initial context received via slash: $ARGUMENTS

If $ARGUMENTS is filled (e.g., story reference, description, issue), use as starting point. If empty, ask what will be planned.

Language

Write the artifact in the user's language. Apply correct grammar and any required diacritics or script-specific characters. If the user's language is unclear, ask before generating output. Templates are in English — translate headers and content to match.

Project root

This skill writes artifacts at paths relative to the project root (the repo where the work happens), not the agent's current working directory.

• If invoked from inside the project, use the relative paths shown in this skill.
• If invoked from another directory (e.g., a sibling repo, or when the project lives elsewhere), prepend <project-root>/ to every artifact path.
• When the project root is ambiguous, confirm with the user via the harness question tool before writing.

Prompting

Follow the project-wide convention in CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md ("Skill Prompting Conventions"). Use the harness's structured-question tool — AskUserQuestion (Claude Code), ask_user_question (Codex), or question (OpenCode) — for the decision points below. Use free-form text only where a path/name/value cannot be enumerated.

Free-form prompts (no structured tool):

• Story name
• Task descriptions
• Stack choices (when not yet locked at epic-time)

No-pause mode: if the user has explicitly disabled mid-skill clarification, convert every structured prompt into an entry under Open questions (or equivalent) and proceed without blocking.

Objective

• Create a clear and proportionally simple execution plan
• Map impacted files
• Define verifiable tasks
• Produce artifact ready for immediate implementation

When to use

• Small and localized work — few files, low risk, single-cycle delivery
• A story from an epic that needs an operational execution plan
• Story already detailed in an epic that needs tasks mapped to files
• The problem is already clear and you just need to map out what to change

When NOT to use

• Large work needing decomposition — use /agile-epic
• Problem not yet clear — use /agile-intake
• Multiple dependent deliveries — use /agile-epic
• Need strategic direction — use /agile-roadmap

Process

1. Understand what will be done

If coming from an epic story file, read the story and extract:

• Objective
• Impacted files
• Acceptance criteria
• Prototype routes/screens involved
• Business rule IDs/files involved

If standalone, ask the user and explore the code to understand context.

2. Build the plan

Fill in the required sections:

• Context: problem, objective, constraints
• Traceability: prototype routes/screens, business rule IDs/files, source docs
• Files: exact paths with action (read/alter/create)
• Detail: AS-IS, TO-BE, scope, approach
• Test-first plan: behavior to prove, first failing test, test level, and low-value tests to avoid
• Tasks: verifiable checklist
• Verification: commands and validations

3. Present and wait for confirmation

Use the harness's plan-mode tool to present the plan (e.g., ExitPlanMode in Claude Code). Wait for explicit confirmation before implementing.

Implementation mode (decide at this step):

• Plan-then-implement (same session): present the plan, get confirmation, then proceed to write code following the checklist. The default when the user asked for a "story" expecting a code change to follow.
• Plan-only: stop after the plan artifact is saved. The default when the story belongs to a planning loop (e.g., decomposing an epic ahead of execution, or running this skill as a sample exercise).

Pick the mode by asking the user via the harness's question tool when the workflow is ambiguous (see ## Prompting).

Epic ↔ story boundary

When the story file already exists from /agile-epic, this skill adds execution detail, it does not rewrite epic-time content:

• Epic-time produces vertical-phase outlines in Tasks.
• Story-time adds per-task Done when: criteria, the Test-first plan, and concrete verification commands.
• Story-time may also introduce a Story-time decisions table inside Approach if 2+ implementation choices need to be locked.

Where to save

• If part of an initiative: planning/<initiative>/epics/NN-<epic>/NN-story-name.md
  • When the story file from the epic already exists, add/update the Tasks and Verification sections in place.
• If standalone: .agents/plans/<name>.md (for items without an epic)

Task plans are execution artifacts. They reference their parent story or epic via the Origin field. When part of an initiative, the story file already contains context — the task adds execution detail.

Cross-reference

If the plan comes from an epic, include at the top:

**Origin:** `planning/<initiative>/epics/NN-<epic>/00-overview.md`

Chaining

After plan confirmation:

• Plan-then-implement: implement following the checklist; at the end, suggest /agile-status (closure mode) to close the delivery.
• Plan-only: stop after the plan artifact; suggest invoking this skill again (or /agile-status closure) when implementation actually happens.

Reference template

Use templates/story.md from this skill as base.

Required sections

Every plan must contain:

1. Context (problem, objective, constraints, references)
2. Traceability (prototype routes/screens, business rule IDs/files, source docs)
3. Files (exact paths, action, reason)
4. Detail (AS-IS, TO-BE, scope, approach, risks)
5. Test-first plan (behavior, first failing test, preferred level, and front-end value check when applicable)
6. Tasks (verifiable checklist)
7. Verification (lint, typecheck, tests, manual validation, acceptance)

Rules

• Every plan must be presented before implementation (ExitPlanMode).
• Only implement after explicit user confirmation.
• Don't create a task plan for work that needs an epic (large scope with several stories).
• Files must have exact paths.
• Reference business rule IDs when the story implements domain behavior, permissions, sync, conflict handling, AI approvals, or audit/versioning.
• Front-end plans should cite the prototype route/screen when the change is user-facing.
• Tasks must be verifiable, not vague.
• When completed, update [ ] to [x] according to actual progress.

Relationship with the flow

flowchart LR
    A["/agile-intake"] --> B["/agile-epic"]
    B --> C["/agile-story"]
    C --> D[execution]
    D --> E["/agile-status"]
    E --> F["/agile-retro"]

This skill is the last step before execution. For larger problems, use /agile-epic. To close the delivery, use /agile-status (closure mode).