Controlflow Plan

ControlFlow Plan

Overview

Produce a saved ControlFlow plan without replacing the host's native planning workflow. In Codex, native /plan is the preferred place to gather context and clarify the task; this skill adds the durable artifact format, complexity tiers, semantic-risk review, and restartability discipline.

Select the skill explicitly. In Codex, invoke it with $controlflow-plan.

Plan Contract Sources

1. If the active repository contains schemas/planner.plan.schema.json and plans/templates/plan-document-template.md, read both and treat them as authoritative.
2. Otherwise use references/plan-format.md, the bundled standalone fallback contract.
3. If repository canonical files conflict with the bundled fallback, repository files win and the difference must be noted under ## Discoveries.

Workflow

1. Read the repository before phase decomposition. Keep verified facts separate from assumptions.
2. Create a saved plan for SMALL, MEDIUM, or LARGE work; skip it for truly TRIVIAL work unless the user explicitly requests an artifact.
3. Save to plans/<task-slug>-plan.md unless the user names another path.
4. Map concrete files, tests, commands, dependencies, boundaries, and existing patterns.
5. Read references/complexity-tiers.md and assign one tier. Any unresolved applicable HIGH semantic risk forces LARGE.
6. Fill every semantic-risk category exactly once: data_volume, performance, concurrency, access_control, migration_rollback, dependency, operability.
7. Keep phases incremental and executable. Each phase names files, tests, acceptance criteria, quality gates, dependencies, failure expectations, and numbered prose steps.
8. Preserve the five living-document sections for non-trivial plans: ## Progress, ## Discoveries, ## Decision Log, ## Outcomes, and ## Idempotence & Recovery.
9. Add compact Mermaid diagrams when required by the active contract. Keep each diagram at or below 30 source lines.
10. Use ABSTAIN or REPLAN_REQUIRED when evidence is insufficient or confidence is below the contract threshold.
11. Hand every non-trivial ready plan to $controlflow-verify before implementation.

Native Host Boundary

• Do not implement a second router, task state machine, approval engine, retry scheduler, subagent lifecycle, or memory layer.
• Use native host plan tracking for live progress and the saved plan for durable state.
• The host owns sandboxing and approvals.
• The host owns subagent orchestration; use it only when the user explicitly requests subagents or parallel agent work.
• Host memories are optional ambient context, never repository evidence.
• See references/inline-execution.md for the small amount of execution guidance that remains useful after plan approval.

Planning Failure Checks

• Do not invent requirements that change behavior, scope, architecture, or destructive risk.
• Do not duplicate the full plan contract inside SKILL.md.
• Do not mark a plan ready without concrete automated verification.
• Do not add plugin-level runtime controls that Codex already owns.

References

• references/plan-format.md
• references/complexity-tiers.md
• references/inline-execution.md
• references/llm-behavior-guidelines.md