Code Plan

Code Plan Skill

Generate a structured plan for implementing a task in a specific repository. The plan is the bridge between "I have a ticket" and "let me start writing code" — it lists files to create, files to modify, tests to add, and risks before any code is written.

This skill produces JSON. It does not write code; that is code_agent_*'s job.

When to use this skill

• The user provides a Linear ticket, GitHub issue, or free-form task description and asks you to implement it.
• Before any code_agent_write, code_agent_edit, or github_commit tool call.
• When the user explicitly asks for a plan.

When NOT to use this skill

• Tiny single-file edits (1–3 lines). Just edit directly.
• Pure exploration tasks. Use grep_search / directory_tree instead.
• Pure scaffolding tasks (e.g. "create a new React app"). Use code_agent_scaffold instead.

Plan-then-execute discipline

Once a plan is generated, present its summary and files_to_modify / files_to_create lists to the user before writing code. Do NOT proceed to implementation if the plan returns complexity: "high" or non-empty risks without acknowledging them to the user. The plan is a contract: subsequent code-writing tool calls should match files listed in the plan. If the plan turns out to be wrong, regenerate it rather than silently drifting from it.

Workflow integration

Canonical sequence for a ticket-to-PR flow:

linear_get_issue
  → code_plan_create                  [present summary + risks to user]
  → code_agent_write / code_agent_edit
  → code_plan_validate                [optional sanity check before commit]
  → github_commit
  → github_create_pr

Repo signal extraction (informational)

code_plan_create automatically samples the repository so the LLM has enough context to plan without you pre-reading files. It collects:

1. The top entries of git ls-files (the repo tree).
2. The contents of detected manifest files: package.json, go.mod, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, pom.xml, build.gradle*.
3. The first ~4 KB of README.md if present.

The total signal is size-bounded (default 256 KB, override via PLAN_MAX_REPO_SIGNAL_BYTES). If the repo is too large to fit, the tool returns status: "repo_too_large" rather than truncating silently — pass context_files to scope the plan to the relevant files, or call from a subdirectory.

Just pass repo_path. Do not pre-read the repo with grep_search before calling this tool.

Tool: code_plan_create

Generate a structured implementation plan for a task in a repository. One LLM call, one plan.

Input:

Output — success:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "ticket_id": "ENG-123",
  "stack_detected": "go",
  "summary": "One-paragraph plain-English description of the planned change.",
  "approach": "Higher-level reasoning: why this approach, what alternatives were considered.",
  "files_to_create": [
    { "path": "src/billing/invoice.go", "purpose": "New domain type and constructor for Invoice." }
  ],
  "files_to_modify": [
    { "path": "src/api/routes.go", "change": "Register /invoices route group, wire to handler." }
  ],
  "tests_to_add": [
    { "path": "src/billing/invoice_test.go", "covers": "Construction, validation, JSON round-trip." }
  ],
  "risks": [
    { "severity": "medium", "risk": "Existing customers will see a 422 on legacy payloads.", "mitigation": "Add a feature flag and default to the new behavior only for accounts created after launch date." }
  ],
  "complexity": "medium",
  "estimated_file_count": 3,
  "open_questions": [
    "Should invoice numbers be globally unique or per-customer?"
  ]
}

complexity is one of low, medium, high. risks[].severity is one of low, medium, high.

Output — repo too large:

{
  "status": "repo_too_large",
  "tree_bytes": 524288,
  "limit_bytes": 262144,
  "suggestion": "Pass context_files explicitly to scope the plan, or run from a subdirectory."
}

Output — no recognizable stack:

If no manifest (package.json, go.mod, etc.) is found, the plan is still attempted but stack_detected: "unknown" is set and an explicit risk is added noting that the stack could not be inferred.

Tool: code_plan_validate

Filesystem-only audit of a previously-generated plan against the current repo state. No LLM call. Cheap and idempotent — call it any time a plan was generated more than a few minutes ago, after pulling from remote, or before committing.

Input:

Output:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "files_to_modify_exist": [
    { "path": "src/api/routes.go", "exists": true }
  ],
  "files_to_create_collisions": [
    { "path": "src/billing/invoice.go", "exists": false }
  ],
  "warnings": [
    "files_to_modify[2] (src/legacy/old.go) does not exist in the repo; the plan may be stale."
  ]
}

A files_to_modify entry whose path does not exist becomes a warning. A files_to_create entry whose path already exists becomes a warning too — the plan would clobber existing code. Empty warnings means the plan still matches the repo.

Safety constraints

• This skill never writes to the filesystem (writes_files: false). It returns JSON; downstream skills consume it.
• Repo content is sent to the configured LLM provider; egress is restricted to api.anthropic.com and api.openai.com.
• API keys are read from env vars, never logged. guardrails.deny_output redacts any key that leaks through an error payload.
• Repo signal is size-bounded. Over budget → repo_too_large, never silent truncation.
• One LLM call per code_plan_create invocation (plus one retry if the response fails schema validation).