Plan

Plan Viewer Skill

Display Claude Code plan files in a split pane with real-time updates.

Description

The plan viewer allows you to watch a markdown plan file and display it in a separate terminal pane. As the plan is written or updated, the display automatically refreshes to show the latest content.

Usage

Watch a Plan File

# Watch a plan file and display in split pane
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md

# With custom title
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md --title "Implementation Plan"

# Show in current terminal (no split pane)
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md --no-spawn

Integration with Claude Code Plan Mode

When Claude Code enters plan mode, it writes to a plan file (e.g., ~/.claude/plans/<plan-name>.md). You can watch this file to see the plan as it's being written:

# Watch the current plan file
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan "C:\Users\YourName\.claude\plans\current-plan.md"

Features

• Live Updates: Content refreshes automatically when the file changes
• Split Pane: Opens in a separate pane (Windows Terminal, tmux)
• Scroll Controls: Navigate long plans with arrow keys
• Auto-scroll: Stays at bottom when new content is added (if already at bottom)
• Markdown Highlighting: Headers, lists, and bold text are highlighted

Controls

Configuration

The plan viewer accepts these options:

Example

# Start watching a plan file
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ./my-plan.md --title "Feature Plan"

# In another terminal, append to the file
echo "## New Section" >> ./my-plan.md
echo "- Task 1" >> ./my-plan.md
echo "- Task 2" >> ./my-plan.md

# The canvas will automatically update to show the new content

Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐     writes     ┌──────────────┐
│  Claude Code        │ ─────────────> │  Plan File   │
│  (Plan Mode)        │                │  (.md)       │
└─────────────────────┘                └──────────────┘
                                              │
                                              │ watches
                                              ▼
┌─────────────────────┐     IPC        ┌──────────────┐
│  watch-plan CLI     │ ─────────────> │  Document    │
│  (Controller)       │    update      │  Canvas      │
└─────────────────────┘                └──────────────┘

Troubleshooting

Canvas doesn't spawn

• Ensure you're running in Windows Terminal, ConEmu, or a tmux session
• Check with bun run canvas/src/cli.ts env to see your terminal environment

Updates not showing

• The file watcher debounces changes (100ms) to avoid excessive updates
• Ensure the file is being saved (not just buffered)
• Check the controller terminal for "File updated" messages

Connection issues

• The canvas shows "[connecting...]" until IPC is established
• Once connected, it shows "[live]" indicator
• If connection fails, the canvas still shows the initial content