Planning

Planning and Tracking System

Nimbalyst uses structured markdown documents with YAML frontmatter for planning and tracking work.

Plan Documents

Plans live in nimbalyst-local/plans/ with YAML frontmatter:

---
planStatus:
  planId: plan-[unique-identifier]
  title: [Plan Title]
  status: draft
  planType: feature
  priority: medium
  owner: [owner-name]
  stakeholders: []
  tags: []
  created: "YYYY-MM-DD"
  updated: "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.sssZ"
  progress: 0
---

Status Values

• draft: Initial planning phase
• ready-for-development: Approved and ready to start
• in-development: Currently being worked on
• in-review: Implementation complete, pending review
• completed: Successfully completed
• rejected: Plan has been rejected
• blocked: Progress blocked by dependencies

Plan Types

• feature: New feature development
• bug-fix: Bug fix or issue resolution
• refactor: Code refactoring/improvement
• system-design: Architecture/design work
• research: Research/investigation task
• initiative: Large multi-feature effort
• improvement: Enhancement to existing feature

Tracking Items

Track bugs, tasks, ideas, and other items in nimbalyst-local/tracker/:

- [Brief description] #[type][id:[idPrefix]_[ulid] status:[default-status] priority:medium created:YYYY-MM-DD]

CRITICAL: Custom Tracker Types

Before creating any tracker item, always check .nimbalyst/trackers/*.yaml in the workspace root for custom tracker type definitions. Each YAML file defines a tracker type with:

• type: The type name used in #[type][...] syntax (e.g., devblog-post)
• idPrefix: The prefix for generated IDs (e.g., dev produces dev_abc123)
• fields: Available fields including status options with custom values
• sync: Whether items sync to the team (shared/local/hybrid)

Always use the exact type name from the YAML when creating items. Do not substitute a built-in type when a custom type matches the user's intent.

Built-in Tracker Types

• bugs.md: Issues and defects (#bug, prefix: bug)
• tasks.md: Work items and todos (#task, prefix: tsk)
• ideas.md: Concepts to explore (#idea, prefix: id)
• decisions.md: Important decisions (#decision, prefix: dec)
• plans.md: Plans and features (#plan, prefix: pln)

Custom Tracker Types (per-workspace)

Defined in .nimbalyst/trackers/*.yaml. Examples:

• feature-requests.md (#feature-request, prefix: feat)
• tech-debt.md (#tech-debt, prefix: debt)
• devblog-posts.md (#devblog-post, prefix: dev)
• Any other type defined in the workspace's YAML files

When to Use

• Creating plans: When user wants to plan a feature, project, or initiative
• Tracking items: When user mentions bugs, tasks, ideas, or wants to log something
• Progress updates: When completing work, update plan status and progress
• Implementation: Use /implement to execute a plan with progress tracking
• Board cleanup: Use /session-cleanup to tidy the Sessions board -- fix session phases, mark finished work complete, and flag old sessions to archive
• Getting more from Nimbalyst: Use /planning:nimbalyst-coach to review this project and recent sessions and suggest extensions, features, and agent-instruction changes

File Naming

• Plans: nimbalyst-local/plans/[descriptive-name].md (kebab-case)
• Trackers: nimbalyst-local/tracker/[type]s.md (pluralize the type name)

Best Practices

• Always check .nimbalyst/trackers/ for custom types before using built-in types
• Keep plans focused on a single objective
• Update progress regularly as work proceeds
• Use appropriate priorities (low, medium, high, critical)
• Link related plans and tracker items
• Include stakeholders who need visibility