Plan Feature

/plan-feature -- Feature Implementation Plan (Gate 4)

Produces per-feature implementation plans from an approved milestone definition, PRD, and architecture document. Each invocation plans one feature. Supports re-plan mode for already-planned features. Gate 4 approval updates the feature entry in milestone-status.txt from [ ] to [~] planned, awaiting build.

Rules

• Read fresh every time. Read progress.txt from disk on every invocation -- never rely on conversation memory (STATE-03).
• Produce-then-review at every plan. Produce the full feature plan, present it, offer Approve / Revise (D-12).
• All checklist items must be resolved. Every review checklist item must be [x] or [-] (N/A with reason) before recording approval.
• Write-ordering contract. /plan-feature writes ONLY to milestone-status.txt. It does NOT write to progress.txt. This is a critical distinction from /milestone.
• Interactive prompts. Use AskUserQuestion for all user-facing choices (2-4 options, max 12-character headers).
• No auto-dispatch. Tell the user what to run next after completion. Never auto-invoke another skill.
• Spike artifacts are user-referenced only. Do not auto-detect or auto-scan docs/spikes/. Read spike docs only when the user explicitly references them (D-11).

Prerequisites

• Working directory is the project root (where progress.txt lives).
• progress.txt must exist. If not, instruct user to run /project first.
• An active milestone must exist. Validate: at least one milestone directory exists under .project/<slug>/milestones/ with a milestone-status.txt file. Do NOT check for [x] Gate 3 -- Gate 3 stays [~] In progress and is never marked [x] until /project closes it.

Step 1 -- Detect Mode and State

Read progress.txt from the project root. Parse # Project-ID: <slug> from the header and construct the artifact base path: .project/<slug>/. If the header is missing, report the error and tell the user to run /project first.

Prerequisite check: Verify an active milestone exists. If no milestone directories exist under .project/<slug>/milestones/, inform user: "No milestones have been defined. Run /milestone to create a milestone first." Do not proceed.

Auto-detect active milestone (D-02): Read progress.txt, find first milestone at [ ] or [~] status. User can override with explicit milestone name/number.

Read that milestone's milestone-status.txt.

Mode detection -- 3 branches:

1. Normal mode: Target feature is at [ ] pending and has no plan file, OR user explicitly targets a pending feature --> proceed to Step 2.
2. Re-plan mode (D-04): Target feature already has a plan file on disk (auto-detected by checking .project/<slug>/milestones/<NN>-<name>/plans/<feature-slug>.md existence) --> proceed to Step 4.
3. All features planned (D-03): All features in the active milestone are at [~] planned or [x] complete. Report: "All features in milestone {NN}: {Name} are planned or complete. Run /project to check status." End session.

Auto-select next unplanned feature (D-01): Find first feature at [ ] pending in milestone-status.txt. User can override with explicit feature name argument.

Step 2 -- Load Inputs and Scan Codebase

Read references/gate-4-plan.md for the complete Gate 4 specification.

Follow the Input Loading and Codebase Scan Sub-Agent sections of the gate-4-plan specification to:

1. Read all primary inputs (PLAN-01): milestone README, prd.md, .project/<slug>/docs/ARCHITECTURE_AND_DESIGN.md, progress.txt, milestone-status.txt.
2. Spawn sub-agent for targeted codebase scan (D-10): scan files relevant to the target feature (5-15 files, not architecture-wide).
3. If user referenced spike artifacts: read those specific files (D-11).

Step 3 -- Generate and Review Plan

Follow the Plan Generation, Sub-Feature Sizing, Tradeoff Callouts, Review Phase, Checklist Generation, Checklist Validation, and State File Updates sections of references/gate-4-plan.md to:

1. Generate feature plan using assets/feature-plan-template.md (PLAN-03).
2. Validate sub-feature sizing (PLAN-04, D-06, D-07).
3. Present 1-2 tradeoff callouts (D-13).
4. Whole-plan Approve/Revise cycle (PLAN-07, PLAN-08, D-12).
5. Generate and validate review checklist using references/review-checklist-template.md (PLAN-05).
6. Update milestone-status.txt with plan path (PLAN-06) and Gate 4 approval status (PLAN-09).

Proceed to Step 5.

Step 4 -- Re-plan Mode

Read references/revision-mode.md for the complete re-plan specification.

Follow the revision-mode specification to:

1. Load existing plan from disk (D-04).
2. Ask "What changed?" -- diff-focused interview (D-05).
3. Apply targeted revisions using Edit tool (D-05).
4. Present revised plan for whole-plan Approve/Revise (D-12).
5. Generate fresh review checklist.
6. Update milestone-status.txt (PLAN-06, PLAN-09).

Proceed to Step 5.

Step 5 -- Completion Report

Display summary:

FEATURE PLANNED: [Feature NN.N: Name]  (or FEATURE RE-PLANNED)

ARTIFACTS CREATED:  (or ARTIFACTS UPDATED)
- .project/<slug>/milestones/<NN>-<name>/plans/<feature-slug>.md
- .project/<slug>/milestones/<NN>-<name>/reviews/gate-4-<feature-slug>-review.md

STATE UPDATED:
- milestone-status.txt (feature: [~] planned, awaiting build)

NEXT: Plan next feature, or run /project to check status.

For re-plan mode, also show:

SECTIONS REVISED: {list of changed sections}
SECTIONS PRESERVED: {count} unchanged

Then offer to plan the next unplanned feature (D-14): "Next unplanned feature: {Y}. Plan it now?" If user accepts, return to Step 1 with the next feature. If user declines or no unplanned features remain, end session.

Error Handling

• Missing progress.txt: Do not proceed. Tell user to run /project first.
• No active milestone: Do not proceed. Tell user to run /milestone first.
• Missing milestone README: Report inconsistency -- milestone directory exists but README is missing. Suggest running /project to check state.
• Missing ARCHITECTURE_AND_DESIGN.md: Report inconsistency -- Gate 2 should be approved but architecture doc is missing. Suggest running /project to check state.
• Feature not found: If user specifies a feature name that doesn't exist in milestone-status.txt, report available features and ask to select one.
• Interrupted session: User can re-invoke /plan-feature. Skill re-reads progress.txt and milestone-status.txt to detect correct mode and resume from appropriate state.