How do I install the Planner skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add rjmurillo/planner in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Planner skill do?

Interactive planning and execution for complex tasks. Use when breaking down multi-step projects (planning) or executing approved plans through delegation (execution). Planning creates milestones with specifications; execution delegates to specialized agents. Use when you say "plan this feature", "create implementation plan", or "resume execution". It is listed under Coding & Dev Tools on SkillMD.

Is Planner safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: executes scripts. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Planner?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Planner free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

Who published Planner?

rjmurillo (@rjmurillo) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Planner by rjmurillo — Agent Skill

Name: Planner
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: rjmurillo

Planner Skill

Purpose

Two workflows for complex tasks:

Planning workflow (planner.py): Create and review implementation plans
Execution workflow (executor.py): Execute approved plans through delegation

Invocation Routing

Invoke planner.py when user asks to:

"plan", "design", "architect" a feature
"review" an existing plan
Break down a complex task into milestones

Invoke executor.py when user asks to:

"execute", "implement", "run" a plan
"resume" or "continue" execution
Provides a plan file path for implementation

When to Use

Use the planner skill when the task has:

Multiple milestones with dependencies
Architectural decisions requiring documentation
Migration steps that need coordination
Complexity that benefits from forced reflection pauses

When to Skip

Skip the planner skill when the task is:

Single-step with obvious implementation
A quick fix or minor change
Already well-specified by the user

Scripts

Script	Purpose
`scripts/planner.py`	Planning and review workflow with step-based state management
`scripts/executor.py`	Execution workflow for approved plans with milestone delegation

Triggers

Trigger Phrase	Operation
`plan this feature`	planner.py (planning phase)
`create implementation plan`	planner.py (planning phase)
`review the plan and pick up next item`	executor.py (execution phase)
`execute the plan at plans/X.md`	executor.py (execution phase)
`resume execution`	executor.py (continue from last step)

Anti-Patterns

Avoid	Why	Instead
Skipping review phase after planning	Misses quality/temporal issues	Always run review steps 1-2 before execution
Starting execution without /clear	Context pollution from planning	User should /clear before execution workflow
Manually following workflow steps	Script manages state and transitions	Run the script and follow its output
Planning single-step tasks	Overhead exceeds benefit	Implement directly without planner
Editing plan during execution	Creates drift between plan and actions	Return to planning phase for changes

Verification

After planning:

Plan file written to specified path
Review phase completed (both TW and QR steps)
Review verdict is PASS or PASS_WITH_CONCERNS

After execution:

All milestones marked complete
Post-implementation QR passed
Documentation step completed
Retrospective generated

Process

Planning Overview

PLANNING PHASE (steps 1-N)
    |
    v
Write plan to file
    |
    v
REVIEW PHASE (steps 1-2)
    |-- Step 1: @agent-technical-writer (plan-annotation)
    |-- Step 2: @agent-quality-reviewer (plan-review)
    v
APPROVED --> Execution workflow

Planning Preconditions

Before invoking step 1, you MUST have:

Plan file path - If user did not specify, ASK before proceeding
Clear problem statement - What needs to be accomplished

Planning Invocation

python3 scripts/planner.py \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps <estimated_steps> \
  --thoughts "<your thinking about the problem>"

Planning Arguments

Argument	Description
`--phase`	Workflow phase: `planning` (default) or `review`
`--step-number`	Current step (starts at 1)
`--total-steps`	Estimated total steps for this phase
`--thoughts`	Your thinking, findings, and progress

Planning Steps

Confirm preconditions (plan file path, problem statement)
Invoke step 1 immediately
Complete REQUIRED ACTIONS from output
Invoke next step with your thoughts
Repeat until STATUS: phase_complete
Write plan to file using format below

Phase Transition: Planning to Review

When planning phase completes, the script outputs an explicit ACTION REQUIRED marker:

============================================
>>> ACTION REQUIRED: INVOKE REVIEW PHASE <<<
============================================

You MUST invoke the review phase before proceeding to execution.

The review phase ensures:

Temporally contaminated comments are fixed (via @agent-technical-writer)
Code snippets have WHY comments (via @agent-technical-writer)
Plan is validated for production risks (via @agent-quality-reviewer)
Documentation needs are identified

Review Phase

After writing the plan file, transition to review phase:

python3 scripts/planner.py \
  --phase review \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "Plan written to [path/to/plan.md]"

Review Step 1: Technical Writer

Delegate to @agent-technical-writer with mode: plan-annotation

Review Step 2: Quality Reviewer

Delegate to @agent-quality-reviewer with mode: plan-review

After Review

PASS / PASS_WITH_CONCERNS: Ready for execution workflow
NEEDS_CHANGES: Return to planning phase to address issues

Execution Workflow (executor.py)

Execution Overview

Step 1: Execution Planning
    |
    v
Step 2: Reconciliation (conditional, if prior work signaled)
    |
    v
Step 3: Milestone Execution (repeat until all complete)
    |
    v
Step 4: Post-Implementation QR
    |
    v
QR issues? --YES--> Step 5: Issue Resolution --> delegate fixes --> Step 4
    |
    NO
    v
Step 6: Documentation
    |
    v
Step 7: Retrospective

Execution Preconditions

Before invoking step 1, you MUST have:

Approved plan file - Plan that passed review phase
Clear context window - User should /clear before execution

Execution Invocation

python3 scripts/executor.py \
  --plan-file PATH \
  --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 7 \
  --thoughts "<user's request and context>"

Execution Arguments

Argument	Description
`--plan-file`	Path to the approved plan file
`--step-number`	Current step (1-7)
`--total-steps`	Always 7 for executor
`--thoughts`	Your current thinking and status

Execution Steps

Step	Name	Purpose
1	Execution Planning	Analyze plan, detect reconciliation, strategy
2	Reconciliation	(conditional) Validate existing code vs plan
3	Milestone Execution	Delegate to agents, run tests (repeat)
4	Post-Implementation QR	Quality review of implemented code
5	Issue Resolution	(conditional) Present issues, collect fixes
6	Documentation	TW pass for CLAUDE.md, README.md
7	Retrospective	Present execution summary

Note: Step 3 may be re-invoked multiple times until all milestones complete. Step 4 may loop back through step 5 until QR passes.

Resources

Resource	Purpose
`resources/plan-format.md`	Plan template (injected at planning completion)
`resources/diff-format.md`	Authoritative specification for code change format
`resources/temporal-contamination.md`	Detecting/fixing temporally contaminated comments
`resources/default-conventions.md`	Default conventions when project docs are silent

Note: Execution guidance is embedded directly in scripts/executor.py (not in separate resource files) since it's only used by that script.

References

Reference	Purpose
`references/strategy-ooda-loop.md`	Map planning and execution phases to OODA stages
`references/design-pit-of-success.md`	Design milestones so the obvious path produces correct results
`references/mental-models-galls-law.md`	Validate milestone decomposition against incremental complexity
`.claude/skills/analyze/references/engineering-complexity-tiers.md`	Classify tasks by tier (single source of truth in analyze skill)
`references/explainers-and-intents.md`	Write explainers before work, use intents as permission gates
`references/agent-architecture-patterns.md`	Skill budget rule, 3-file planning pattern, milestone decomposition for agent systems
`references/hybrid-memory-architecture.md`	Hybrid retrieval cascade, memory decay tiers, decision extraction for planning memory systems

Quick Reference

# === PLANNING WORKFLOW ===

# Start planning
python3 scripts/planner.py --step-number 1 --total-steps 4 --thoughts "..."

# Continue planning
python3 scripts/planner.py --step-number 2 --total-steps 4 --thoughts "..."

# Start review (after plan written)
python3 scripts/planner.py --phase review --step-number 1 --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "Plan at plans/feature.md"

# Continue review
python3 scripts/planner.py --phase review --step-number 2 --total-steps 2 \
  --thoughts "TW done, ready for QR"

# === EXECUTION WORKFLOW ===

# Start execution
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 1 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Execute the feature plan"

# Continue milestone execution
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 3 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Completed M1, M2. Executing M3..."

# After QR passes
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 6 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "QR passed. Running documentation."

# Generate retrospective
python3 scripts/executor.py --plan-file plans/feature.md --step-number 7 \
  --total-steps 7 --thoughts "Execution complete. Generating retrospective."

Planner

File contents

Planner Skill

Purpose

Invocation Routing

When to Use

When to Skip

Scripts

Triggers

Anti-Patterns

Verification

Process

Planning Overview

Planning Preconditions

Planning Invocation

Planning Arguments

Planning Steps

Phase Transition: Planning to Review

Review Phase

Review Step 1: Technical Writer

Review Step 2: Quality Reviewer

After Review

Execution Workflow (executor.py)

Execution Overview

Execution Preconditions

Execution Invocation

Execution Arguments

Execution Steps

Resources

References

Quick Reference

Frequently asked questions

Planner

File contents

Planner Skill

Purpose

Invocation Routing

When to Use

When to Skip

Scripts

Triggers

Anti-Patterns

Verification

Process

Planning Overview

Planning Preconditions

Planning Invocation

Planning Arguments

Planning Steps

Phase Transition: Planning to Review

Review Phase

Review Step 1: Technical Writer

Review Step 2: Quality Reviewer

After Review

Execution Workflow (executor.py)

Execution Overview

Execution Preconditions

Execution Invocation

Execution Arguments

Execution Steps

Resources

References

Quick Reference

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Planner skill?

What does the Planner skill do?

Is Planner safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Planner?

Is Planner free to use?

Who published Planner?