SohaibSEG To Tickets
Break a plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tickets: tracer-bullet vertical slices, each declaring the tickets that block it.
Non-invasive operation
Do not require /setup-matt-pocock-skills or repository-local configuration. Determine the destination at runtime from an explicit tracker URL, repository remote, or the user's instruction. If it is still unclear, ask one short question. Default to drafting tickets in chat, never to repository-local files.
Drafting is read-only. Before publishing, show the exact ticket titles, bodies, blocking relationships, destination repository or workspace, and labels. Creating issues or applying labels requires the user's explicit approval of that draft. Do not create .scratch files, edit project documentation, change parent issues, assign people, close issues, create branches, commit, push, or modify project settings.
Process
1. Gather context
Work from whatever is already in the conversation context. If the user passes a reference (a spec path, an issue number or URL) as an argument, fetch it and read its full body and comments.
2. Explore the codebase (optional)
If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code. Ticket titles and descriptions should use the project's domain glossary vocabulary, and respect ADRs in the area you're touching.
Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier. "Make the change easy, then make the easy change."
3. Draft vertical slices
Break the work into tracer bullet tickets.
- Each slice cuts a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests): vertical, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer
- A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own
- Each slice is sized to fit in a single fresh context window
- Any prefactoring should be done first
Give each ticket its blocking edges: the other tickets that must complete before it can start. A ticket with no blockers can start immediately.
Wide refactors are the exception to vertical slicing. A wide refactor is one mechanical change (rename a column, retype a shared symbol) whose blast radius fans across the whole codebase, so a single edit breaks thousands of call sites at once and no vertical slice can land green. Don't force it into a tracer bullet; sequence it as expand–contract. First expand: add the new form beside the old so nothing breaks. Then migrate the call sites over in batches sized by blast radius (per package, per directory), each batch its own ticket blocked by the expand, keeping CI green batch to batch because the old form still exists. Finally contract: delete the old form once no caller remains, in a ticket blocked by every migrate batch. When even the batches can't stay green alone, keep the sequence but let them share an integration branch that all block a final integrate-and-verify ticket; green is promised only there.
4. Quiz the user
Present the proposed breakdown as a numbered list. For each ticket, show:
- Title: short descriptive name
- Blocked by: which other tickets (if any) must complete first
- What it delivers: the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work
Ask the user:
- Does the granularity feel right? (too coarse / too fine)
- Are the blocking edges correct: does each ticket only depend on tickets that genuinely gate it?
- Should any tickets be merged or split further?
Iterate until the user approves the breakdown.
5. Publish only after explicit approval
Publish the approved tickets only to the destination explicitly confirmed during this invocation. The tickets are the same across trackers; only the shape of the blocking edges changes:
- Chat draft → return the final ticket set without writing files or calling an external service.
- User-approved file destination outside the repository → write one file per ticket, numbered from
01in dependency order. - A confirmed issue tracker → publish one issue per ticket in dependency order. Use native blocking relationships when available; otherwise record blockers in each issue body. Apply labels only when the approved draft names them.
Work the frontier: any ticket whose blockers are all done. For a purely linear chain that means top to bottom.
Do NOT close or modify any parent issue.
:
What to build: the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective, not a layer-by-layer implementation list.
Blocked by: the numbers/titles of the tickets that gate this one, or "None (can start immediately)".
Status: ready-for-agent
- Acceptance criterion 1
- Acceptance criterion 2
Parent
A reference to the parent issue on the tracker (if the source was an existing issue, otherwise omit this section).
What to build
The end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective, not layer-by-layer implementation.
Acceptance criteria
- Criterion 1
- Criterion 2
Blocked by
- A reference to each blocking ticket, or "None (can start immediately)".
In either form, avoid specific file paths or code snippets: they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts, not a working demo, just the important bits.