Plan Tasks

Agent Planning Skill

This skill provides a structured workflow for analyzing user requests and breaking them down into a comprehensive, verifiable plan before any implementation begins.

When to Use

• When a user request is complex, multi-faceted, or ambiguous.
• BEFORE creating tickets in a project management tool or any other tracking system.
• When you need to ensure the user agrees with the proposed technical approach.
• When breaking down large features into parallelizable subtasks.

Instructions

1. Intent Analysis

• Restate the user's core goal in a single sentence.
• Identify "what" needs to be done vs "how" it will be implemented.
• Perform an "XY Problem" check: Is the user's request a sub-optimal path to a deeper goal?
• Clarify any ambiguities with the user before proceeding.

2. Solution Exploration

• Brainstorm at least 3-5 different technical approaches.
• Evaluate each approach based on:
  • Feasibility: Can it be done with existing tools/code?
  • Complexity: How hard is it to implement and maintain?
  • Performance: Does it meet efficiency requirements?
  • Verifiability: How easily can it be tested?
  • Parallelizability: Can subtasks be executed in parallel?
• Recommend the best approach and justify the choice.
• Present the analysis to the user for feedback if needed.

3. Plan Creation

Create a new markdown file in .cursor/plans/ using a slugified name (e.g., .cursor/plans/2026-01-29-implement-feature-x.md).

The plan MUST include:

• Context: Architectural decisions, constraints, requirements, related systems/components, high-level goals and rationale. This section provides the "why" and "what constraints exist" that will be inherited by all subtasks.
• Development Philosophy: High-level guiding principles for the implementation (e.g., Readability over Migration, No Lint Disables, Verifiable Changes).
• Summary: High-level overview of what will be accomplished.
• Phases: Group tasks into logical milestones (e.g., Discovery, Implementation, Verification).
• Mandatory Visualizations: For complex plans, you MUST include Mermaid diagrams for:
  • System Architecture: (e.g., graph LR) Component relationships.
  • Task Dependencies: (e.g., graph TD) The critical path and parallel work.
  • Agent Orchestration: (e.g., sequenceDiagram) How subagents collaborate.
  • Logic Sequence: (e.g., sequenceDiagram) The step-by-step logic flow.
• Atomic Tasks: Breakdown each phase into fine-grained, mutually exclusive tasks.
  • Each task should be independent where possible to enable parallel execution.
  • Tasks should have clear boundaries (no overlapping work).
  • Tasks should be small enough for a single agent to complete efficiently.
• Acceptance Criteria: For each task, define what "Done" looks like.
• Test Plan: How each task will be verified (commands, expected output, test cases).
• Dependencies: Document which tasks depend on others (if any).
• Related Context: Links to ADRs, documentation, related work, or external references.

Plan File Template

# Plan: [Feature Name]

## Context

### Goals

[What we're trying to achieve - the "why" behind this work]

### Architectural Decisions

[Key technical choices and rationale - what approach we're taking and why]

### Constraints

[Limitations, requirements, dependencies - what we must work within]

### Related Systems

[Components this work affects or depends on - integration points]

## Development Philosophy

- **Readability over Migration**: Prioritize clean, readable code over maintaining legacy interfaces if they hinder the design.
- **No Lint Disables**: Ban `eslint-disable` or similar comments; fix the root cause instead.
- **Verifiable Changes**: Every task must end with a passing test or a dev-command verification.

## Summary

[One paragraph describing the overall goal]

## Visualizations

### System Architecture

```mermaid
graph LR
    User[User/Client] --> API[API Gateway/Service]
    API --> DB[(Database)]
    API --> Cache((Redis))
```

### Task Dependencies

```mermaid
graph TD
    Phase1[Phase 1: Setup] --> Phase2[Phase 2: Implementation]
    Phase1 --> Phase3[Phase 3: Verification]
    Task1[Task 1] --> Task2[Task 2]
```

### Agent Orchestration

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant O as Orchestrator
    participant W as Worker
    participant E as Explore
    O->>E: Research Codebase
    E-->>O: Results
    O->>W: Delegate Task #1
    W-->>O: Task Complete
```

### Logic Sequence

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant C as Component
    participant S as Service
    participant A as API
    C->>S: triggerAction()
    S->>A: fetchResource()
    A-->>S: Response
    S-->>C: Update State
```

## Phases

### Phase 1: [Phase Name]

- **Objective**: [What this phase accomplishes]
- **Context Inheritance**: [Note how this phase relates to the overall Context]

#### Tasks

1. **[Task Name]**
   - **Acceptance Criteria**: [What "done" means]
   - **Test Plan**: [How to verify]
   - **Dependencies**: [None or list of prerequisite tasks]

2. **[Task Name]**
   - ...

### Phase 2: [Phase Name]

...

## Related Context

- ADR #[number]: [Link to relevant architecture decision]
- Documentation: [Links to relevant docs]
- Related Work: [Links to related features or tasks]

4. User Verification

• Present the plan to the user.
• DO NOT proceed to ticket creation or implementation until the user has explicitly approved the plan or the plan file is finalized.
• If the user requests changes, update the plan file and re-present for approval.

5. Handoff

• Once the plan is verified, the planning phase is complete.
• Syncing this plan to external tracking systems (e.g., Vibe Kanban, Jira, GitHub Issues) is the responsibility of the calling agent (the "Orchestrator") using their specialized management skills.

Best Practices

• Atomic Tasks: Break work into the smallest meaningful units that can be verified independently.
• Mutually Exclusive: Ensure tasks don't overlap to prevent conflicts during parallel execution.
• Clear Criteria: Each task should have unambiguous acceptance criteria.
• Testable: Every task should have a clear test plan.
• Parallelizable: Design tasks to maximize opportunities for parallel execution.

References

• Use .cursor/rules/development_workflow.mdc for lifecycle alignment.
• Refer to Orchestrator agent definitions (e.g., .cursor/agents/vibe-orchestrator.md) for how this skill integrates with specific project management workflows.

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