Plan

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Plan in vertical, executable slices

A plan good enough that a context-free executor with questionable taste could follow it without guessing. Vague plans get vague work.

Slices are vertical tracer bullets

Each task cuts end-to-end through whatever layers the artifact actually has and leaves the program working. For a web feature that may be schema → API → logic → UI → tests; for a CLI it's flag → handler → output; for a library it's public function → behavior → test. The rule is end-to-end-to-an-observable-result — not a fixed layer list. Never slice horizontally (all of one layer, then all of the next) — horizontal slices can't be verified until the end and hide integration problems until they're expensive.

Among valid first slices, pick the one that retires the most risk — the integration most likely to be wrong (the unproven third-party call, the gnarly migration), not merely the easiest. De-risk first; polish later.

Each task is bite-sized and test-shaped

Size each task to one RED→GREEN→commit cycle — the minimum change that makes exactly one new test pass. If a task needs two assertions about two different behaviors, split it. (The loop itself lives in forge:tdd — don't restate it; plan just chooses the slices.)

Write each task so a context-free executor can run it. Give every task these fields:

• id (T1, T2…) + a one-line intent
• target — the file(s) and the function/signature it adds or changes
• test — the assertion that should fail first, then pass (the success criterion — a concrete check, never "make it work")
• blocked-by — real task IDs, or "none"

(This is forge:principles #4 made concrete.)

No placeholders

The executor may read tasks out of order and has no context beyond the plan. Therefore:

• No "TBD", no "add appropriate error handling", no "handle edge cases."
• No "similar to Task 3" — restate the actual intent/code, because Task 3 may not have been read.
• If a value, path, or signature matters, write it down.

Order and parallelism

• Order by dependency. Reference blockers by real task IDs ("blocked by T2"), added only once T2 exists.
• Mark which tasks are independent and safe to parallelize — hand those to forge:orchestrate to run concurrently with fresh agents.
• Keep the plan in a file, not just the conversation — it's a durable artifact that survives compaction.

Exit

Execute with forge:tdd (one slice at a time), request forge:review after meaningful chunks, and forge:verify before claiming done.