Writing Plans Skill

When to Use

After design approval (brainstorming complete).

Task Structure

Each task must have:

1. Goal (1 sentence)
2. Files (exact paths)
3. Implementation (code snippet or pseudo-code)
4. Verification (command to run + expected output)
5. Estimated Time (2-5 min ideal)

Plan Template

# Implementation Plan: [Feature Name]

## Tasks

### Task 1: [Goal]
**Files:** `src/file.js`
**Implementation:**

// Add function here

function cacheFetch(key) {

// ...

}

**Verification:**

npm test -- cache.test.js

Expected: 1 passing

**Estimated Time:** 3 min

### Task 2: [Goal]
[... repeat]

Save to: docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-feature-name.md

Quality Checklist

Before finalizing plan:

• [ ] Every task has exact file paths
• [ ] Every task has verification command
• [ ] No task >5 min (if yes, split)
• [ ] Tasks are ordered (dependencies first)
• [ ] Plan is reviewable (concrete, not vague)

Anti-Patterns

❌ Vague tasks ("Improve caching")

❌ No verification steps

❌ Tasks without file paths

❌ Monster tasks (>10 min)

Example

Bad Task:

Task 1: Add caching
- Implement cache layer

Good Task:

Task 1: Add in-memory cache for API responses
**Files:** `src/cache.js` (new), `src/api.js` (modify)
**Implementation:**

// cache.js

const cache = new Map();

export function get(key) { return cache.get(key); }

export function set(key, val, ttl) {

cache.set(key, val);

setTimeout(() => cache.delete(key), ttl);

}

// api.js (modify fetchUser)

const cached = cache.get(user:${id});

if (cached) return cached;

// ... existing fetch logic

cache.set(user:${id}, result, 60000);

**Verification:**

node -e "const c = require('./src/cache'); c.set('test', 42, 1000); console.log(c.get('test'));"

Expected: 42

**Estimated Time:** 4 min