mcpbeat

Project Planning

athola/project-planning

Converts a specification into a phased, dependency-ordered implementation plan. Use after specification is complete and before execution begins.

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the whole folder, loaded on every use
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how many repositories repackaged it
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on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/athola/claude-night-market --skill project-planning

The instruction itself

13 sections, as written by the author

Delegation

For detailed task planning workflows, this skill delegates to spec-kit:task-planning as the canonical implementation. Use this skill for quick planning needs; use spec-kit for thorough project plans.

When To Use

  • After specification phase completes
  • Need to design system architecture
  • Need task breakdown for implementation
  • Planning sprints and resource allocation
  • Converting requirements into concrete tasks
  • Defining component interfaces and dependencies

When NOT To Use

  • No specification exists yet (use Skill(attune:project-specification) first)
  • Still exploring problem space (use Skill(attune:project-brainstorming) instead)
  • Ready to execute existing plan (use Skill(attune:project-execution) instead)
  • Need to adjust running project (update plan incrementally, don't restart)

Integration

With superpowers:

  • Uses Skill(superpowers:writing-plans) for structured planning
  • Applies checkpoint-based execution patterns
  • Uses dependency analysis framework

Without superpowers:

  • Standalone planning methodology
  • Task breakdown templates
  • Dependency tracking patterns

Quality Checks

Before completing plan:

  • ✅ All architecture components documented
  • ✅ File Structure section present before tasks
  • ✅ All task files appear in File Structure table
  • ✅ All FRs mapped to tasks
  • ✅ All tasks have acceptance criteria
  • ✅ Dependencies are acyclic
  • ✅ Effort estimates provided
  • ✅ Critical path identified
  • ✅ Risks assessed with mitigations
  • ✅ Sprints balanced by capacity

Record the Tradeoff (decision journal)

Planning is where architecture and scope decisions get made: the pattern

chosen, the dependency accepted, the work deferred. Record each decision that

had real alternatives to docs/tradeoffs.md (draft and confirm):

  • If leyline is installed, invoke Skill(leyline:decision-journal) and append

a tradeoff entry (the decision, the options weighed, and what was

sacrificed; set phase to plan). Show the draft; append on confirmation.

  • Fallback (leyline absent): append to docs/tradeoffs.md using the in-file

ENTRY TEMPLATE; assign the next TR-NNN id.

Post-Completion: Workflow Continuation (REQUIRED)

Automatic Trigger: After Quality Checks pass and docs/implementation-plan.md is saved, MUST auto-invoke the next phase.

When continuation is invoked:

  • Verify docs/implementation-plan.md exists and is non-empty
  • Display checkpoint message to user:
   Implementation plan complete. Saved to docs/implementation-plan.md.
   Proceeding to execution phase...
  • Invoke next phase:
   Skill(attune:project-execution)

Bypass Conditions (ONLY skip continuation if ANY true):

  • --standalone flag was provided by the user
  • docs/implementation-plan.md does not exist or is empty (phase failed)
  • User explicitly requests to stop after planning

Do NOT prompt the user for confirmation: this is a lightweight checkpoint, not an interactive gate. The user can always interrupt if needed.

Exit Criteria

  • [ ] docs/implementation-plan.md exists, is non-empty, and passes Quality

Checks (acyclic dependencies, FRs mapped, critical path identified).

  • [ ] Architecture and scope decisions with alternatives are recorded to

docs/tradeoffs.md.

  • [ ] The execution phase is auto-invoked unless a bypass condition holds.
  • Skill(superpowers:writing-plans) - Planning methodology (if available)
  • Skill(spec-kit:task-planning) - Task breakdown (if available)
  • Skill(attune:project-specification) - Previous phase
  • Skill(attune:project-execution) - AUTO-INVOKED next phase after planning
  • Skill(attune:mission-orchestrator) - Full lifecycle orchestration
  • /attune:blueprint - Invoke this skill
  • /attune:execute - Next step in workflow

Examples

See /attune:blueprint command documentation for complete examples.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

If you find circular dependencies in your task graph, break one of the tasks into smaller sub-tasks. If sprint capacity is consistently exceeded, re-estimate tasks using the Fibonacci scale or reduce sprint scope.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take athola/project-planning from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.