refactor(to-plan,to-issues): prune no-ops in vertical-slice framing

Fold the redundant 'thin vertical slice cuts through all layers, NOT
horizontal' intro sentence into vertical-slice-rules bullet 1 (it was
duplicating the bullet), and cut to-plan's 'no parallelism / top-to-bottom'
restatement — 'sequential' is already anchored as the leading word. Keeps
the shared core identical across the two sibling skills.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.changeset/grilling-gate-and-leading-word.md

@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Add a confirmation gate to **`grilling`**: the agent won't enact the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached, turning the skill's existing "shared understanding" completion criterion into an explicit stop-gate. The `description` also recruits the pretrained **`grill`** leading word ("Grill the user relentlessly") to sharpen invocation, and the docs page is re-synced with the new gate behaviour.

.changeset/research-skill.md

@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Add the **`research`** skill — a small, model-invoked skill that spins up a **background agent** to investigate a question against **primary sources** (official docs, source code, specs, first-party APIs), then leaves a single cited Markdown file wherever the repo keeps such notes. It's delegable reading legwork: you keep working while it reads, and get back a document to grill, plan, or design against. Listed in the top-level and Engineering READMEs (Model-invoked), added to `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`, given a docs page at `docs/engineering/research.md`, and routed as a Standalone in `ask-matt`.

.changeset/to-plan-skill.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"mattpocock-skills": minor
+---
+
+Add a new user-invoked **`to-plan`** skill to the `engineering/` bucket — the sequential, HITL sibling of **`to-issues`**. Both slice work into tracer-bullet vertical slices, but where `to-issues` produces independently-grabbable issues for parallel agents, `to-plan` produces one ordered sequence you drive by hand, one phase per fresh context. It publishes to the tracker `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` configured, shaped to it: a single sequential `plan.md` for a local tracker, or a parent issue with ordered sub-issues (native sub-issues where the platform supports them) for a real one. The `to-*` fork in `ask-matt`'s main flow now offers both, and there's a human-facing docs page at `docs/engineering/to-plan.md`.

.changeset/wayfinder-collaborative-tracker.md

@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Make **`wayfinder`** collaborative by moving the map off a local Markdown file and onto the repo's issue tracker.
-
-The map is now a single `wayfinder:map` issue whose tickets are its child issues — one shared URL the whole team can watch and comment on. Blocking, claiming (`wayfinder:claimed`), and the frontier query all use native tracker semantics, so a session loads the map at low resolution (Notes + one context pointer per closed ticket + Fog prose) and zooms into individual tickets on demand, instead of loading the whole map every time.
-
-Wayfinder stays tracker-agnostic: the per-tracker mechanics live behind a pointer in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`, so `setup-matt-pocock-skills` now seeds a "Wayfinding operations" section for GitHub, GitLab, and local-markdown. Absent that doc, Wayfinder defaults to local-markdown.

.changeset/wayfinder-map-index.md

@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Make **`wayfinder`**'s no-duplication contract explicit: the map is an **index**, not a store.
-
-Adopting "index" as the leading word for the map's role fixes two duplication risks. The map now states up front that a decision lives in exactly one place — its ticket — so it only ever gists and links, never restates the answer (previously this rule was implied inside an HTML comment in the map-body template). And graduating fog into a ticket now clears the graduated patch from the Fog, so a suspected question can't linger in both places at once.

.changeset/wayfinder-plan-big-work.md

@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Reframe **`wayfinder`**'s description around the work it's for: planning a huge chunk of work, more than one agent session can hold.
-
-The description does the skill's invocation work, so it now leads with the trigger that actually reaches for Wayfinder — a big effort you need to break down — instead of the softer "chart a route through a foggy problem". The skill body and fog-of-war mechanic are unchanged.

.changeset/wayfinding-rename.md

@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
----
-"mattpocock-skills": minor
----
-
-Rename the **`decision-mapping`** skill to **`wayfinder`**, invoked as `/wayfinder`.
-
-"Decision map" was jargony and inaccurate — only one of the skill's four ticket types (Grilling) is actually a decision. The reframe charts a route through a foggy problem, resolving investigation tickets one at a time until the way to the goal is clear. This makes one coherent leading-word frame (fog of war / frontier / the map) instead of mixing an invented term on top of it.
-
-Also a pruning pass: unified `node`→`ticket`, bound "the frontier" to the unblocked tickets, dropped the duplicated "one question at a time" (owned by `/grilling`), and trimmed intro no-ops.

.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@
     "./skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills",
     "./skills/engineering/tdd",
     "./skills/engineering/to-issues",
+    "./skills/engineering/to-plan",
     "./skills/engineering/to-prd",
     "./skills/engineering/implement",
     "./skills/engineering/prototype",
-    "./skills/engineering/research",
     "./skills/engineering/domain-modeling",
     "./skills/engineering/codebase-design",
     "./skills/engineering/code-review",

README.md

@@ -155,13 +155,13 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
 - **[improve-codebase-architecture](./skills/engineering/improve-codebase-architecture/SKILL.md)** — Scan a codebase for deepening opportunities, present them as a visual HTML report, then grill through whichever one you pick.
 - **[setup-matt-pocock-skills](./skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md)** — Configure this repo for the engineering skills (issue tracker, triage labels, domain doc layout). Run once per repo before using the other engineering skills.
 - **[to-issues](./skills/engineering/to-issues/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or PRD into independently-grabbable issues using vertical slices.
+- **[to-plan](./skills/engineering/to-plan/SKILL.md)** — Turn any plan, spec, or PRD into a sequential set of tracer-bullet phases worked one at a time — a single ordered file for a local tracker, or parent-and-sub-issues for a real one.
 - **[to-prd](./skills/engineering/to-prd/SKILL.md)** — Turn the current conversation into a PRD and publish it to the issue tracker. No interview — just synthesizes what you've already discussed.
 
 **Model-invoked**
 
 - **[prototype](./skills/engineering/prototype/SKILL.md)** — Build a throwaway prototype to answer a design question — a runnable terminal app for state/logic questions, or several radically different UI variations toggleable from one route.
 - **[diagnosing-bugs](./skills/engineering/diagnosing-bugs/SKILL.md)** — Disciplined diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions: reproduce → minimise → hypothesise → instrument → fix → regression-test.
-- **[research](./skills/engineering/research/SKILL.md)** — Investigate a question against high-trust primary sources and capture the findings as a cited Markdown file in the repo, run as a background agent.
 - **[tdd](./skills/engineering/tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
 - **[domain-modeling](./skills/engineering/domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms against the glossary, stress-test with edge-case scenarios, and update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
 - **[codebase-design](./skills/engineering/codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface.

docs/engineering/research.md

@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-Quickstart:
-
-```bash
-npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=research
-```
-
-```bash
-npx skills update research
-```
-
-[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/research)
-
-## What it does
-
-`research` answers a question by reading the sources that own the answer and leaving a cited Markdown file behind. It works only from **primary sources** — official docs, source code, specs, first-party APIs — never a secondary write-up of them, so what it saves is traceable back to something authoritative rather than a summary of a summary.
-
-## When to reach for it
-
-Type `/research`, or the agent reaches for it automatically when a task turns into reading legwork.
-
-Reach for it when the next step is *finding something out* — how an API behaves, what a spec actually says, whether a claim holds — and you'd rather not stall your own thread doing the reading. For sharpening a plan by interview instead of by reading, use [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling); for exploring what to build with throwaway code, use [prototype](https://aihero.dev/skills-prototype).
-
-## Delegated legwork
-
-The defining move is that the reading runs as a **background agent**. You keep working; it goes off, follows each claim back to its primary source, and drops a single cited Markdown file into wherever the repo keeps such notes. Research is legwork you delegate, not thinking you outsource — you get back a document to react to, with its sources attached.
-
-## Where it fits
-
-A reach-for-it-anytime standalone that feeds the thinking skills: the file it produces is something to grill, plan, or design against, so it sits upstream of work like [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [to-prd](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd) rather than in the build chain. For the whole map, see [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt).

docs/engineering/to-plan.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+Quickstart:
+
+```bash
+npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=to-plan
+```
+
+```bash
+npx skills update to-plan
+```
+
+[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/to-plan)
+
+## What it does
+
+`to-plan` turns a PRD, spec, or the current conversation into a **sequential** plan — an ordered list of phases you work through one at a time, in a fresh context per phase.
+
+Every phase is a **tracer bullet** — a thin *vertical* slice that cuts through all integration layers end-to-end (schema, API, UI, tests), never a horizontal slice of one layer. A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own, and is sized to fit a single fresh context window.
+
+## When to reach for it
+
+You invoke this by typing `/to-plan` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
+
+Reach for it once you have an agreed plan or a written spec and you want it turned into a sequence of phases you'll build **by hand, one at a time**. Point it at the conversation, or pass a PRD or issue reference and it reads that first. If the change hasn't been written up as a spec yet, produce one first — for that, use [to-prd](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd).
+
+## Sequential, not parallel
+
+`to-plan` is the sequential, HITL sibling of [to-issues](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-issues). Both slice work into tracer bullets, but they're for different workflows:
+
+- **`to-issues`** produces *independently-grabbable* issues, so parallel agents can pick them up at once (it applies the ready-for-agent label).
+- **`to-plan`** produces one *ordered sequence* you drive yourself, phase by phase, staying in the loop — no ready-for-agent label.
+
+## Publishes to your configured tracker
+
+Like the other skills, `to-plan` publishes through the tracker [setup-matt-pocock-skills](https://aihero.dev/skills-setup-matt-pocock-skills) configured, and it adapts the shape to that tracker:
+
+- **Local files** → a single sequential `plan.md` in the repo root, all phases in order.
+- **A real issue tracker (GitHub, Linear)** → a parent issue for the whole plan, with one sub-issue per phase, in order — using the platform's native sub-issue relationship where it has one, otherwise sequential issues each blocked by the previous.
+
+## Vertical slices, not horizontal ones
+
+The whole skill turns on one distinction. A **horizontal** slice ships one layer of the change — all the schema, or all the API — and nothing works until every layer lands. A **vertical** slice, the tracer bullet, ships one narrow path through *every* layer at once, so it can be demoed the moment it's done.
+
+Before slicing, `to-plan` looks for prefactoring — "make the change easy, then make the easy change" — and orders that work first. It then quizzes you on the breakdown (granularity, ordering, what to merge or split) before publishing anything.
+
+## Where it fits
+
+`to-plan` is the sequential branch of the main build chain:
+
+```txt
+grill-with-docs → to-prd → to-plan → implement → code-review
+```
+
+It sits between [to-prd](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd), which hands it a settled spec to slice against, and [implement](https://aihero.dev/skills-implement), which builds each phase, driving [tdd](https://aihero.dev/skills-tdd) internally to write the tests test-first, before its [code-review](https://aihero.dev/skills-code-review) pass. Work one phase per fresh context, clearing between them. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.

docs/productivity/grilling.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ npx skills update grilling
 
 `grilling` is the relentless interview that stress-tests a plan or design before you build it. It walks down the design tree branch by branch, resolving the dependencies between decisions one at a time until you and the agent share the same understanding.
 
-It asks **one question at a time** and waits for your answer before the next — never a bulk list, which is bewildering. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, and any question the codebase can settle it explores instead of asking you. It won't start enacting the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached.
+It asks **one question at a time** and waits for your answer before the next — never a bulk list, which is bewildering. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, and any question the codebase can settle it explores instead of asking you.
 
 ## When to reach for it
 

skills/engineering/README.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Reachable only when you type them (`disable-model-invocation: true`).
 - **[improve-codebase-architecture](./improve-codebase-architecture/SKILL.md)** — Scan a codebase for deepening opportunities, present them as a visual HTML report, then grill through whichever one you pick.
 - **[setup-matt-pocock-skills](./setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md)** — Configure this repo for the engineering skills (issue tracker, triage labels, domain doc layout). Run once per repo.
 - **[to-issues](./to-issues/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or PRD into independently-grabbable issues using vertical slices.
+- **[to-plan](./to-plan/SKILL.md)** — Turn any plan, spec, or PRD into a sequential set of tracer-bullet phases worked one at a time — a single ordered file for a local tracker, or parent-and-sub-issues for a real one.
 - **[to-prd](./to-prd/SKILL.md)** — Turn the current conversation into a PRD and publish it to the issue tracker.
 
 ## Model-invoked
@@ -21,7 +22,6 @@ Model- or user-reachable (rich trigger phrasing so the model can reach for them)
 - **[prototype](./prototype/SKILL.md)** — Build a throwaway prototype to answer a design question: a runnable terminal app for state/logic, or several toggleable UI variations.
 
 - **[diagnosing-bugs](./diagnosing-bugs/SKILL.md)** — Disciplined diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions: reproduce → minimise → hypothesise → instrument → fix → regression-test.
-- **[research](./research/SKILL.md)** — Investigate a question against high-trust primary sources and capture the findings as a cited Markdown file in the repo, run as a background agent.
 - **[tdd](./tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
 - **[domain-modeling](./domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms, stress-test with scenarios, update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
 - **[codebase-design](./codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface.

skills/engineering/ask-matt/SKILL.md

@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
    - **`/prototype`** to answer the question with throwaway code,
    - **`/handoff`** back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
 3. **Branch — is this a multi-session build?**
-   - **Yes** → **`/to-prd`** (turn the thread into a PRD) → **`/to-issues`** (split the PRD into independently-grabbable issues). Because the issues are independent, **clear context between each one**: start a fresh session per issue and kick off **`/implement`** by passing it the PRD and the single issue to work on.
+   - **Yes** → **`/to-prd`** (turn the thread into a PRD), then split it into tracer-bullet slices one of two ways:
+     - **`/to-issues`** — independently-grabbable issues on your tracker, for **parallel/AFK** agents. Because the issues are independent, **clear context between each one** and kick off **`/implement`** per issue.
+     - **`/to-plan`** — a **sequential** plan you drive **by hand**, staying in the loop. Publishes to the same tracker, shaped to it: a single ordered `plan.md` for a local tracker, or a parent issue with ordered sub-issues for a real one. Work one phase per fresh context, clearing between them, with **`/implement`**.
    - **No** → **`/implement`** right here, in the same context window.
 
    Either way, **`/implement`** builds each issue by driving **`/tdd`** internally — one red-green slice at a time — then closes out by running **`/code-review`**, a two-axis review (Standards + Spec) of the diff, before committing. Reach for **`/tdd`** on its own when you just want to build a concrete behaviour test-first without a full spec, and **`/code-review`** on its own whenever you want to review a branch or PR against a fixed point.
@@ -65,7 +67,6 @@ Off the main flow entirely.
 
 - **`/grill-me`** — the same relentless interview as `/grill-with-docs`, but for when you have **no codebase**. Stateless: it saves nothing locally, builds no `CONTEXT.md`. Reach for it to sharpen any plan or design that doesn't live in a repo.
 - **`/prototype`** — a small, throwaway program that answers one design question: does this state model feel right, or what should this UI look like. Throwaway from day one — keep the answer, delete the code. It's the detour in step 2 of the main flow, but reach for it any time a design question is hard to settle on paper.
-- **`/research`** — delegate reading legwork to a **background agent**: it investigates a question against **primary sources**, then leaves a cited Markdown file in the repo. Keep working while it reads. The file it produces is something to take *into* the main flow at `/grill-with-docs` — research feeds the thinking, it doesn't replace it.
 - **`/teach`** — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
 - **`/writing-great-skills`** — reference for writing and editing skills well.
 

skills/engineering/research/SKILL.md

@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
----
-name: research
-description: Investigate a question against high-trust primary sources and capture the findings as a Markdown file in the repo. Use when the user wants a topic researched, docs or API facts gathered, or reading legwork delegated to a background agent.
----
-
-Spin up a **background agent** to do the research, so you keep working while it reads.
-
-Its job:
-
-1. Investigate the question against **primary sources** — official docs, source code, specs, first-party APIs — not a secondary write-up of them. Follow every claim back to the source that owns it.
-2. Write the findings to a single Markdown file, citing each claim's source.
-3. Save it where the repo already keeps such notes; match the existing convention, and if there is none, put it somewhere sensible and say where.

skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-github.md

@@ -32,14 +32,3 @@ Create a GitHub issue.
 ## When a skill says "fetch the relevant ticket"
 
 Run `gh issue view <number> --comments`.
-
-## Wayfinding operations
-
-Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a single issue with **child** issues as tickets.
-
-- **Map**: a single issue labelled `wayfinder:map`, holding the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body. `gh issue create --label wayfinder:map`.
-- **Child ticket**: an issue linked to the map as a GitHub sub-issue (`gh api` on the sub-issues endpoint). Where sub-issues aren't enabled, add the child to a task list in the map body and put `Part of #<map>` at the top of the child body. Labels: `wayfinder:<type>` (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`), plus `wayfinder:claimed` once claimed.
-- **Blocking**: native issue relationships where available; otherwise a `Blocked by: #<n>, #<n>` line at the top of the child body. A ticket is unblocked when every issue it lists is closed.
-- **Frontier query**: list the map's open children (`gh issue list --state open`, scoped to the map's sub-issues / task list), drop any with an open `Blocked by` issue or the `wayfinder:claimed` label; first in map order wins.
-- **Claim**: `gh issue edit <n> --add-label wayfinder:claimed` — the session's first write.
-- **Resolve**: `gh issue comment <n> --body "<answer>"`, then `gh issue close <n>`, then append a context pointer (gist + link) to the map's Decisions-so-far.

skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-gitlab.md

@@ -33,14 +33,3 @@ Create a GitLab issue.
 ## When a skill says "fetch the relevant ticket"
 
 Run `glab issue view <number> --comments`.
-
-## Wayfinding operations
-
-Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a single issue with **child** issues as tickets.
-
-- **Map**: a single issue labelled `wayfinder:map`, holding the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body. `glab issue create --label wayfinder:map`. (On GitLab tiers with native epics, an epic may hold the map instead; a labelled issue works everywhere.)
-- **Child ticket**: an issue carrying `Part of #<map>` at the top of its description and labels `wayfinder:<type>` (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`), plus `wayfinder:claimed` once claimed.
-- **Blocking**: GitLab's native `/blocked_by #<n>` quick action (or a `Blocked by: #<n>, #<n>` line in the description as fallback). A ticket is unblocked when every issue it lists is closed.
-- **Frontier query**: `glab issue list -F json` scoped to the map's children, drop any with an open blocker or the `wayfinder:claimed` label; first in map order wins.
-- **Claim**: `glab issue update <n> --label wayfinder:claimed` — the session's first write.
-- **Resolve**: `glab issue note <n> --message "<answer>"`, then `glab issue close <n>`, then append a context pointer (gist + link) to the map's Decisions-so-far.

skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills/issue-tracker-local.md

@@ -17,14 +17,3 @@ Create a new file under `.scratch/<feature-slug>/` (creating the directory if ne
 ## When a skill says "fetch the relevant ticket"
 
 Read the file at the referenced path. The user will normally pass the path or the issue number directly.
-
-## Wayfinding operations
-
-Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a file with one **child** file per ticket.
-
-- **Map**: `.scratch/<effort>/map.md` — the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body.
-- **Child ticket**: `.scratch/<effort>/issues/NN-<slug>.md`, numbered from `01`, with the question in the body. A `Type:` line records the ticket type (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`); a `Status:` line records `claimed`/`resolved`.
-- **Blocking**: a `Blocked by: NN, NN` line near the top. A ticket is unblocked when every file it lists is `resolved`.
-- **Frontier**: scan `.scratch/<effort>/issues/` for files that are open, unblocked, and unclaimed; first by number wins.
-- **Claim**: set `Status: claimed` and save before any work.
-- **Resolve**: append the answer under an `## Answer` heading, set `Status: resolved`, then append a context pointer (gist + link) to the map's Decisions-so-far in `map.md`.

skills/engineering/tdd/SKILL.md

@@ -33,4 +33,4 @@ Ask: "What's the public interface, and which seams should we test?"
 
 - **Red before green.** Write the failing test first, then only enough code to pass it. Don't anticipate future tests or add speculative features.
 - **One slice at a time.** One seam, one test, one minimal implementation per cycle.
-- **Refactoring is not part of the loop.** It belongs to the review stage (see the `code-review` skill), not the red → green implementation cycle.
+- **Refactoring is not part of the loop.** It belongs to the review stage (see the `review` skill), not the red → green implementation cycle.

skills/engineering/to-issues/SKILL.md

@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier.
 
 ### 3. Draft vertical slices
 
-Break the plan into **tracer bullet** issues. Each issue is a thin vertical slice that cuts through ALL integration layers end-to-end, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer.
+Break the plan into **tracer bullet** issues.
 
 <vertical-slice-rules>
 
-- Each slice delivers a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests)
+- 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
 - Any prefactoring should be done first
 

skills/engineering/to-plan/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+---
+name: to-plan
+description: Turn a PRD, spec, or the current conversation into a sequential plan of tracer-bullet vertical slices, published to the configured tracker — one ordered file for local, or parent-and-sub-issues for a real tracker.
+disable-model-invocation: true
+---
+
+# To Plan
+
+Turn a plan, spec, or PRD into a **sequential** plan of vertical slices (tracer bullets) — an ordered list of phases you work through one at a time, in a fresh context per phase.
+
+This is the sequential, HITL sibling of `/to-issues`. Where `to-issues` produces independently-grabbable issues for parallel agents, `to-plan` produces one ordered sequence you drive by hand, top to bottom.
+
+The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` if not.
+
+## Process
+
+### 1. Gather context
+
+Work from whatever is already in the conversation context. If the user passes a reference (a PRD path, an issue number or URL) as an argument, fetch it and read its full body.
+
+### 2. Explore the codebase (optional)
+
+If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code. Phase 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** phases.
+
+<vertical-slice-rules>
+
+- 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
+
+</vertical-slice-rules>
+
+Order the phases in dependency order — each builds on the ones before it.
+
+### 4. Quiz the user
+
+Present the proposed breakdown as a numbered list. For each phase, show:
+
+- **Title**: short descriptive name
+- **What it delivers**: the end-to-end behaviour this phase makes work
+
+Ask the user:
+
+- Does the granularity feel right? (too coarse / too fine)
+- Is the ordering correct — does each phase build on the ones before it?
+- Should any phases be merged or split further?
+
+Iterate until the user approves the breakdown.
+
+### 5. Publish the plan to the configured tracker
+
+Publish the approved phases in order. **How** depends on the tracker `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` configured:
+
+- **Local files** → write one sequential `plan.md` in the repo root, all phases in order, using the file template below.
+- **A real issue tracker (GitHub, Linear, …)** → create **one parent issue** for the whole plan, then **one sub-issue per phase, in order**. Use the platform's native sub-issue / child-issue relationship if it supports one; otherwise create sequential issues and set each phase's "Blocked by" to the previous phase. Use the issue template below for the parent and each phase.
+
+These are worked **sequentially by hand**, not handed to parallel agents, so do NOT apply the ready-for-agent triage label.
+
+<plan-file-template>
+
+# Plan: <short name of the work>
+
+A one-line summary of what this plan builds. Reference the source PRD or spec if there is one.
+
+## Phases
+
+Each phase is one tracer bullet — a vertical slice worked in a fresh context, top to bottom.
+
+### 1. <Phase title>
+
+**Delivers:** the end-to-end behaviour this phase makes work, from the user's perspective — not a layer-by-layer implementation list.
+
+- [ ] Acceptance criterion 1
+- [ ] Acceptance criterion 2
+
+### 2. <Phase title>
+
+...
+
+</plan-file-template>
+
+<issue-template>
+
+**Parent issue** — title: the plan's short name. Body: the one-line summary, a reference to the source PRD/spec, and the ordered list of phase titles.
+
+**Each phase sub-issue:**
+
+## What to build
+
+The end-to-end behaviour this phase makes work, from the user's perspective — not layer-by-layer implementation.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- [ ] Criterion 1
+- [ ] Criterion 2
+
+## Blocked by
+
+The previous phase (omit for the first phase).
+
+</issue-template>
+
+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.
+
+Work the plan one phase at a time with `/implement`, clearing context between phases.

skills/in-progress/README.md

@@ -2,10 +2,9 @@
 
 Skills that are still being developed. They're not ready to ship — expect rough edges, breaking changes, and abandoned experiments. They're excluded from the plugin and the top-level README until they graduate to a stable bucket.
 
-- **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Chart a route through a foggy problem — turn a loose idea into a map of investigation tickets and resolve them one at a time until the way to the goal is clear. User-invoked.
+- **[decision-mapping](./decision-mapping/SKILL.md)** — Turn a loose idea into a sequenced map of investigation tickets, then drive them to resolution one at a time. User-invoked.
 - **[loop-me](./loop-me/SKILL.md)** — Grill yourself into implementable workflow specs over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace. User-invoked.
 - **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure (setup, a one-off migration, a state transition) — opening URLs, capturing values, writing `.env` and GitHub Actions secrets. User-invoked.
 - **[writing-beats](./writing-beats/SKILL.md)** — Shape an article as a journey of beats, choose-your-own-adventure style. Pick a starting beat, write only that beat, then pivot to the next, until the article reaches a natural end.
 - **[writing-fragments](./writing-fragments/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that mines you for fragments — heterogeneous nuggets of writing — and appends them to a single document as raw material for a future article.
 - **[writing-shape](./writing-shape/SKILL.md)** — Take a markdown file of raw material and shape it into an article paragraph by paragraph, arguing format choices at each step.
-- **[claude-handoff](./claude-handoff/SKILL.md)** — Hand the current conversation off to a fresh background agent that picks up the work immediately, seeded with a handoff summary via `claude --bg`. User-invoked.

skills/in-progress/claude-handoff/SKILL.md

@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
----
-name: claude-handoff
-description: Hand the current conversation off to a fresh background agent that picks up the work immediately.
-argument-hint: "What will the next session be used for?"
-disable-model-invocation: true
----
-
-Write a handoff summary of the current conversation so a fresh agent can continue the work. Instead of saving it, launch a background agent seeded with the summary as its prompt: `claude --bg --name "<descriptive name>" "<handoff summary>"`. It starts in the current working directory and returns immediately; the user manages it with `claude agents`.
-
-Always pass `-n`/`--name` with a descriptive name (e.g. `--name "Fix login bug"`) — it sets the display name shown in the job list, session picker, and terminal title.
-
-Include a "suggested skills" section in the summary, which suggests skills that the agent should invoke.
-
-Do not duplicate content already captured in other artifacts (PRDs, plans, ADRs, issues, commits, diffs). Reference them by path or URL instead.
-
-Redact any sensitive information, such as API keys, passwords, or personally identifiable information — the summary becomes the agent's prompt.
-
-If the user passed arguments, treat them as a description of what the next session will focus on and tailor the summary accordingly.

skills/in-progress/decision-mapping/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+---
+name: decision-mapping
+description: Turn a loose idea into a sequenced map of investigation tickets, then drive them to resolution one at a time.
+disable-model-invocation: true
+---
+
+This skill is invoked when a loose idea requires more than one agent session to turn into a plan. It creates a stateful decision map in a markdown file, and drives the user through a sequence of tickets to resolve the open questions - which may require either prototyping, research or grilling. The map is domain-agnostic: it plans engineering work, course content, or anything else that fits the same shape.
+
+## The Decision Map
+
+The decision map is a single compact Markdown file, one per planning effort, git-tracked alongside the project. It is the canonical artifact — the **whole map is loaded as context into every session**, so it must stay compact.
+
+Assets created during tickets should be linked to from the map, not duplicated within it.
+
+### Structure
+
+Entries ("tickets"), each its own section keyed by a short dash-case slug that
+reads as a mini-title (e.g. `relational-db`, `auth-strategy`, `cache-layer`) —
+terse enough to stay token-efficient, and unique within the map.
+
+```markdown
+## relational-db: Relational Or Non-Relational Database?
+
+Blocked by: <slug>, <slug>
+Status: open | in-progress | resolved
+Type: Research | Prototype | Grilling | Task
+
+### Question
+
+<question-here>
+
+### Answer
+
+<answer-here>
+```
+
+The slug is the canonical id, used in every `Blocked by` edge and prose
+reference; the title after the colon is optional. A ticket
+is **unblocked** when every ticket in its `Blocked by` list is `resolved`. A
+session **claims** its ticket by setting `Status: in-progress` and saving the map
+before any work, so concurrent sessions skip it.
+
+Each ticket must be sized to one 100K token agent session.
+
+## Ticket Types
+
+There are four types of tickets:
+
+- **Research**: Reading documentation, third-party API's, or local resources like knowledge bases. Creates a markdown summary as an asset. Use this when knowledge outside the current working directory is required.
+- **Prototype**: Raise the fidelity of the discussion by making a cheap, rough, concrete artifact to react to — an outline, a rough take, a stub, or UI/logic code via the /prototype skill. Creates the prototype as an asset. Use this when "how should it look" or "how should it behave" is the key question.
+- **Grilling**: Conversation with the agent. Uses the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills. Asks one question at a time. The default case.
+- **Task**: Literal manual work that must be done before the discussion can move forward — nothing to decide, prototype, or research. Moving data from one place to another, signing up for a third-party service, provisioning access. The agent automates it where it can; otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist to do by hand. Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on.
+
+## Fog of war
+
+The map is _deliberately_ incomplete beyond the frontier. Your job is to investigate the frontier, and to resolve tickets in order to push the frontier forward. Push back the fog of war, one node at a time — until the path to the finish line is clear and no tickets remain.
+
+## Invocation
+
+Two branches. Either way, **every session ends with a [Handoff](#handoff)** — never resolve more than one ticket per session.
+
+### Create the map
+
+User invokes with a loose idea.
+
+1. Run a `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` session to surface the open decisions. Ask one question at a time.
+2. Write a new decision map — mostly fog, frontier identified, trivially-decidable entries resolved inline.
+3. Handoff. Map-building is one session's work; do not also resolve tickets.
+
+### Work through the map
+
+User invokes with a path to an existing map. A ticket slug is **optional** — without one, you pick the next decision, not the user.
+
+1. Load the **whole map** as context.
+2. Choose the ticket. If the user named one, use it. Otherwise pick the first `open` ticket in document order that is [unblocked](#structure). [Claim it](#structure): set `Status: in-progress` and save before any work.
+3. Resolve it, invoking skills as needed — including any the `## Notes` block names. If in doubt, use `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling`.
+4. Record the answer in the ticket's body and set `Status: resolved`.
+5. Add newly-discovered tickets with correct `Blocked by` edges. If the decisions made invalidate other parts of the map, update or delete those nodes.
+6. Handoff.
+
+The user may run unblocked tickets in parallel, so expect other agents to be editing the map in their own sessions.
+
+## Handoff
+
+End every session by clearing the context and opening one or more fresh sessions. Close with a **Next steps** block the user can copy-paste. Two cases:
+
+**Open tickets remain.** List the currently-unblocked tickets, then give two copy-paste options: a bare command for one session (you pick the next ticket), and one pinned command per unblocked ticket for running them in parallel. Paste one line per fresh window — opening one, some, or all of them.
+
+> **Next steps** — 3 tickets unblocked: `auth-strategy`, `cache-layer`, `rate-limits`.
+> Clear the context, then open fresh sessions.
+>
+> **One session** — resolves the next unblocked ticket:
+> ```
+> Invoke /decision-mapping with the map at <path>.
+> ```
+>
+> **Parallel** — paste one line per window, up to all 3:
+> ```
+> Invoke /decision-mapping with the map at <path>, ticket auth-strategy.
+> Invoke /decision-mapping with the map at <path>, ticket cache-layer.
+> Invoke /decision-mapping with the map at <path>, ticket rate-limits.
+> ```
+
+**No open tickets remain.** The fog is pushed back far enough that the path to the finish line is clear — the map is done. (The initial grilling may also surface no fog at all, in which case there was never a map to build.) Recommend implementing directly, or using `/to-prd` to schedule a multi-session implementation.
+
+## Notes
+
+An optional block declaring the **domain**, any skills every session should `consult`, and freeform standing preferences the planning surfaces.

skills/in-progress/wayfinder/SKILL.md

@@ -1,102 +0,0 @@
----
-name: wayfinder
-description: Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of investigation tickets on your issue tracker, and resolve them one at a time until the way to the goal is clear.
----
-
-A loose idea has arrived — too big for one agent session, and wrapped in fog: the route from here to a plan isn't visible yet. This skill charts it as a **shared map** on the repo's issue tracker, then works its tickets one at a time. The map is domain-agnostic — engineering work, course content, whatever fits the shape.
-
-## Refer by name
-
-Every map and ticket is an issue, so it has a **name** — its title. In everything the human reads — narration, the map's Decisions-so-far — refer to it by that name, never by a bare id, number, or slug. A wall of `#42, #43, #44` is illegible; names read at a glance. The id and URL don't vanish — a name wraps its link — but they ride *inside* the name, never stand in for it.
-
-## The Map
-
-The map is a single issue on this repo's issue tracker, labelled `wayfinder:map` — the canonical artifact. Its tickets are child issues of the map.
-
-The map is an **index**, not a store. It lists the decisions made and points at the tickets that hold their detail; a decision lives in exactly one place — its ticket — so the map never restates it, only gists it and links.
-
-**Where the map, its child tickets, blocking, and frontier queries physically live is tracker-specific.** Consult `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md` (the "Wayfinding operations" section) for how _this_ repo expresses them. If that doc is absent, default to the local-markdown tracker.
-
-### The map body
-
-The whole map at low resolution, loaded once per session. Open tickets are **not** listed — they are open child issues, found by query.
-
-```markdown
-## Notes
-
-<domain; skills every session should consult; standing preferences for this effort>
-
-## Decisions so far
-
-<!-- the index — one line per closed ticket: enough to judge relevance, then zoom the link for the detail the ticket holds -->
-
-- [<closed ticket title>](link) — <one-line gist of the answer>
-
-## Fog
-
-<!-- see "Fog of war" for what belongs here -->
-```
-
-### Tickets
-
-Each ticket is a **child issue** of the map; the tracker's issue id is its identity. Its body is the question, sized to one 100K token agent session:
-
-```markdown
-## Question
-
-<the decision or investigation this ticket resolves>
-```
-
-Two label families:
-
-- `wayfinder:<type>` — one of `research`, `prototype`, `grilling`, `task` (see [Ticket Types](#ticket-types)).
-- `wayfinder:claimed` — a session sets this **first**, before any work, so concurrent sessions skip it.
-
-Blocking uses the tracker's native semantics. A ticket is **unblocked** when every ticket blocking it is closed. The **frontier** is the open, unblocked, unclaimed children — the edge of the known.
-
-The answer isn't part of the body — it's recorded on resolution (see [Work through the map](#work-through-the-map)). Assets created while resolving a ticket are linked from the issue, not pasted in.
-
-## Ticket Types
-
-- **Research**: Reading documentation, third-party APIs, or local resources like knowledge bases. Creates a markdown summary as a linked asset. Use when knowledge outside the current working directory is required.
-- **Prototype**: Raise the fidelity of the discussion by making a cheap, rough, concrete artifact to react to — an outline, a rough take, a stub, or UI/logic code via the /prototype skill. Links the prototype as an asset. Use when "how should it look" or "how should it behave" is the key question.
-- **Grilling**: Conversation with the agent. Uses the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills. Asks one question at a time. The default case.
-- **Task**: Literal manual work that must be done before the discussion can move forward — nothing to decide, prototype, or research. Moving data, signing up for a service, provisioning access. The agent automates it where it can; otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist. Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on.
-
-## Fog of war
-
-The map is _deliberately_ incomplete: don't chart what you can't yet see. Beyond the tickets lies fog — the dim view of decisions and investigations you can tell are coming but can't yet pin down, because they hang on questions still open. Resolving a ticket clears the fog ahead of it, graduating whatever's now specifiable into fresh tickets — one at a time, until the way to the goal is clear and no tickets remain.
-
-The map's **Fog** section is where that dim view is written down: the suspected question, the area to revisit later, the risk you're deferring. Write as loosely or as fully as the view allows; it doubles as a signpost for collaborators reading where the effort is headed.
-
-**Fog or ticket?** The test is whether you can state the question precisely now — _not_ whether you can answer it now.
-
-- **Ticket when** the question is already sharp — even if it's blocked and you can't act on it yet.
-- **Fog when** you can't yet phrase it that sharply. Don't pre-slice fog into ticket-sized pieces: it's coarser than a ticket, and one patch may graduate into several tickets, or none, once the frontier reaches it.
-
-Fog excludes only what's already decided (that's Decisions so far) and what's already a ticket.
-
-## Invocation
-
-Two modes. Either way, **never resolve more than one ticket per session.**
-
-### Chart the map
-
-User invokes with a loose idea.
-
-1. Run a `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` session to surface the open decisions.
-2. **Create the map** (label `wayfinder:map`): Notes filled in, Decisions-so-far empty, Fog sketched.
-3. **Create the tickets you can specify now** as child issues of the map — then wire blocking edges in a **second pass** (issues need ids before they can reference each other). Wiring sorts them into the frontier and the blocked; everything you can't yet specify stays in the Fog.
-4. Stop — charting the map is one session's work; do not also resolve tickets.
-
-### Work through the map
-
-User invokes with a map (URL or number). A ticket is **optional** — without one, you pick the next decision, not the user.
-
-1. Load the **map** — the low-res view, not every ticket body.
-2. Choose the ticket. If the user named one, use it. Otherwise take the first frontier ticket in order. **Claim it**: set `wayfinder:claimed` and save before any work.
-3. Resolve it — **zoom as needed**: fetch the full body of any related or closed ticket on demand; invoke the skills the `## Notes` block names. If in doubt, use `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling`.
-4. Record the resolution: post the answer as a **resolution comment**, **close** the issue, and **append a context pointer** to the map's Decisions-so-far.
-5. Add newly-surfaced tickets (create-then-wire); graduate any fog the answer has made specifiable, clearing each graduated patch from the Fog so it lives only as its new ticket. If the decision invalidates other parts of the map, update or delete those tickets.
-
-The user may run unblocked tickets in parallel, so expect other sessions to be editing the tracker concurrently.

skills/productivity/grilling/SKILL.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: grilling
-description: Grill the user relentlessly about a plan or design. Use when the user wants to stress-test a plan before building, or uses any 'grill' trigger phrases.
+description: Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design. Use when the user wants to stress-test a plan before building, or uses any 'grill' trigger phrases.
 ---
 
 Interview me relentlessly about every aspect of this plan until we reach a shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions one-by-one. For each question, provide your recommended answer.
@@ -8,5 +8,3 @@ Interview me relentlessly about every aspect of this plan until we reach a share
 Ask the questions one at a time, waiting for feedback on each question before continuing. Asking multiple questions at once is bewildering.
 
 If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead.
-
-Do not enact the plan until I confirm we have reached a shared understanding.