Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8
93f73198e3
Add a user-invoked `to-plan` skill — the sequential, HITL sibling of `to-issues`. Both slice work into tracer-bullet vertical slices, but `to-plan` produces one ordered sequence you drive by hand, one phase per fresh context, rather than parallel independently-grabbable issues. 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 supported) for a real one. Registers the skill everywhere CLAUDE.md requires (plugin.json, top-level and bucket READMEs, docs page), updates the `ask-matt` router's main-flow fork to offer both to-issues and to-plan, and adds a changeset. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
3.4 KiB
Quickstart:
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=to-plan
npx skills update 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.
Sequential, not parallel
to-plan is the sequential, HITL sibling of to-issues. Both slice work into tracer bullets, but they're for different workflows:
to-issuesproduces independently-grabbable issues, so parallel agents can pick them up at once (it applies the ready-for-agent label).to-planproduces 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 configured, and it adapts the shape to that tracker:
- Local files → a single sequential
plan.mdin 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:
grill-with-docs → to-prd → to-plan → implement → code-review
It sits between to-prd, which hands it a settled spec to slice against, and implement, which builds each phase, driving tdd internally to write the tests test-first, before its code-review pass. Work one phase per fresh context, clearing between them. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, ask-matt routes you.