Blueprint

/blueprint — Multi-Session Construction Plan

> Announcement: Begin with: "I'm using the blueprint skill to create a multi-session plan."

Purpose

Large features can't be completed in a single Claude session. This skill decomposes a high-level objective into a sequenced plan where each step:

1. Has a cold-start context brief — everything a fresh agent needs to execute without reading prior session history
2. Has explicit dependencies — which steps must complete first
3. Has verification criteria — how to confirm the step is done

Context discipline while drafting

Context may be compacted mid-plan. If you sense the window tightening, write the plan to disk incrementally (one step at a time) rather than building the whole blueprint in memory. Produce every step through to the end — do not stop early because of token concerns. If compaction fires mid-draft, resume from the last written step.

When to Use

• Feature spans multiple domains (backend + mobile + infra)
• Implementation will realistically take 3+ sessions
• Multiple developers/agents need to coordinate
• User says "this is a big one" or "break this down for me"

Pipeline

Phase 1: Research (understand the landscape)

1. Read relevant PRDs, JTBDs, and existing task docs
2. Explore the codebase areas that will be touched
3. Identify existing patterns to follow
4. List unknowns and risks

When the objective spans multiple codebase areas (e.g., backend + mobile + infra), spawn one Agent subagent per area in the same turn rather than reading sequentially. Each subagent returns its findings; you synthesize.

Phase 2: Design (create the dependency DAG)

1. Break the objective into 3-8 implementation steps
2. Map dependencies between steps (which must come first?)
3. Identify parallelizable steps (can run simultaneously)
4. Estimate relative complexity (S/M/L) per step

Phase 3: Draft (write step documents)

For each step, produce:

## Step [N]: [Title]

### Cold-Start Brief
> A fresh Claude session should read ONLY this section to begin work.

**Objective**: [What this step accomplishes]
**Codebase entry points**: [Specific files/directories to read first]
**Patterns to follow**: [Existing code patterns this step should mirror]
**Key decisions already made**: [Design choices from Phase 2 that constrain this step]
**What exists before this step**: [State of the codebase when this step starts]

### Dependencies
- Blocked by: [Step X, Step Y] or "None — can start immediately"
- Blocks: [Step Z]

### Scope
- **In scope**: [Specific deliverables]
- **Out of scope**: [What NOT to do in this step]

### Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] [Criterion 1 — testable/verifiable]
- [ ] [Criterion 2]
- [ ] All tests pass: `[specific test command]`
- [ ] Type check passes: `{{TYPECHECK_CMD}}`

### Estimated Complexity
[S / M / L] — [Brief justification]

### Suggested Task Command
`/ct` with this step's scope to create a full technical decomposition.

Phase 4: Review (adversarial check)

First, list every concern you noticed while drafting — missing migrations, implicit env setup, unclear step boundaries, weak acceptance criteria — including low-confidence ones. Then classify each into: Completeness / Independence / Ordering / Gaps / Rollback. Carry the low-confidence items into the Risks table below with explicit "(low confidence)" tags rather than dropping them silently.

After listing, verify against the checklist:

1. Completeness: Does executing all steps achieve the original objective?
2. Independence: Can each step truly be executed by a fresh agent with only its cold-start brief?
3. Ordering: Are dependencies correctly captured? No circular dependencies?
4. Gaps: Are there implicit steps (migrations, config changes, env setup) that should be explicit?
5. Rollback: If step N fails, does it break steps 1..N-1?

Output

Save the blueprint to: docs/superpowers/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-.md

# Blueprint: [Feature Name]

**Objective**: [The original one-line objective]
**Created**: [Date]
**Steps**: [N]
**Estimated sessions**: [N]
**Parallelizable steps**: [List]

## Dependency Graph

Step 1 ─── Step 2 ─── Step 4 │ └── Step 3 ─── Step 5

## Steps

[Step documents from Phase 3]

---

## Risks & Mitigations
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|--------|------------|
| [Risk 1] | [H/M/L] | [Strategy] |

## Open Questions
- [Question that needs user input before execution]

Integration

• Each step can be turned into a /ct task document for detailed decomposition
• Steps can reference existing task docs in tasks/ if they already exist
• The blueprint itself is a living document — update it as steps complete

Constraints

• Cold-start briefs are self-contained — a fresh agent reads only its step's brief and can begin work. If you find yourself about to reference "see Step 2", inline the information instead.
• Keep steps focused — each step should be completable in a single session (1-3 hours of agent work)
• Plan to the level each step needs right now — Steps 1–2 (starting soon) get full cold-start briefs. Steps 3+ get a one-paragraph objective and can be refined later. Stop adding detail once the next executor has enough to start.
• Output is a plan document, not code edits. The deliverable is the blueprint file; /si executes each step in a later session. If the user asks you to "also start on step 1", respond with the plan first and offer to hand off to /si afterward.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: alexandrbasis
• Source: alexandrbasis/claudops
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.