Plan Smith

plan-smith

Turn a brief into a tracked plan, and keep its status current. Pick the mode from the request:

• Create — write a new plan from a description, a spec, or a shared

understanding reached with grill-me.

• Update — re-read an existing plan and refresh each item's checkbox and status

from what has since happened.

If the request is ambiguous, ask one question: write a new plan or update an existing one?

Report tersely: no preamble or narration; state each fact once; after writing, don't paste the plan back — point to the file and give the status counts.

Format

Every plan is one Markdown file with two parts.

A summary table first, so status is visible at a glance:

## Summary

| #  | Item              | Status |
|----|-------------------|--------|
| 1  |  | Y      |
| 2  |  | N      |
| 3  |  | X      |

Legend: Y implemented · N not yet · X rejected

Keep the Item cell to a short name (≤ ~30 chars); the item's own section carries the detail. Align the table so the | delimiters line up vertically:

• Each column's width is its widest cell's content.
• Header and body cells: one leading and one trailing space around the content,

then pad the trailing side with spaces to the column width.

• Separator row: fill each cell with dashes **flush to the pipes, no

surrounding spaces** (|----|, never | -- |), exactly as many dashes as the cell is wide.

Compute the widths from the widest cell — don't eyeball it — then verify the header, separator, and every body row have identical character width.

Then one section per item, numbered to match the table, each led by a checkbox:

## 1.  — [x]

## 3.  — [ ]  (X: rejected — )

Checkbox to status: [x] = Y (implemented), [ ] = N (not yet). A rejected item keeps [ ], is tagged X, and states why in one line — never delete it.

Create mode

1. Gather the items. From the brief (or a grill-me summary), list the

distinct, independently-checkable pieces of work. Don't invent scope; ask if a piece is unclear.

1. Order by dependency and impact — blocking and highest-impact items first.

1. Write the file to the format above: summary table (every item starts N,

unchecked) then one section per item with acceptance criteria.

1. Confirm the path before writing; use the name the user gives, else

tmp/-plan.md. Never overwrite an existing plan without saying so.

Update mode

1. Read the existing plan. Take its item list and current statuses as ground

truth; never renumber or drop items.

1. Set each item's new status from evidence the user gives or the repo shows:

implemented → [x] / Y; dropped → X + one-line reason; untouched → leave N.

1. Rewrite the summary table and the changed items' checkboxes/tags only; leave

all other prose intact.

1. Report the deltas and the new counts; don't reprint the whole plan.

Rules

• One item = one independently-checkable outcome. Split bundled work.

• Never silently drop a rejected item — mark it X with a reason so the record

stays honest.

• Give each item acceptance criteria — state what proves it done, so Y is

verifiable, not asserted.

• Table and sections stay in sync: same numbering, same statuses.

• Keep summary Item names short and pad the table so columns align — a long

name in one row must not skew the | delimiters (see Format).

Self-learning

Read this skill's lessons and obey them: sibling LESSONS.md, else $HOME/.agent-data/ctx42-skills/lessons/craft/plan-smith.md when this directory is read-only. On a correction or self-caught mistake, append a one-line rule to whichever is writable (creating it) and report where.

Source & license

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

• Author: ctx42
• Source: ctx42/skills
• License: MIT

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