Plan Enforcer Combobulate

Plan Enforcer Discuss

Public front-end name is discuss -> draft -> review. This skill file and packet path stay on legacy combobulate naming for compatibility.

An intent-capture gate. The job is to turn a fuzzy request ("clean up the auth flow", "make the onboarding better") into a concrete written intent packet before anyone drafts tasks against it. Mis-scoped plans fail downstream no matter how rigorous the drafting is.

This skill is the "brainstorming HARD-GATE equivalent" discussed in moat-todo, but mechanism-distinct: the output is a file, not a conversational acknowledgment. plan-enforcer-draft reads the packet on its next invocation.

When to use

Use this when any of:

• The user's request spans multiple outcomes that could each be their

own plan ("add OAuth, fix the session timeout, and rewrite the middleware tests")

• The request is framed in solution language without naming the

problem ("let's add Redis" without "because X is slow under Y load")

• Success criteria are implicit or aspirational ("make it faster",

"make it more reliable") without measurable targets

• The relevant codebase has more than one plausible interpretation of

the request and the wrong interpretation would waste a phase

Skip this skill when the request is already concrete ("add a /healthz endpoint returning 200 OK"), the user says "skip discuss" or "skip combobulate" or similar, or a packet at .plan-enforcer/combobulate.md already exists and is recent (mtime "`

• same fallback for manual rows:

node "$HOME/.claude/skills/plan-enforcer/src/awareness-cli.js" add --intent ""

• do not paraphrase those quotes into awareness rows; exact text

only

Recommended packet shape

# 

## Source Ask
> 

## Normalized Goal

## Non-Negotiables
- NN1: 

## Hidden Contract Candidates
- HC1: 

## Plausible Interpretations
- PI1: 
- PI2: 

## Chosen Interpretation

## Rejected / Forbidden Narrowings
- FN1: 

## In Scope
- 
- 

## Out of Scope
- 

## Constraints (optional)
- 

## Success Signals (optional)
- 

## Drift Risks (optional)
- DR1: 

## Proof Requirements (optional)
- PR1: 

## Draft Handoff (optional)
- phase shape hint: 
- planning red lines: 

Recommended method

Run in three passes:

1. Ask capture

• preserve the source ask
• normalize the goal
• extract obvious constraints and scope

1. Meaning defense

• list plausible interpretations
• choose one or ask the user
• name forbidden narrowings and drift risks

1. Draft handoff

• define success signals
• define proof requirements
• suggest phase shape without turning it into tasks

Anti-patterns

Producing a packet that looks like a plan is the failure mode. Smells:

• Numbered task list in the packet -> stop, this is the drafter's job
• Time estimates or file paths in the packet -> stop, too early
• More than ~600 words with no real ambiguity handling -> too much

summary, not enough structure

• Success signals that are aspirational ("make it feel fast") rather

than observable ("p95 under 200ms under 50 rps")

• Missing Rejected / Forbidden Narrowings on a risky or fuzzy ask
• Missing Proof Requirements when later verification will matter

Handoff

After writing the packet:

• Tell the user the path (.plan-enforcer/combobulate.md).
• Summarize the key decisions captured in one line per major section.
• Offer next step in public wording: "want me to draft the plan

against this discuss packet?" and wait. Do not auto-invoke the drafter.

Source & license

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

• Author: jccidc
• Source: jccidc/.plan-enforcer
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://www.jccidc.com/

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