Ccc Plan

/ccc-plan — Feature Planning Flow

User has an idea. Job: turn it into a structured plan file before any code gets written. We cascade through a spec interview, then fire the planner agent in the background to produce the plan at the session-bound path returned by EnterPlanMode — so it renders in Claude Code Desktop's native Plan pane. Return a one-line summary + path.

This is the "evals before specs before code" gate. Every multi-day feature routes through here.

Step 0 — Detect and enter plan mode (ALWAYS first)

Before showing any UI, determine the session plan file path:

If "Plan File Info" block is present in the system-reminder context (Desktop already activated plan mode for this session, surfacing a path like ~/.claude/plans/.md):

• Capture that path as PLAN_PATH
• Do NOT call EnterPlanMode again — it is already active

If NO "Plan File Info" block is detected:

• Call the EnterPlanMode tool — this switches the session into plan mode
• EnterPlanMode returns the session-bound path (e.g., ~/.claude/plans/spirited-oak-forest.md)
• Capture that returned path as PLAN_PATH

PLAN_PATH is the canonical write target for the rest of this skill. Do not write to any other path under ~/.claude/plans/.

> Why this matters: Desktop's native Plan pane only reads the session-bound path it created. Writing to a fixed ~/.claude/plans/ccc--.md path produces a plan the pane cannot find — it shows "no plan yet" even after the skill runs.

Step 1 — Mark chapter

Call mcp__ccd_session__mark_chapter with:

• title: "Feature planning"
• summary: one-line summary of what the user wants to plan (infer from any argument passed, or use "Structured feature plan" if unknown yet)

Response shape (EVERY time, after steps 0-1)

Output exactly these three sections in order:

1. Brand header (one line, markdown)

**CC Commander** · v{VERSION} · Planner · spec-first, plan-before-code

Read VERSION from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/.claude-plugin/plugin.json.

2. Context strip (one paragraph, markdown)

Detect planning context with a single parallel Bash call:

• ls ~/.claude/plans/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l → prior plans
• git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null → current branch
• ls tasks/todo.md 2>/dev/null → active task list
• git log --oneline -5 2>/dev/null → recent activity

Render:

> 🧭 Planner: branch ` · prior plans · tasks/todo.md: · last commit: `

If no project context: "🧭 No repo detected — planning will write to session plan path only."

3. The picker — AskUserQuestion with 4 paths

Never render a numbered list. Never ask the user to type anything but free-form answers inside AskUserQuestion follow-ups. Call AskUserQuestion:

question: "What kind of plan are we writing?"
header: "CC Commander planner"
multiSelect: false
options:
  - label: "💡 New feature from a description"
    description: "You describe the idea — we interview, then produce a full implementation plan."
    preview: "5 clarifying questions → planner agent → plan file. ~3-5 minutes."
  - label: "🐛 Plan a bug fix"
    description: "Bug-focused plan — reproduction, hypothesis, fix scope, regression tests, operationalization."
    preview: "Uses debugger + planner agents. Iron Law: no fix without root cause."
  - label: "♻️ Refactor existing code"
    description: "Refactor plan with before/after contracts, test-first safety net, incremental steps."
    preview: "Reads the code first, then plans. Safer for big changes."
  - label: "📌 Build from a Linear issue"
    description: "Pull a CC- issue — we turn the title + description into a scoped plan with acceptance criteria."
    preview: "Pulls via the linear MCP. Writes CC- into the plan slug."

Recommendation logic (⭐):

• Argument is quoted text → treat as "New feature" description, skip picker, jump to interview
• Recent commits show test failures OR "fix:" / "bug:" prefix → ⭐ "Plan a bug fix"
• User came from /ccc-review with findings → ⭐ "Refactor existing code"
• Linear MCP connected + CC- branch prefix → ⭐ "Build from a Linear issue"
• Otherwise → ⭐ "New feature from a description"

Handle the selection — spec interview cascade

Each path runs 3-5 AskUserQuestion calls in sequence, each with ≤4 options. User always has a free-form "Other — let me type it" option when the answer doesn't fit.

New feature path (5 questions)

1. "What's the user problem?" — Saving time / Earning revenue / Removing friction / Other (type)
2. "Who's the primary user?" — Solo dev / Team of 2-10 / Enterprise / Public/consumer
3. "What's the scope?" — Prototype (1 day) / MVP (1 week) / Production (1 month) / Unsure
4. "What does done look like?" — Demo-able / First paying user / Tests green + deployed / Other
5. "What's the biggest risk?" — Tech unknowns / Scope creep / Integration pain / User adoption

Bug fix path (4 questions)

1. "Can you reproduce it?" — Yes every time / Sometimes / Once / Not yet
2. "Where does it manifest?" — UI / API / Background job / Data layer
3. "What's the blast radius?" — Single user / Cohort / All users / Unknown
4. "Root cause confidence?" — Known / Strong hypothesis / Weak hypothesis / No idea

Refactor path (4 questions)

1. "What area are we refactoring?" — One file / One module / Cross-cutting / Full app
2. "Why now?" — Performance / Maintainability / New requirement / Technical debt
3. "Test coverage today?" — >80% / 40-80% / -.md` path
4. First line of plan file must be the trace comment: ``
5. Note that executing this plan should be workflow-first — delegate substantive steps to agents/workflows per commander/cowork-plugin/rules/workflow-first.md
6. Return ONLY: one-line summary

While the agent runs, show a progress note in the main thread: "🔄 planner agent drafting your plan — 30-60 seconds..."

Plan file template (agent output format)

The planner agent writes markdown in this shape:

# 

**Date:** 
**Path:** 
**Branch:** 
**Linear:** 

## Problem statement

## Evals — what does done look like?

- [ ] 
- [ ] 
- [ ] 

## Evals — what does broken look like?

- 
- 

## Plan

### Phase 1 — 
- [ ]  (est. )
- [ ]  (est. )

### Phase 2 — 
- [ ] 

### Phase 3 — 
- [ ] 

## Recommended agents

- **** — 
- **** — 

## Risks

| Risk | Likelihood | Mitigation |
|------|------------|------------|
|  | H/M/L |  |

## Next command

/ccc-build # or /ccc-review or /ccc-ship

---

Generated by `/ccc-plan` — 

Mark chapter "Plan drafted"

After the planner agent returns, call mcp__ccd_session__mark_chapter with:

• title: "Plan drafted — pending approval"
• summary: the one-line summary returned by the planner agent

Signal Desktop — ExitPlanMode

Call the ExitPlanMode tool. This signals Claude Code Desktop that the plan is ready for review. The native Plan pane then surfaces the plan and presents approve/modify/reject UI.

> Why ExitPlanMode is required: Writing the file alone is not enough. The Plan pane only activates after ExitPlanMode is called. Skipping this call means the user sees "no plan yet" even though the file was written correctly.

Final response in the main thread

After ExitPlanMode returns:

✅ Plan written to the session plan path (visible in the Desktop Plan pane)
   

The Plan pane is now active — approve, modify, or reject from there.
Next: `/ccc-build ` to start, or review the plan first.

Then offer one more AskUserQuestion:

- "🔨 Start building now (go to /ccc-build)"
- "👀 Show me the plan in chat"
- "📌 File this to Linear as a new issue"
- "↩️ Done for now"

Optional — Save project-local copy

After ExitPlanMode, ask:

AskUserQuestion:
  question: "Save a copy to tasks/plans/.md for git tracking?"
  options:
    - label: "✅ Yes — save a project copy"
      description: "Copies the plan to tasks/plans/.md. Good for git history + team sharing."
    - label: "⏭️ No — session copy is enough"
      description: "Skip. The session plan path is already written."

If yes:

1. Derive `` as kebab-case summary of the feature (6-8 words max)
2. Run mkdir -p tasks/plans/ via Bash
3. Copy PLAN_PATH → tasks/plans/.md
4. Confirm: "📄 Project copy saved to tasks/plans/.md"

This is a second artifact — not a replacement for PLAN_PATH. The Desktop Plan pane reads PLAN_PATH; the project copy is for git history and team sharing.

TodoWrite — Phase 1 tasks

After the flow completes (with or without the optional copy), call TodoWrite with the Phase 1 tasks extracted from the plan. Mark them all as pending. This seeds the session todo list so the user can track progress immediately.

Anti-patterns — DO NOT do these

• ❌ Dump a 500-line markdown spec in the chat — always write to file
• ❌ Render numbered lists of questions and ask user to type answers — always AskUserQuestion
• ❌ Output HTML artifacts expecting Cowork Desktop to render them
• ❌ Block on the planner agent — fire it and let the user see progress
• ❌ Write the plan in the foreground — delegate to subagent for clean context
• ❌ Skip the eval section — "what does done look like" is non-negotiable
• ❌ Reference legacy CLI planning — no ccc --plan or ccc build --spec commands
• ❌ Write plan to ~/.claude/plans/ccc--.md (fixed name). Use the session-bound path from EnterPlanMode instead — Desktop's Plan pane only reads the path it created, not fixed filenames.
• ❌ Skip ExitPlanMode. Writing the file alone does NOT trigger the Plan pane. The tool call is required to signal Desktop that the plan is ready for review.

Brand rules

• Always read VERSION from plugin.json — never hardcode.
• Plan files always go to PLAN_PATH (session-bound from EnterPlanMode) — never to a fixed ccc- path.
• Slug kebab-case, 6-8 words max — for optional project-local copy only.
• Every plan has evals section — both success and failure criteria.
• Emoji-forward, PM Consultant voice — decision up front, reasoning terse.
• Trace comment first line — `` for auditability.

Tips for the agent executing this skill

1. Step 0 is non-negotiable — always detect or enter plan mode before anything else. PLAN_PATH must be set before the planner agent runs.
2. The interview is 3-5 turns. Keep questions tight — the planner agent fills in detail.
3. Pass the full PLAN_PATH to the planner subagent in the prompt. The agent must write to that exact path, not construct its own.
4. If EnterPlanMode fails (tool not available in this context), fall back: write to ~/.claude/plans/ccc-$(date +%Y-%m-%d)-.md and note in the response that the Desktop Plan pane may not detect it automatically.
5. If the Linear path is picked and MCP isn't connected, fall back: ask the user to paste the issue title + description free-form.
6. If the user passes a quoted idea as argument (e.g. /ccc-plan "magic link auth"), skip the picker AND question 1 — use that as the problem statement and start at question 2.
7. Pass model: sonnet to the Agent tool — opus is overkill for plan synthesis.
8. Always call ExitPlanMode after writing — even if the user dismisses early. The Plan pane only activates on the tool call.

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Bottom line: detect/enter plan mode → mark chapter → 4-path picker → 3-5 cascading questions → planner agent writes plan to session path → mark chapter "drafted" → ExitPlanMode triggers Desktop Plan pane → optional project copy → TodoWrite phase 1 tasks. User never sees a wall of spec in chat; it's always an artifact surfaced in the native Plan pane.

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> ⚙️ Fable contract: plan before build · verifier ≠ worker · prove before alarm · loops need gates · leave durable state — rules/fable-method.md

Source & license

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

• Author: KevinZai
• Source: KevinZai/commander
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://commanderplugin.com

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