Ticket

Create tickets in tmp/tickets/ for Ralph to work on autonomously.

When to Use

• Planning work to delegate to Ralph

• Breaking down a feature into discrete tasks

• Creating a backlog of improvements

• Capturing bugs or issues to fix later

Instructions

1. Ensure Directory Exists

mkdir -p tmp/tickets/done

2. Gather Requirements

Ask the user:

• What needs to be done?

• Any reference number? (e.g., CEL-042, PROJ-123, or just use sequential numbers)

• Any specific files or areas of the codebase?

• Acceptance criteria?

3. Create Ticket

Filename format: {REFERENCE}-{short-description}.md

Examples:

• CEL-042-add-logout-button.md

• 001-fix-header-alignment.md

• PROJ-99-refactor-auth-flow.md

4. Ticket Template

{Title}

{Clear description of what needs to be done}

Context

{Why this is needed, background info}

Files

{Known files that need changes, if any}

Acceptance Criteria

• {Specific requirement 1}
• {Specific requirement 2}

Workflow

• Single ticket: User describes one task, create it

• Batch planning: User describes a feature, help break it into multiple tickets

• Review: Show created tickets, let user refine before finishing

Commands

After creating tickets, suggest:

• ralph status

• see pending tickets

• ralph run

• start working through them

Example Session

User: I need to add user authentication

Assistant: Let me help break that down into tickets. A few questions:

• What auth method? (OAuth, email/password, magic link?)

• Do you have a reference prefix? (e.g., AUTH-001)

• Any existing auth code to work with?

User: Email/password, use AUTH prefix, starting fresh

Assistant: I'll create these tickets:

• AUTH-001-user-model.md

• Create User model with email/password fields

• AUTH-002-signup-endpoint.md

• POST /api/auth/signup

• AUTH-003-login-endpoint.md

• POST /api/auth/login

• AUTH-004-session-middleware.md

• Session handling middleware

• AUTH-005-protected-routes.md

• Add auth checks to protected routes

Want me to create these, or adjust the breakdown first?

User: Create them

Assistant: Created 5 tickets:

• tmp/tickets/AUTH-001-user-model.md

• tmp/tickets/AUTH-002-signup-endpoint.md

• ...

Run ralph status to see them, or ralph run to start working.

Notes

• Keep tickets focused and atomic

• One clear deliverable per ticket

• Ralph works one ticket at a time

• Tickets should be completable in a single session