Paths: File paths (shared/ , references/ , ../ln-* ) are relative to skills repo root. If not found at CWD, locate this SKILL.md directory and go up one level for repo root. If shared/ is missing, fetch files via WebFetch from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/levnikolaevich/claude-code-skills/master/skills/{path} .

Test Planning Orchestrator

Type: L2 Coordinator Category: 5XX Quality

Runtime-backed test-planning coordinator. The runtime owns skip/reuse gates, worker summary tracking, and deterministic resume.

Inputs

Input Required Source Description

storyId

Yes args, git branch, kanban, user Story to process

--simplified

No args Skip research (ln-521) and manual testing (ln-522). Run only auto-test planning (ln-523). Used in fast-track mode.

Resolution: Story Resolution Chain. Status filter: To Review

Purpose & Scope

• Orchestrate test planning: research → manual testing → automated test planning

• Delegate to workers: ln-521-test-researcher, ln-522-manual-tester, ln-523-auto-test-planner

• No direct work — only coordination and delegation via Skill tool

Runtime Contract

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/coordinator_runtime_contract.md , shared/references/test_planning_runtime_contract.md , shared/references/test_planning_summary_contract.md , shared/references/test_planning_worker_runtime_contract.md , shared/references/task_plan_worker_runtime_contract.md

Runtime family: test-planning-runtime

Identifier:

• Story ID

Phases:

• PHASE_0_CONFIG

• PHASE_1_DISCOVERY

• PHASE_2_RESEARCH

• PHASE_3_MANUAL_TESTING

• PHASE_4_AUTO_TEST_PLANNING

• PHASE_5_FINALIZE

• PHASE_6_SELF_CHECK

Worker summary contract:

• ln-521 , ln-522 , ln-523 receive deterministic child runId plus exact summaryArtifactPath

• checkpoint child runtime metadata before waiting for the artifact

• each worker writes a test-planning-worker summary envelope before terminal outcome

• ln-520 consumes worker summaries, not free-text worker prose

When to Use

This skill should be used when:

• Story passed implementation and regression work and needs full test planning

• All implementation tasks in Story are Done

• Need complete test planning (research + manual + auto)

Prerequisites:

• All implementation Tasks in Story status = Done

• Regression tests passed (ln-513)

• Code quality checked (ln-511)

Pipeline Overview

ln-520-test-planner (Orchestrator) │ ├─→ ln-521-test-researcher │ └─→ Posts "## Test Research: {Feature}" comment │ ├─→ ln-522-manual-tester │ └─→ Creates tests/manual/ scripts + "## Manual Testing Results" comment │ └─→ ln-523-auto-test-planner └─→ Creates test task in Linear via ln-301/ln-302

Workflow

Phase 0: Resolve Inputs

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/input_resolution_pattern.md

• Resolve storyId: Run Story Resolution Chain per guide (status filter: [To Review]).

Phase 1: Discovery

• Auto-discover Team ID from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md

• Validate Story ID

Phase 2: Research Delegation

Simplified mode gate:

• IF --simplified flag AND research comment already exists on Story: Skip Phase 2 (research). Proceed to Phase 4.

• IF --simplified flag AND no research comment: Skip Phase 2. Proceed to Phase 4 (ln-523 will generate minimal inline research).

Check if research exists:

• Search Linear comments for "## Test Research:" header

• If found → skip to Phase 3

If no research:

• Compute deterministic child run inputs for ln-521

• Start test-planning-worker-runtime and checkpoint child_run before delegation

• Invoke ln-521-test-researcher via managed worker run

• Pass: Story ID

• Wait for completion

• Read only the resulting test-planning-worker artifact

• Verify research comment created

Phase 3: Manual Testing Delegation

Simplified mode gate:

• IF --simplified flag: Skip Phase 3 (manual testing). Proceed to Phase 4.

Check if manual testing done:

• Search Linear comments for "## Manual Testing Results" header

• If found with all AC passed → skip to Phase 4

If manual testing needed:

• Compute deterministic child run inputs for ln-522

• Start test-planning-worker-runtime and checkpoint child_run before delegation

• Invoke ln-522-manual-tester via managed worker run

• Pass: Story ID

• Wait for completion

• Read only the resulting test-planning-worker artifact

• Verify results comment created

If any AC failed:

• Stop pipeline

• Report to ln-500: "Manual testing failed, Story needs fixes"

Phase 4: Auto Test Planning Delegation

Invoke auto test planner:

• Compute deterministic child run inputs for ln-523

• Start test-planning-worker-runtime and checkpoint child_run before delegation

• Invoke ln-523-auto-test-planner via managed worker run

• Pass: Story ID

• Wait for completion

• Read only the resulting test-planning-worker artifact

Verify results:

• Test task created in Linear (or updated if existed)

• Return task URL to ln-500

Phase 5: Report to Caller

• Return summary to ln-500:

• Research: completed / skipped (existed)

• Manual testing: passed / failed

• Test task: created / updated + URL

Runtime Summary Artifact

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/coordinator_summary_contract.md

Write .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{run_id}/story-tests/{story_id}.json before finishing.

Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)

CRITICAL: All delegations use Agent tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose" for context isolation, but every managed worker run must be prepared through test-planning-worker-runtime first.

Phase Worker Purpose

2 ln-521-test-researcher Runtime-backed managed Agent call; artifact is the only completion signal

3 ln-522-manual-tester Runtime-backed managed Agent call; artifact is the only completion signal

4 ln-523-auto-test-planner Runtime-backed managed Agent call; artifact is the only completion signal

Prompt template:

Agent(description: "[Phase N] test planning via ln-52X", prompt: "Execute test planning worker.

Step 1: Start worker runtime: node shared/scripts/test-planning-worker-runtime/cli.mjs start --skill {worker} --story {storyId} --manifest-file .hex-skills/test-planning/{worker}--{storyId}_manifest.json --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{parent_run_id}/test-planning-worker/{worker}--{storyId}.json

Step 2: Checkpoint child metadata: node shared/scripts/test-planning-runtime/cli.mjs checkpoint --story {storyId} --phase PHASE_N --payload '{"child_run":{"worker":"{worker}","run_id":"{childRunId}","summary_artifact_path":".hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{parent_run_id}/test-planning-worker/{worker}--{storyId}.json"}}'

Step 3: Invoke worker: Skill(skill: "ln-52X-{worker}", args: "{storyId} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{parent_run_id}/test-planning-worker/{worker}--{storyId}.json")

CONTEXT: Story: {storyId}", subagent_type: "general-purpose")

Anti-Patterns:

• ❌ Direct Agent invocation without child runtime start + child_run checkpoint

• ❌ Running web searches directly (delegate to ln-521)

• ❌ Creating bash test scripts directly (delegate to ln-522)

• ❌ Creating test tasks directly (delegate to ln-523)

• ❌ Skipping any phase without justification

TodoWrite format (mandatory)

• Resolve Story and prerequisites (pending)
• Check or reuse research state (pending)
• Start ln-521 child runtime, checkpoint metadata, or skip deterministically (pending)
• Check or reuse manual testing state (pending)
• Start ln-522 child runtime, checkpoint metadata, or skip deterministically (pending)
• Start ln-523 child runtime, checkpoint metadata, and verify test-task result (pending)
• Write story-tests summary artifact (pending)
• Report final planning outcome (pending)

Critical Rules

• No direct work: Orchestrator only delegates, never executes tasks itself

• Sequential execution: 521 → 522 → 523 (each depends on previous)

• Fail-fast: If manual testing fails, stop pipeline and report

• Skip detection: Check for existing comments before invoking workers

• Single responsibility: Each worker does one thing well

• Every managed worker run must start through test-planning-worker-runtime before the Agent wrapper invokes the worker.

Definition of Done

• Story ID validated

• Research phase: ln-521 invoked OR existing comment found

• Manual testing phase: ln-522 invoked OR existing results found

• Auto test planning phase: ln-523 invoked

• Child test-planning runtimes started and checkpointed before every managed worker invoke

• Test task created/updated in Linear

• Summary prepared with phase results and test task URL

• Story-test summary artifact written to the shared location

Output: Summary with phase results + test task URL

Phase 6: Meta-Analysis

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/meta_analysis_protocol.md

Skill type: planning-coordinator . Run after all phases complete. Output to chat using the planning-coordinator format.

Reference Files

• Workers: ../ln-521-test-researcher/SKILL.md , ../ln-522-manual-tester/SKILL.md , ../ln-523-auto-test-planner/SKILL.md

• Risk-based testing: shared/references/risk_based_testing_guide.md

Version: 4.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-15