Writing Plans

Overview

Write comprehensive implementation plans assuming the engineer has zero context for our codebase and questionable taste. Document everything they need to know: which files to touch for each task, code, testing, docs they might need to check, how to test it. Give them the whole plan as bite-sized tasks. DRY. YAGNI. TDD. Frequent commits.

Assume they are a skilled developer, but know almost nothing about our toolset or problem domain. Assume they don't know good test design very well.

Announce at start: "I'm using the evo-writing-plans skill to create the implementation plan."

Context: This should be run in a dedicated worktree (created by evo-brainstorming skill).

Save plans to: docs/evo/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature-name>.md

Bite-Sized Task Granularity

Each step is one action (2-5 minutes):

• "Write the failing test" - step

• "Run it to make sure it fails" - step

• "Implement the minimal code to make the test pass" - step

• "Run the tests and make sure they pass" - step

Plan Document Header

Every plan MUST start with this header:

[Feature Name] Implementation Plan

For Claude: REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use evo-executing-plans to implement this plan task-by-task.

Goal: [One sentence describing what this builds]

Architecture: [2-3 sentences about approach]

Tech Stack: [Key technologies/libraries]

Task Structure

Task N: [Component Name]

Files:

• Create: exact/path/to/file.py
• Modify: exact/path/to/existing.py:123-145
• Test: tests/exact/path/to/test.py

Step 1: Write the failing test

def test_specific_behavior():
    result = function(input)
    assert result == expected

Step 2: Run test to verify it fails

Run: pytest tests/path/test.py::test_name -v Expected: FAIL with "function not defined"

Step 3: Write minimal implementation

def function(input):
    return expected

Step 4: Run test to verify it passes

Run: pytest tests/path/test.py::test_name -v Expected: PASS

Step 5: Commit

git add tests/path/test.py src/path/file.py
git commit -m "feat: add specific feature"

Remember

• Exact file paths always

• Complete code in plan (not "add validation")

• Exact commands with expected output

• Reference relevant skills with @ syntax

• DRY, YAGNI, TDD, frequent commits

Execution Handoff

After saving the plan, offer execution choice:

"Plan complete and saved to docs/evo/<filename>.md . Two execution options:

1. This Session - I execute using evo-executing-plans here, batch execution with checkpoints

2. New Session (recommended) - Open new session with evo-executing-plans, batch execution with checkpoints

Which approach?"

If This Session chosen:

• Stay in this session

• Fresh subagent per task + code review

If New Session chosen:

• Guide them to open new session in worktree

• REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: New session uses evo-executing-plans