Writing Plans

This generates detailed implementation plans formatted as markdown files with the assumption that whoever's executing has zero context about your codebase. It's opinionated about process (DRY, YAGNI, TDD, frequent commits) and structures everything as bite-sized tasks with specific file references and testing instructions. Saves plans to a dated docs/plans directory and works best in a dedicated worktree. The philosophy here is treating the implementer like a skilled but context-free contractor who needs explicit guidance on what to touch and how to verify it works. If you're working with AI coding agents or trying to make your planning more executable by others, this creates the scaffolding to hand off work without endless back and forth.

skills.sh installs: 187
GitHub stars: 79
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add bobmatnyc/claude-mpm-skills --skill 'Writing Plans' --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

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 Writing Plans skill to create the implementation plan."

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

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