Speckit Plan

---
name: speckit-plan
description: Execute the implementation planning workflow using the plan template
  to generate design artifacts.
argument-hint: "Optional guidance for the planning phase"
compatibility: Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory
metadata:
  author: github-spec-kit
  source: preset:companion-standard
user-invocable: true
disable-model-invocation: false
---

# Speckit Plan Skill

## User Input

```text
$ARGUMENTS
```

You **MUST** consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

## Pre-Execution Checks

**Check for extension hooks (before planning)**:
- Check if `.specify/extensions.yml` exists in the project root.
- If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.before_plan` key
- If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
- Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default.
- For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions:
  - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
  - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
- When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `speckit.git.commit` → `/speckit-git-commit`.
- For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag:
  - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`):
    ```
    ## Extension Hooks

    **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Command: `/{command}`
    Description: {description}

    Prompt: {prompt}
    To execute: `/{command}`
    ```
  - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`):
    ```
    ## Extension Hooks

    **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Executing: `/{command}`
    EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}

    Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline.
    ```
- If no hooks are registered or `.specify/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently

## Outline

1. **Setup**: Run `.specify/scripts/bash/setup-plan.sh --json` from repo root and parse JSON for FEATURE_SPEC, IMPL_PLAN, SPECS_DIR, BRANCH. For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'\''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

2. **Load context**: Read FEATURE_SPEC and `.specify/memory/constitution.md`. Load IMPL_PLAN template (already copied).

3. **Execute plan workflow**: Follow the structure in IMPL_PLAN template to:
   - Fill Technical Context (mark unknowns as "NEEDS CLARIFICATION")
   - Fill Constitution Check section from constitution
   - Evaluate gates (ERROR if violations unjustified)
   - Phase 0: Generate research.md (resolve all NEEDS CLARIFICATION)
   - Phase 1: Generate data-model.md, contracts/, quickstart.md
   - Phase 1: Update agent context by running the agent script
   - Re-evaluate Constitution Check post-design

4. **Stop and report**: Command ends after Phase 2 planning. Report branch, IMPL_PLAN path, and generated artifacts.

5. **Check for extension hooks**: After reporting, check if `.specify/extensions.yml` exists in the project root.
   - If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.after_plan` key
   - If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
   - Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default.
   - For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions:
     - If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
     - If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
   - When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `speckit.git.commit` → `/speckit-git-commit`.
   - For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag:
     - **Optional hook** (`optional: true`):
       ```
       ## Extension Hooks

       **Optional Hook**: {extension}
       Command: `/{command}`
       Description: {description}

       Prompt: {prompt}
       To execute: `/{command}`
       ```
     - **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`):
       ```
       ## Extension Hooks

       **Automatic Hook**: {extension}
       Executing: `/{command}`
       EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
       ```
   - If no hooks are registered or `.specify/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently

## Phases

### Phase 0: Outline & Research

1. **Extract unknowns from Technical Context** above:
   - For each NEEDS CLARIFICATION → research task
   - For each dependency → best practices task
   - For each integration → patterns task

2. **Generate and dispatch research agents**:

   ```text
   For each unknown in Technical Context:
     Task: "Research {unknown} for {feature context}"
   For each technology choice:
     Task: "Find best practices for {tech} in {domain}"
   ```

3. **Consolidate findings** in `research.md` using format:
   - Decision: [what was chosen]
   - Rationale: [why chosen]
   - Alternatives considered: [what else evaluated]

**Output**: research.md with all NEEDS CLARIFICATION resolved

### Phase 1: Design & Contracts

**Prerequisites:** `research.md` complete

1. **Extract entities from feature spec** → `data-model.md`:
   - Entity name, fields, relationships
   - Validation rules from requirements
   - State transitions if applicable

2. **Define interface contracts** (if project has external interfaces) → `/contracts/`:
   - Identify what interfaces the project exposes to users or other systems
   - Document the contract format appropriate for the project type
   - Examples: public APIs for libraries, command schemas for CLI tools, endpoints for web services, grammars for parsers, UI contracts for applications
   - Skip if project is purely internal (build scripts, one-off tools, etc.)

3. **Agent context update**:
   - Update the plan reference between the `<!-- SPECKIT START -->` and `<!-- SPECKIT END -->` markers in `__CONTEXT_FILE__` to point to the plan file created in step 1 (the IMPL_PLAN path)

**Output**: data-model.md, /contracts/*, quickstart.md, updated agent context file

## Key rules

- Use absolute paths for filesystem operations; use project-relative paths for references in documentation and agent context files
- ERROR on gate failures or unresolved clarifications


<!-- speckit-companion:timing -->
## Timing — keep `.spec-context.json` honest

These rules apply to every Companion profile command. The extension records lifecycle timing with its own scripts wherever it can; these rules keep anything you append consistent with that and accurate for any dispatcher (terminal, IDE chat, or the GUI). The model is **finish-only**: each task and each substep records a *single* finish event, and its duration is the gap to the previous finish (or the step's start). Never a `start`+`complete` pair for a task or substep — a pair stamped at one instant is what produces `0s` ticks and bursts.

- **Live timestamps.** When you append a history entry yourself, stamp it by running `date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"` at that moment. Never hand-type a timestamp, never reuse an earlier value, never stamp several entries with one shared value.
- **Self-close — but not specify or implement.** When your own work for **plan, tasks, clarify, or analyze** ends, append `{ "step": "<this step>", "substep": null, "kind": "complete", "by": "ai", "at": "<date -u output>" }`. Do NOT self-close **specify** or **implement**: the extension closes those itself (specify from its own command, implement from the end-of-step hook), so an `ai` complete there would duplicate it.
- **Substeps — one finish each.** For each substep boundary (plan: `research`, `design`; tasks: `generate`) append a single finish `{ "step": "<step>", "substep": "<name>", "kind": "complete", "by": "ai", "at": "<fresh date -u>" }` the moment that substep ends. One entry per substep, each with its own real timestamp — never two substeps sharing a value, never a separate `start`. The delta between consecutive finishes is each substep's duration.
- **Implement — journal each task with a script (finish-only).** As you finish each task: mark it `- [x] **<TaskID>**` in `tasks.md`, append `task_summaries.<TaskID>`, then run (feature dir from `.specify/feature.json`):

  ```bash
  python3 .specify/extensions/companion/scripts/write-context.py --feature-dir <feature_dir> --task <TaskID> --kind complete --by ai
  ```

  This stamps **one** finish event from the real clock — its delta to the previous task's finish is that task's duration. Do NOT hand-author per-task JSON and do NOT write a per-task `start`. The end-of-step hook is a backstop that fills any task you didn't journal (it won't duplicate one you did). Parallel `[P]` tasks: journal each as it finishes; the batch's time is attributed to whichever finishes last (accepted limitation).
- **Never write the next step's start.** Only the next command appends the next step's start entry; writing it here makes the viewer render a phantom "Generating <next>…".
<!-- /speckit-companion:timing -->