To Local Tickets

---
name: to-local-tickets
description: Break a spec into tracer-bullet tickets. Trigger /to-local-tickets.
argument-hint: "<spec path or name>"
---

# To Local Tickets

Break a spec into a set of **tickets**: tracer-bullet vertical slices, each declaring the tickets that **block** it.

A spec path or name is required as an argument. No spec → stop and tell the user to provide a spec.

## Process

### 1. Gather context

Read the full body of the spec (`~/.claude/specs/<name>/spec.md`), plus whatever is already in the conversation context.

### 2. Explore the codebase (optional)

If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code. Ticket titles and descriptions should use the project's domain glossary vocabulary, and respect ADRs in the area you're touching.

Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier. "Make the change easy, then make the easy change."

### 3. Draft vertical slices

Break the work into **tracer bullet** tickets.

<vertical-slice-rules>

- Each slice cuts a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests): vertical, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer
- A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own
- Each slice is sized to fit in a single fresh context window
- Any prefactoring should be done first

</vertical-slice-rules>

Give each ticket its **blocking edges**: the other tickets that must complete before it can start. A ticket with no blockers can start immediately.

**Wide refactors are the exception to vertical slicing.** A **wide refactor** is one mechanical change (rename a column, retype a shared symbol) whose **blast radius** fans across the whole codebase, so a single edit breaks thousands of call sites at once and no vertical slice can land green. Don't force it into a tracer bullet; sequence it as **expand–contract**. First expand: add the new form beside the old so nothing breaks. Then migrate the call sites over in batches sized by blast radius (per package, per directory), each batch its own ticket blocked by the expand, keeping CI green batch to batch because the old form still exists. Finally contract: delete the old form once no caller remains, in a ticket blocked by every migrate batch. When even the batches can't stay green alone, keep the sequence but let them share an integration branch that all block a final integrate-and-verify ticket; green is promised only there.

### 4. Publish the tickets locally

If the draft is a single ticket, write nothing: the spec is enough.

Otherwise write one file per ticket under `~/.claude/specs/<name>/tickets/<NN>-<slug>.md`, numbered from `01` in dependency order (blockers first). Each file's "Blocked by" lists the numbers/titles it depends on. Use the per-ticket file template below: one ticket per file, never a single combined file.

Work the **frontier**: any ticket whose blockers are all done. For a purely linear chain that means top to bottom.

<local-ticket-template>

# <NN>: <Ticket title>

> Disclaimer: this ticket is a snapshot from planning, YYYY-MM-DD (fill with today's date). Great for context
> and intent, but a lot could change since. Code is the source of truth. The older the ticket, the less it matches reality.

**What to build:** the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective, not a layer-by-layer implementation list.

**Blocked by:** the numbers/titles of the tickets that gate this one, or "None (can start immediately)".

- [ ] Acceptance criterion 1
- [ ] Acceptance criterion 2

</local-ticket-template>

Avoid specific file paths or code snippets: they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts, not a working demo, just the important bits.

### 5. List the tickets in the spec

Append a `## Tickets` list to the end of `spec.md`: one line per ticket, `<NN>-<slug>`, then a description of up to 6 words.

```markdown
## Tickets

- 01-blocked-country-model - store blocked countries per team
- 02-booking-guard - reject bookings from blocked countries
- 03-settings-ui - admins edit blocked country list
```