Plan Before Code

Guide Claude Code through systematic exploration and planning before implementation. This Anthropic-recommended workflow significantly improves code quality and reduces iterations.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill for:

• Any non-trivial implementation (>30 minutes estimated)
• Features requiring multiple files or components
• Bug fixes that need root cause analysis
• Refactoring existing code
• New features in unfamiliar codebases
• Architecture decisions
• Security-sensitive changes

Trigger phrases: "plan before code", "explore first", "don't code yet", "planning phase", "investigation first", "research before implementing", "should I use AI for this", "LLM suitability", "token cost estimate"

What This Skill Does