Planning and task breakdown

When to use

• Spec or requirements exist but work is too large to start
• Need dependency order, checkpoints, or parallelization notes

When not to use

• Obvious single-file change with clear acceptance criteria

Process

1. Read-only plan mode — map codebase patterns; no code yet
2. Dependency graph — foundations before dependents
3. Vertical slices — prefer end-to-end thin slices over horizontal layers
4. Write tasks — each with acceptance + verify + files + size
5. Checkpoints — every 2-3 tasks, full verify