Plan Mode

Overview

Create a disk-backed editable Markdown plan, research the codebase into it, resolve material questions, and keep file references and todos current. The plan file records the work; the user's instructions determine whether to stop at planning or continue into implementation.

Read references/architecture.md only for complex planning cases involving tool policy, read-only subagent exploration, diagrams, multi-system data flow, or non-trivial handoff from an approved plan to execution.

Core Contract

Resolve the requested phase from the conversation before applying the planning boundary:

• For a plan-only request, prepare the plan and stop before implementation. A request to research or plan does not authorize code changes.
• For a request to plan and implement, or to execute an already approved plan, record the existing authorization and continue through the authorized work. Do not require a second approval merely because a plan file was created or this skill was loaded.
• Do not select this skill solely because an implementation spans many files or needs research. Use an ordinary working plan within the existing task when that is sufficient.

During a planning-only phase: