forge-plan

Phase 2 of 4 in the Forge pipeline (research → plan → implement → ship). Input is the research document from [[forge-research]]; output is plans/drafts/<slug>.md plus a Beads issue graph.

The plan is not just a file — it is a Beads-tracked, TDD-shaped build sequence with explicit points where the user can see the work running.

When to Use

• The user runs /forge-plan <slug> or /forgemaster enters its plan phase.
• A plans/research/<slug>.md exists (or the user wants to plan a researched feature).

Prerequisites

bun run forge:phase-gate plan --slug <slug>     # verifies research artifact exists
cat plans/research/<slug>.md                    # the source of truth for this plan

If no research document exists, stop and tell the user to run /forge-research <slug> first. Do not invent research.

--smith <name>: when the run was started with it, add --smith <name> to every forge:phase-gate call in this skill. The phase gate refuses a name that is not configured and records the smith on the run as its executor. It does not change the model of the session doing the work (.claude/workflows/forge.md, --smith).

Process

1. Absorb the research

Read plans/research/<slug>.md end to end. The plan must be consistent with its decisions, constraints, and non-goals. If you find a contradiction, surface it instead of silently diverging.

2. Set up TDD for the feature

Read and follow the TDD skill at .claude/skills/tdd/SKILL.md (see also its tests.md, interface-design.md, deep-modules.md). Apply its discipline to this feature:

• List behaviors to test, not implementation steps — phrase each as a specification ("user can save settings and they survive a refresh").
• Design the public interface for testability (small interface, deep implementation).
• Plan vertical slices: one failing test → minimal code → repeat. Reject horizontal slicing (all tests first, then all code).
• Mark the tracer-bullet behavior: the first end-to-end test that proves the path works.
• Name the test files that will hold these behaviors, adjacent to source (*.test.ts).

Capture this as the plan's Test Strategy section (below).

3. Design the build sequence with demo checkpoints

Break the work into ordered steps. Group steps into checkpoints — points where something is runnable and observable. Each checkpoint must name a concrete command or action the user can run to see progress (a test, a dev server route, a CLI invocation). Mark a checkpoint (no live demo) only when the work genuinely has no observable surface yet.

Each checkpoint becomes one Beads task, so give each one two more things:

• A complexity label: complexity:low, complexity:medium or complexity:high. It names the bench of smiths a task is routed to when its value is handed to forge:exec --complexity (.claude/protocols/model-tier-policy.md). Nothing reads the label from Beads yet.
• A file map: the globs the task may touch, one per line under a Files heading, relative to the repository root. The implement phase holds the worker to it. Nothing reserves files from it yet: it is written now so that tasks whose maps do not overlap can later be built at the same time. Keep it as narrow as the work allows.

The file map has one format, read by parseFileMap in scripts/scheduler/filemap.ts:

• A glob is a relative path with forward slashes. * stands for any run of characters inside one path segment, ? for one character, and a segment that is exactly ** for any number of segments (src/**/a.ts, not src/**a.ts); every other character stands for itself. {a,b} alternation is not part of the format: write one glob per line.
• Nothing but globs under the heading. A line with a space in it, an absolute path, a .. segment, a backslash, a <placeholder> or a # note is refused, and one refused line refuses the whole map.
• Blank lines are skipped, and so is a one-line <!-- … --> comment (a comment that wraps onto a second line is refused); a list bullet and backticks around a glob are dropped; dir/ means everything under dir.
• The section ends at the next heading (## or deeper) or horizontal rule, so put the Files block last in the checkpoint.
• The template starts every map at **, the whole repository: the map of a task that could touch anything, which overlaps every other task. Replace it with the paths the task really touches. A map that has to stay at ** says why in a one-line <!-- … --> comment above it.

A worked example is in references/example-plan.md. Step 4 ends with the command that checks every checkpoint's map once the plan is written.

4. Write the plan document

Write to plans/drafts/<slug>.md (matches the existing /plan convention):

# Plan: <slug> — <feature title>
Generated: <date>
Repo: <repo>
Phase: plan (2/4) — from plans/research/<slug>.md

## Summary
<~100 tokens: what is being built, why, the approach>

## Existing Code to Reuse
- `path` — <how it is reused> (from research)

## TDD Strategy (red-green-refactor)
Following .claude/skills/tdd. Behaviors are tested through public interfaces, vertically.

| # | Behavior (as a spec) | Test file | Tracer? |
|---|----------------------|-----------|---------|
| 1 | <observable behavior> | `x.test.ts` | yes |
| 2 | <observable behavior> | `x.test.ts` | no |

Refactor watch-list (after green): <duplication / deep-module opportunities>.

## Build Sequence & Checkpoints
### Checkpoint A — <name>
Label: `complexity:<low|medium|high>`
Steps:
1. <step> — `path` — <change>
2. <step> — `path` — <change>
Demo: `bun test path/x.test.ts` (or `bun run dev` → /route) — user sees <observable result>.

#### Files
<!-- This task's file map: one glob per line, relative to the repository root. Replace ** with the paths this task touches. -->
**

### Checkpoint B — <name>
Label: `complexity:<low|medium|high>`
...
Demo: `(no live demo)` — internal refactor, verified by tests only.

#### Files
<!-- Replace ** with the paths this task touches. -->
**

## Files to Create / Modify
| File | Create/Modify | Purpose |
|------|---------------|---------|

## Validation Commands
\`\`\`bash
bun run typecheck
bun test <paths>
\`\`\`

## Beads Issue Map
| Beads ID | Type | Title | Depends on | Priority | Complexity |
|----------|------|-------|-----------|----------|------------|

## Estimated Scope
- Files: <n new / n modified>; Complexity: Low|Medium|High; Checkpoints: <n>

Then check the maps, before any task is created from them. The parser reads only the first Files section of a text, so a plan is checked checkpoint by checkpoint, and a refusal names the line of the plan:

bun run scripts/scheduler/filemap-cli.ts plans/drafts/<slug>.md --plan   # exit 0: every checkpoint has a usable map

5. Plan review loop

Before creating Beads issues, run a review-plan feedback loop to catch false premises early. Spawn a review-plan sub-agent (Agent tool, subagent_type: "Explore", prompt: "Review plans/drafts/<slug>.md using the review-plan skill"). Loop up to 2 turns; stop early when the verdict is SOUND (zero Blocker + High + Medium findings).

turn = 0
loop:
  1. Spawn Agent (review-plan skill) → returns verdict + findings by severity
  2. Log: bd comments add <id> "review: plan <VERDICT> — <#B>/<#H>/<#M>/<#L>"
     (<id>: the issue the run was started from; if there is none yet, keep the lines and log them
     on the feature once step 6 has created it)
  3. If SOUND (no Blocker/High/Medium):  break — plan is clean
  4. turn += 1
  5. If turn >= 2:  break — maximum turns reached
  6. Address every Blocker, High, and Medium finding by editing plans/drafts/<slug>.md
     Log: bd comments add <id> "worklog: plan revised after review turn <turn> — <summary>"
  7. Continue loop

After the loop, tell the user the final verdict and turn count (e.g. "SOUND after 1 review" or "NEEDS REVISION — 2 review turns exhausted"). If Medium+ findings remain after 2 turns, surface them explicitly so the user can decide whether to address them before implementing.

6. Materialize Beads

Create the issue graph that the implement phase will execute. Set --priority on every issue using .claude/skills/beads-priority-assignment/SKILL.md (see [[beads-priority-assignment]]).

# One feature (or epic) to group the work, unless the run was started from an issue (see below)
bd create --json --repo <repo> --type feature --title "<feature title>" --priority <p> \
  --description "<summary>" --acceptance "<top-level acceptance criteria>"

# One task per checkpoint (or per behavior for fine-grained TDD), with its label and its file map
bd create --json --repo <repo> --type task --title "<checkpoint/behavior>" --priority <p> \
  --labels "complexity:<low|medium|high>" \
  --acceptance "<the test(s) that prove this done>" \
  --body-file .tmp/work/<slug>-task-<letter>.md

# Sequential dependencies between checkpoints: the later one depends on the earlier one
bd dep add <later-id> <earlier-id>

A run that was started from an existing issue does not get a second one to group it. That issue is the run's tracking issue (.claude/commands/forgemaster.md, Step 0): skip the feature, and create each checkpoint's task under it by adding --parent <id> to the task line, also when the plan has one checkpoint, so that every checkpoint has a task that carries its label and its file map. What the run's writes then name depends on what the starting issue is (step 7 and .claude/workflows/forge.md, Which bead a phase names):

• a task, a bug or a chore: the run names it with --bead on its plan and implement writes, and closes it at the ship step;
• a feature or an epic: it is the --epic of those writes, which name the checkpoint tasks, and it is named with --bead only by the ship write.

A child inherits its parent's labels, a complexity:* label included. If the starting issue carries one, add --no-inherit-labels to the task line so the child has only its own.

The task's description is read from a file so that the file map keeps its lines. Write one per task from its checkpoint: what the task delivers, then the checkpoint's map under ## Files (the heading is ## in a description). Check each file before the task is created:

bun run scripts/scheduler/filemap-cli.ts .tmp/work/<slug>-task-<letter>.md   # exit 0: the map is usable

<what this task delivers, in a sentence or two>

## Files
<!-- This task's file map: one glob per line, relative to the repository root. Replace ** with the paths this task touches. -->
**

A map the parser refuses is not a map: fix it in the plan before the task is created.

Prefer one task per checkpoint so each closed task maps to something the user saw run. Record every created id back into the plan's Beads Issue Map. The run's state learns them from the write in step 7: --bead for the task it names, --epic for the issue that groups them.

If Beads/Dolt is unavailable (bd errors), note it in the plan under a ## Beads heading, list the issues that should exist, and continue — do not block planning.

7. Approve & hand off

Present the plan summary (scope, checkpoints, Beads created) and ask the user to approve. On approval, advance the forge state:

bun run forge:phase-gate plan --slug <slug> --write --bead <task-id> --epic <feature-or-epic-id>

<task-id> is the issue the run was started from (a task, a bug or a chore), else the first task the plan created: the one the implement phase claims first. --epic names the feature or epic that groups the tasks; leave it out when there is none, and never pass that issue as --bead here. The command prints the run's correlation as data.correlation: from this write on, a quality gate can be tied to the task being built (.claude/workflows/forge.md, Which bead a phase names).

Then point to the next phase: /forge-implement <slug> (or /forgemaster continues).

Exit Criteria

• plans/drafts/<slug>.md exists with TDD Strategy and Checkpoints filled.
• Each checkpoint names a demo command or is explicitly (no live demo).
• Each checkpoint has a complexity label and a file map, and bun run scripts/scheduler/filemap-cli.ts plans/drafts/<slug>.md --plan exits 0; a map still at ** says why in a comment.
• Plan review loop ran: SOUND verdict reached, or 2 turns completed; outcome logged to Beads.
• Any remaining Medium+ findings (after 2 turns) surfaced to user before proceeding.
• Beads issues created (or their absence noted with reason) and mapped in the plan.
• User approved the plan; forge state advanced to plan complete.