create-task

Create Task Plan

Create a task-level implementation plan with full Why/What context, enabling Story promotion without information loss.

Purpose

Structure the Why/What information from kickoff interview into Claude Code plan file format. This ensures that if the Task is later promoted to Story, all context is preserved in the plan file.

Key insight: The plan file is the ONLY surviving context after session clear. If Why/What is omitted (as Plan mode defaults to How-focused plans), Story promotion loses critical information.

Prerequisites

• kickoff has completed interview and determined Task level
• Why/What information is available in session history

Process

Step 1: Receive Context

The kickoff skill has already confirmed:

• Why: Background, motivation, problem to solve
• What: Implementation target + completion criteria

This information is available in the session history. Do NOT re-interview.

Step 2: Investigate Implementation Approach

Gather information for the How section:

• Use Glob/Grep to find relevant files
• Use Read to understand existing code structure
• Identify files that need changes
• Determine implementation pattern

Step 3: Write Plan to Claude Code Plan File

Write to the plan file with this structure:

# Plan: [Task Name]

## Related Files

- **Workflow concepts**: `dev-workflow/docs/workflow-concepts.md`
- **Spec**: `.claude/dev-workflow/story/{name}/spec.md` (if promoted from Task)
- **Epic**: `.claude/dev-workflow/epic/{parent}/epic.md` (if part of an Epic)

## Workflow Context

**Current phase**: Implementation
**Work level**: Task

### After All Steps Complete
1. Run tests to confirm no regressions
2. Invoke `dev-workflow:self-review` (it will verify Completion Criteria and code quality)
3. After review completes, commit changes

### If Complexity Grows
If implementation reveals unexpected complexity, promote to Story:
- Invoke `dev-workflow:create-spec` with Why/What from this plan
- See `dev-workflow/docs/workflow-concepts.md` for promotion flow

### If Session Clears
- Re-read this plan and continue implementation
- Or use `/resume-work`

## Why (Background & Purpose)

[User-confirmed background and motivation from kickoff interview]

**Problem being solved**: [Specific problem statement]
**Why now**: [Urgency or trigger for this task]

## What (Implementation Target)

[User-confirmed implementation target from kickoff interview]

### Completion Criteria

- [ ] [Criterion 1 - specific, measurable]
- [ ] [Criterion 2 - specific, measurable]

## How (Implementation Steps)

### Files to Change

| File | Change |
|------|--------|
| `path/to/file` | [Description of change] |

### Steps

1. [Step with concrete action]
2. [Step with concrete action]

## Verification

[How to verify completion criteria are met]
- [ ] [Verification step 1]
- [ ] [Verification step 2]

Step 4: Request Approval

Call ExitPlanMode to request user approval of the plan.

Critical: No AI Filling

Every piece of information in Why/What sections must come from the kickoff interview.

OK (information consolidation):

• Summarizing multiple user statements into one sentence
• Unifying technical terms ("slow" → "high response time")
• Making vague criteria verifiable ("works" → "existing tests pass")

NG (inference/addition):

• Adding reasons user didn't mention ("probably because...")
• Adding completion criteria user didn't specify ("should also need...")
• Example: User says "change button color" → Adding "for accessibility improvement" as reason is NG (actual reason might be design consistency)

The How section can be derived from code investigation, but Why/What must be user-confirmed.

Success Criteria

• Why section contains specific problem/motivation from kickoff interview
• What section contains measurable completion criteria from kickoff interview
• How section is based on actual code investigation (not generic steps)
• Plan file is self-contained (can be understood without session history)
• All Why/What information is preserved for potential Story promotion
• Workflow Context section includes post-implementation instructions and promotion guidance

Trigger

This skill is invoked ONLY by kickoff after Task assessment.

Do NOT invoke directly - if user calls this skill directly, redirect to kickoff first.

Next Session

After plan is approved via ExitPlanMode:

Reference: Plan file (Claude Code's plan feature) Next phase: Implementation

User can resume by loading the plan and continuing implementation.

Plan Mode During Task Implementation

If EnterPlanMode is used during task implementation, include a ## dev-workflow Context block in the plan file (see references/plan-mode-context.md for full template):

## dev-workflow Context
**Active skill**: create-task (Implementation)
**Phase**: Implementation
**Work level**: Task
**Documents**:
- Plan: (Claude Code plan file)

### After This Plan Completes
Run tests to confirm no regressions.
Invoke `dev-workflow:self-review` (it will verify Completion Criteria and code quality).
After review completes, commit changes.