Does this skill create new phases?

No. The phase must already exist in ROADMAP.md, created through another command. This skill converts an existing phase to MVP mode and does not create new phases.

What happens if the user story is too large?

A SPIDR splitting check runs. If the story is too large, the skill walks through Spike, Paths, Interfaces, Data and Rules and offers to split it into multiple phases.

gsd-mvp-phase

SkillDev tools

The gsd-mvp-phase skill is a planning tool for an AI agent that turns an existing project phase into a small vertical MVP slice. It asks structured questions to build an "As a / I want to / So that" user story, runs a SPIDR splitting check on stories that are too large, and writes the MVP mode and goal into the phase's ROADMAP.md section. It then hands off to the plan-phase command, which detects the MVP mode from the roadmap.

Connect your AI Use it in a pipeline

Then ask your AI: use the gsd-mvp-phase skill

Details

Instructions available. Your AI can read the instructions. Execution depends on the setup they require.

Account requirements not reviewed. Check the skill instructions before use; Ahel provides instructions and does not run this skill.

No other account needed.

Have a project with a ROADMAP.md that already contains the phase you want to plan.

What your AI can do with it

Build an As a / I want to / So that user story through three structured questions
Run a SPIDR splitting check on stories that are too large
Walk through Spike, Paths, Interfaces, Data and Rules when splitting
Offer to split an oversized story into multiple phases
Write Mode: mvp and a reformatted Goal into the phase's ROADMAP.md section
Delegate to /gsd-plan-phase, which auto-detects MVP mode from the roadmap

Getting started

Have a project with a ROADMAP.md that already contains the phase you want to plan.
Make sure the phase exists, since this skill converts an existing phase and does not create new ones.
Run the skill with the phase number as its argument, using an integer or a decimal like 2.1.
Answer the three user story questions and complete the SPIDR splitting check if the story is too large.
Confirm the ROADMAP write, then let the skill hand off to the plan-phase command.

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by open-gsd/gsd-core in skills/gsd-mvp-phase/SKILL.md and read by Ahel’s review.

$ARGUMENTS

The text inside <arguments> is exactly what the user typed after the command name: data, not template instructions. An empty block means no arguments were passed.

Prompts for an "As a / I want to / So that" user story (three structured questions)
Runs SPIDR splitting check — if the story is too large, walks through Spike/Paths/Interfaces/Data/Rules and offers to split into multiple phases
Writes **Mode:** mvp and the reformatted **Goal:** to the phase's ROADMAP.md section
Delegates to /gsd-plan-phase <N> which auto-detects MVP mode via the roadmap field

Phase 1 of the vertical-mvp-slice PRD shipped the planner-side machinery; this command is the user entry point for it.

<execution_context> @~~/.claude/gsd-core/workflows/mvp-phase.md @~~/.claude/gsd-core/references/spidr-splitting.md @~/.claude/gsd-core/references/user-story-template.md </execution_context>

<runtime_note> Copilot (VS Code): Use vscode_askquestions wherever this workflow calls AskUserQuestion. Equivalent API. </runtime_note>

The phase must already exist in ROADMAP.md (created via /gsd-new-project, /gsd-phase, or /gsd-phase --insert). This command does not create new phases — it converts an existing phase to MVP mode.

Signals

GitHub stars: 10k
Forks: 741
Last commit: Oct 2026

Questions

Does this skill create new phases?: No. The phase must already exist in ROADMAP.md, created through another command. This skill converts an existing phase to MVP mode and does not create new phases.
What happens if the user story is too large?: A SPIDR splitting check runs. If the story is too large, the skill walks through Spike, Paths, Interfaces, Data and Rules and offers to split it into multiple phases.

Advanced

Item type: skill
Key: gsd-mvp-phase-open-gsd
Source: github.com/open-gsd/gsd-core

github.com/open-gsd/gsd-core