/archcore:plan

SkillDocs & knowledge

Plan a feature or initiative through a computed route: the conductor derives the canon delta and assembles the document package — from a zero-document null route for small fixes to an umbrella PRD with one spec per capability for large initiatives. Expert paths: sdd (full package), sources mode (MRD → BRD → URD) for market research and discovery, iso mode (BRS → StRS → SyRS → SRS) for ISO 29148 and regulated work, research track (RND) for technical research. Use for 'plan the X redesign', 'create a roadmap', 'plan a new feature', 'I need market research before we plan', 'we're regulated — start the ISO requirements cascade', 'investigate X before we plan', 'compare the alternatives for Y'. Not for recording a decision or documenting existing code — use /archcore:document. Not for checking docs against code — use /archcore:review.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the /archcore:plan skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by archcore-ai/plugin in plugins/archcore/skills/plan/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Plan a feature or initiative through a computed route. The conductor (skills/_shared/delta-routing.md) derives the canon delta Δ, the gap profile Π, the zone maturity M, and the risk flags R, then assembles the document package; instruments produce the documents. Vision types are the primary output. Reads cover all three categories: vision supplies intent and resumption targets, knowledge supplies constraints, experience supplies precedent.

When to use

  • "Plan the auth redesign" → computed route — typically capability: one spec plus one plan
  • "Create a roadmap for the API migration" → computed route
  • "Plan a new feature for CSV export" → computed route
  • "Plan the notifications platform" → computed route — typically umbrella: prd, one spec per capability, one plan
  • "I need market research before we plan" → acquisition instrument (sources expert path)
  • "We're regulated — start the ISO requirements cascade" → iso links (iso expert path)
  • "Investigate X before we plan" / "Compare the alternatives for Y" → research instrument

Not plan:

  • Recording a decision → /archcore:document
  • Documenting existing code → /archcore:document
  • Codifying a team standard → /archcore:document
  • Checking documents against code → /archcore:review

Route computation

Apply in this order:

SignalRoute
The user names an expert path — an alias (sdd, sources, iso, research), a route name, or a registry document typeThe named path per the expert invocation map in skills/_shared/delta-routing.md, with no computation
Any other requestCompute Δ, Π, M, and R per the Derivation section of skills/_shared/delta-routing.md; its route table decides the package
A decision surfaces at a gateRecord the adr through the decision instrument (skills/_shared/tracks/decision.md), then return to the open gate

Technical-research boundary: market and business discovery belongs to the acquisition instrument; a request that already proposes a specific target for team acceptance ("should we switch to Y", "let's adopt Y") belongs to /archcore:document's decision instrument — research is pre-decision evidence gathering with no proposed verdict.

Execution

1. Ground

Complete this step before asking the user any question.

  1. Search .archcore/ with mcp__archcore__search_documents and mcp__archcore__list_documents across all three categories. Pass a planning-moment type filter — for example types=["idea", "prd", "plan", "spec", "rnd", "rfc", "adr", "rule", "task-type", "cpat"] — instead of relying on the global type ranking. Do not exclude a category from reads.
  2. WHEN a found document carries implements or related relations, pull the linked documents one hop via mcp__archcore__list_relations and mcp__archcore__get_document.
  3. WHEN a found draft on the topic carries an archcore:track state block, resume it per the resume rules in skills/_shared/gate-contract.md and skills/_shared/delta-routing.md instead of opening a new track.
  4. Read git state — current branch, recent commits, working tree — and the code areas the topic names. Record the concrete files and modules for Step 5, and note zone documents whose referenced paths changed after them — the staleness input to Derivation.
  5. IF .archcore/ exists but contains no documents, THEN proceed on outer-context grounding (git state and the codebase) and report that zero documents were found.
  6. IF .archcore/ does not exist, THEN announce initialization in one line and call mcp__archcore__init_project without asking a question.

Global sources. If a list_documents / search_documents result has global: true / read_only: true / source_kind: "global", load skills/_shared/globals.md. Also load it when a search_documents response's coverage names a source other than "local" — even when results is empty: the empty page is exactly where that file's retry ladder applies. Never modify a global document and never target one with add_relation. Absent any global match, proceed as usual.

2. Route

Compute the route per the Derivation section of skills/_shared/delta-routing.md and report the route announcement. WHEN the user names an expert path, execute it with no computation — this is the expert invocation. Never ask the user to choose a route or a size label.

3. Budget

Interview mechanics, question form, and ceilings: skills/_shared/elicitation-contract.md. Auto mode draws every question from the shared per-invocation ceiling; an expert invocation raises per-gate budgets to the maxima the track file declares.

4. Execute the package

Invoke each instrument the route names, in conductor order, per the instrument registry and sequencing rules in skills/_shared/delta-routing.md. Run each instrument's gates per skills/_shared/gate-contract.md: evaluate skip_when first at every gate, keep track state only in the archcore:track block inside the draft artifact (with the route: and delta: fields this command adds), persist each gate close in one mcp__archcore__update_document call, and follow the resume rules on re-entry. Gate bodies, per-gate questions, and relation wiring live in the track files — do not restate them.

5. Map tasks to files

WHEN the package produced a plan document:

  1. Annotate each task in the plan's Tasks section with the concrete files or modules that grounding surfaced for it, using @path/to/file notation, in one mcp__archcore__update_document call.
  2. WHEN grounding surfaced no file or module for a task, state that no target was found for that task. Do not guess a path.
  3. Confirm the plan carries its ## Declared Delta section per sequencing rule 9 of skills/_shared/delta-routing.md.

WHEN the package produced no plan document (the null, decision, and amendment routes, the acquisition and research paths), skip to Result — the exit gate or the announcement names the follow-ups.

6. Implement fork

Offer exactly two exits and let the user choose:

  • Implement now — start on the mapped task list, first phase first, against the files mapped in Step 5.
  • Stop here — the draft documents and relations stay in .archcore/; a later /archcore:plan invocation resumes any draft that still carries a state block.

Result

Report:

  • The route announcement — route, size label, and the Δ, Π, M, R values that produced them.
  • Produced documents grouped by category — vision, knowledge, experience — with each document's path and status.
  • Relations created, plus candidate mcp__archcore__add_relation targets among existing documents, or a statement that none match.
  • retires entries reported for closeout discharge, when any exist.
  • Next actions, naming only v2 commands: /archcore:plan to continue a package, /archcore:document to record a decision or document code touched during implementation, /archcore:review to check the implementation against the recorded plan and reconcile the declared Δ.

Signals

GitHub stars
55
Forks
7
Last commit
Sep 2026

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Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
plan-archcore-ai
Source
github.com/archcore-ai/plugin