Plan Feature — From Issue (internal)

SkillDev tools

Internal step of plan-feature: turn a feature-request issue into a scoped, sized, roadmap-mapped SPEC **product half** (capability closure satisfied) with Closes #N traceability.

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 Plan Feature — From Issue (internal) skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by gtrabanco/agentic-workflow in skills/plan-feature-from-issue/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Convert a feature-request issue into the project's planning artifacts, keeping a clean issue → SPEC → PR(Closes #n) trace. Writes the SPEC's product half (same two-halves convention design-feature uses) and must satisfy capability closure before handing off — a thin issue does not get a shortcut around it.

This skill stops at the Product half. It designs, then the unit goes to review-spec for an independent Product review; engineering planning is a different authority's turn. Composing plan-feature-scaffold in the same breath as the design it just wrote is the bypass this separation exists to close — the author of a Product half cannot be the one who decides it is ready to build on.

When to use

  • The plan-feature router calls this when the input is a GitHub issue (or --from-issue N) that describes new product capability.

If the issue is a bug or tech-debt, stop and route it: triage-issue to classify, then plan-fix + execute-phase --fix. This skill is for genuine features only.

Step 0 — Discover the project (always first)

Per the agent guide's Workflow conventions + documentation map, then read what THIS skill needs: the feature SPEC template, the roadmap, and the issue/PR templates (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/, .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md) so the SPEC mirrors the fields reviewers expect. Then read the issue (forge CLI per the project's Workflow conventions — examples use gh):

gh issue view <N> --json number,title,body,labels,state,comments

Process

  1. Classify first. Confirm it is a feature. Not a feature if it describes a defect, regression, duplicated code, perf debt, or carries a "when to fix / trigger" clause → hand to triage-issue. State the verdict explicitly.

  2. Normalize language. If not in the project's docs language (this repo: English), translate before drafting any artifact.

  3. Map to the roadmap. Assign the next number + slug. Identify dependencies and conflicts with existing features, coupling/migration risks, and whether it should instead extend an existing feature.

  4. Close product-half gaps proactively. Compare the issue against what a complete SPEC product half needs (goals, scope in/out, business goals, i18n/SEO/a11y/pricing per the docs map, a UI design reference when the feature has a UI surface), probing the same fixed vagueness rubric design-feature's interview uses: affected users/roles · error & edge states · data shape · boundaries & limits · out of scope · success criteria — each slot filled or explicit n/a: <reason>. For each genuine gap you can't safely default, ask the user one question per turn, never batched, each with a recommended default; never ask what the issue or docs already answer. Structural hand-off threshold: if ≥ 3 rubric slots remain unfillable from the issue plus the answers so far, stop and hand the feature to design-feature (the thin-issue rule below, now with a fixed trigger) instead of continuing to interview here.

  5. Satisfy capability closure. Walk the same fixed checklist design-feature uses (per entity: CRUD + state transitions, each with UI + API + test, or explicit n/a: <reason>; per capability: entry point + ACL; per role: assigned/revoked/viewed where) into the SPEC's ## Capability closure and ## Acceptance criteria. A thin issue that doesn't carry enough to fill it is not a shortcut around the gate — hand it to design-feature (compose in-turn only at ≥ this skill's tier, per Guardrails; otherwise hand off with run /design-feature <slug> and stop here) rather than stamping designed on a hollow closure.

  6. Size it. Estimate XS / S / M / L (scale defined in the SPEC template) and record it in the SPEC. XS/S → the SPEC is the only planning artifact (single-pass execution); M/L → full artifact set. If L, propose splitting.

  7. Produce the SPEC product half. Fill it and stamp ## Design status: designed once closure is complete; set the roadmap row (added at idea first if it didn't exist) to defined in the same edit — the same idea → defined transition design-feature owns, performed here when this skill is the one that satisfies closure. Then run the stage: spec readiness preflight from the internal evidence-grounding capability, mint the current artifactRevisionId, and stop: this skill never continues into the engineering half, never promotes the row past defined, and never composes plan-feature-scaffold in this turn. The plan-feature router may scaffold only after review-spec returns a current spec-review-pass receipt bound to these exact bytes.

  8. Wire traceability. Record #N in the SPEC; the PR body must include Closes #N so the issue closes on merge.

  9. Hand off — return exactly (fixed completion report, back to the router):

    ISSUE #<N> → SPEC <slug> — size: <XS|S|M|L>
    Verdict: feature (not bug/debt — else this would have routed to triage-issue)
    Gaps closed: <n> asked / <n> defaulted (logged)   Closure: designed | handed to design-feature
    Readiness: READY-FOR-REVIEW | NEEDS-EVIDENCE | NEEDS-DESIGN   Artifact revision: <id>
    Traceability: Closes #<N> wired
    → review-spec next (engineering planning is gated on its receipt; do not scaffold here)
    

Guardrails

  • Don't silently expand scope beyond the issue — surface additions as proposals.
  • Don't open the feature branch or write code here.
  • Don't plan engineering work here. No Engineering half, no phases, no defined → planned promotion, no in-turn plan-feature-scaffold composition: the Product half this skill writes must be reviewed by review-spec first, and readiness READY-FOR-REVIEW is not that review.
  • Keep the Closes #N link; an issue-born feature must close it.
  • Never stamp ## Design status: designed with a blank Capability closure row — the same rule design-feature follows; a thin issue hands off instead of faking closure.
  • Composition tier. Composing design-feature in-turn for a thin issue is allowed only when this skill is running at ≥ design-feature's tier (planning-class — strongest model / highest effort); otherwise hand off (run /design-feature <slug>) rather than under-power it.
  • Otherwise honor the project's Workflow conventions (branch/PR, docs-language).

Architectural invariants

The planning preflight owns the normalized repository state read and the ONE final architectural classification for the whole plan. Consume it here before writing the product half: for each applicable invariant rule, cite its ID and repository evidence and classify the issue proposal as preserves, violates, introduces, or changes. Only preserves can be stamped designed; every other classification stops for an explicit architectural decision through the project-declared authority — never before the full plan exists, and never inferred from the issue body, SPEC, or passing test.

Relationship to other skills

  • triage-issue — decides bug vs feature vs defer; call it if unsure.
  • plan-fix — the fix-side sibling for bug/debt issues.
  • design-feature — receives thin issues this skill cannot safely close capability closure for; both write the SPEC's product half in the same format.
  • review-spec — the mandatory next hop for every issue-derived feature: it reviews and receipts the Product half this skill produced.
  • plan-feature-scaffold — fills the engineering half later, only once review-spec passed. This skill never invokes it.
  • execute-phase — executes the phases; its PR carries Closes #N.

Done when

  • A filled SPEC product half exists, roadmap-registered at defined, with the stage: spec readiness block printed and the current artifactRevisionId recorded.
  • Capability closure is satisfied (or the issue was handed off to design-feature instead of faking it) and ## Design status is accurate.
  • The roadmap row status is defined (added at idea first if new) whenever ## Design status: designed was stamped — never defined on a hollow closure, never left at idea once designed is stamped.
  • Nothing was scaffolded: no Engineering half, no phases, no planned write, and the fixed report hands off to /review-spec.
  • #N is recorded and the PR plan includes Closes #N.
  • Scope gaps were resolved with the user, not assumed.

Signals

GitHub stars
21
Forks
3
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
plan-feature-from-issue
Source
github.com/gtrabanco/agentic-workflow