Writing Plans (OpenSpec Integration)

Overview

Write comprehensive implementation plans assuming the engineer has zero context. Document everything they need: which files to touch, code, testing, verification. Bite-sized TDD tasks. DRY. YAGNI. Frequent commits.

This version reads from and writes to OpenSpec change directories.

Announce at start: “I’m using openspec-writing-plans to create the implementation plan.”

Context Loading

Read design and specs from OpenSpec:

# Check which change we're working on
openspec list --json

# Read the artifacts
cat openspec/changes/<name>/proposal.md
cat openspec/changes/<name>/design.md
ls openspec/changes/<name>/specs/

Plan Document Header

Every plan MUST start with this header:

# [Feature Name] Implementation Plan

> **For Claude:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:executing-plans or superpowers:subagent-driven-development to implement this plan task-by-task.

**Goal:** [One sentence describing what this builds]

**Architecture:** [2-3 sentences about approach]

**Tech Stack:** [Key technologies/libraries]

---

Bite-Sized Task Granularity

Each step is one action (2-5 minutes):

• “Write the failing test” – step
• “Run it to make sure it fails” – step
• “Implement the minimal code to make the test pass” – step
• “Run the tests and make sure they pass” – step
• “Commit” – step

Task Structure

### Task N: [Component Name]

**Files:**
- Create: `exact/path/to/file.py`
- Modify: `exact/path/to/existing.py:123-145`
- Test: `tests/exact/path/to/test.py`

**Step 1: Write the failing test**
[exact test code]

**Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**
Run: `exact command`
Expected: FAIL with "specific error"

**Step 3: Write minimal implementation**
[exact implementation code]

**Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**
Run: `exact command`
Expected: PASS

**Step 5: Commit**
```bash
git add <files>
git commit -m "feat: specific description"

Save Location

Save plan to OpenSpec (instead of docs/plans/):

openspec/changes/<name>/plan.md

Verify:

openspec status --change <name> --json

Execution Handoff

After saving the plan, offer execution choice:

“Plan complete and saved to openspec/changes/<name>/plan.md. Two execution options:

1. Subagent-Driven (this session) – Fresh subagent per task, review between tasks, fast iteration

• REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:subagent-driven-development

2. Parallel Session (separate) – Open new session with executing-plans, batch execution

• REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: New session uses openspec-executing-plans

Which approach?”

Remember

• Exact file paths always
• Complete code in plan (not “add validation”)
• Exact commands with expected output
• DRY, YAGNI, TDD, frequent commits
• Plan reads from OpenSpec specs to ensure requirement coverage