Spec Planner (Orchestrator)

This skill is a thin orchestrator. It runs the clarifying interview, collects context, and delegates the planning work (spec delta authoring, test mapping, task decomposition) to planner-agent.

Required Skills (for the orchestrator)

Invoke before starting:

• /speq-cli: spec discovery

planner-agent and plan-reviewer invoke their own required skills.

Workflow

0. Load Project Hook (orchestrator)

Check for .speq/plan-hook.md in the repo root.

• Present: read it. Announce "Loaded project hook: .speq/plan-hook.md". Its content is authoritative: it can add to, change, or override any part of this workflow. If the hook conflicts with this workflow, the hook wins.
• Absent: continue without mention.

1. Discovery (orchestrator)

Run the speq CLI:

speq domain list
speq feature list
grep -rhE -A3 '^## ADR:|^\*\*(ID|Status):\*\*' specs/_decision/ 2>/dev/null || echo none   # ADR digest, per /speq-cli

Name the features in the list that relate to the request, per /speq-cli's absence check.

Note whether specs/architecture.md exists. Pass its path, do not read it.

Collect only enough context for good interview questions, not a full exploration.

2. Clarifying Interview (orchestrator)

Apply the Socratic Method by asking the user. Never assume. Decompose the problem space with MECE partitioning:

• Probe: surface hidden assumptions with open-ended questions
• Partition: present alternative solutions as MECE options
• Challenge: test design tradeoffs with counterexamples

Split check. If the work spans more than one independent phase, or more than about 4 features, propose one plan per phase. Plan the first phase now. Each later plan names the earlier plan in its Existing Context.

Keep each exchange as one line: - Q: <question> → A: <answer>, a few words each. This is the only copy of the interview: step 3 writes it into decision-log.md and the briefs point to it.

3. Plan Name (orchestrator)

Pattern: <verb>-<feature-scope>[-<qualifier>]

Once the name is set, write specs/_plans/<plan-name>/decision-log.md with the H1 # Decision Log: <plan-name> and an ## Interview section holding the step 2 lines. Do not paste the interview into any brief.

4. Delegate to planner-agent

Spawn the planner sub-agent with everything it needs:

Delegate to planner-agent — Plan <plan-name>

## Plan Name
<plan-name>

## User Intent
<1-3 sentence summary of what the user wants>

## Clarifying Interview Results
Read `## Interview` in `specs/_plans/<plan-name>/decision-log.md`. Keep it as is. Do not copy it into other files.

## Existing Context
<the exact `speq domain list` / `speq feature list` / `speq feature get` calls you ran, each followed by its output (the ADR digest, not the full `speq decision-log show`; name features you want read, do not paste `speq feature get` output); name `specs/architecture.md` by path when it exists, do not paste it>

## External Research
<any research already conducted, or "none — agent to research as needed">

## Project Hook
<if active: note ".speq/plan-hook.md — read it and apply it" — otherwise omit this section>

## Your Task
Produce spec deltas and plan.md per the `planner-agent` workflow. Tag tasks requiring deep reasoning with [expert] so the implementer orchestrator can route them to implementer-expert-agent.

If the interview agreed a split, end `plan.md` Context with a `Follow-up plans` list (name and one-line scope each).

Return the list of files created and the validation result.

5. Review planner-agent output (orchestrator)

When the sub-agent returns:

1. Confirm speq plan validate <plan-name> passed. Re-run if uncertain.
2. List all created files.
3. If the sub-agent escalated a question, resolve it with the user and respawn with the clarification.

6. Adversarial Plan Review (orchestrator)

Spawn plan-reviewer once to challenge the plan before handoff. There is one review round.

Delegate to plan-reviewer — Review <plan-name>

## Plan Name
<plan-name>

## User Intent
<verbatim original request>

## Clarifying Interview Results
Read `## Interview` in `specs/_plans/<plan-name>/decision-log.md`.

## Plan Artifacts
plan.md, decision-log.md, every specs/_plans/<plan-name>/**/spec.md delta, and specs/_plans/<plan-name>/architecture.md when present

## Project Hook
<if active: note ".speq/plan-hook.md — read it and apply it" — otherwise omit this section>

It writes its findings to specs/_plans/<plan-name>/review/review.md and returns only PLAN REVIEW: BLOCKERS: <n>, FINDINGS: <n>, INTENT: <n> — <path>. INTENT counts the BLOCKERs on the Intent Fidelity axis alone.

If `INTENT > 0`: the reviewer holds that the plan solves a different problem than the one asked. Read the Intent-Fidelity findings from the review file. Ask the user about them before any fix pass. The user accepts the plan as-is, or gives guidance and you respawn planner-agent manually.

If `INTENT == 0` and `BLOCKERS > 0`: respawn planner-agent once with the path to review/review.md. Instruct it to read the BLOCKER findings from that file, execute each Fix: line, log a [plan-review]-prefixed ## Review Findings entry in decision-log.md only for a blocker whose fix changed a design decision, re-run speq plan validate, and return its per-finding Resolved:/Could not resolve: report per /speq-planning's Revision Mode. Do not review again.

Any `Could not resolve:` line, or a failed `speq plan validate`: ask the user, one line of context each plus a pointer to the review file. The user accepts the risk and proceeds, or gives guidance and you respawn planner-agent manually.

Non-blocking findings never loop and are never persisted. Read them from the review file and carry them into step 7's report.

7. Explain next steps (orchestrator)

Print to the terminal:

• plan.md's ## Impact section
• Print ADR candidates: none, or list the title of each Promotes to ADR: yes entry in decision-log.md
• Report non-blocking findings from step 6, read from the review file
• If step 6 ran a fix pass, name it in one line ("N review findings fixed") and do not restate each one
• Tell the user to run /speq-implement <plan-name> to continue
• Tell the user to run /clear to implement with a fresh context window

Spec Hierarchy (reference)

specs/
├── <domain>/<feature>/spec.md     # Permanent
├── _plans/<plan-name>/            # Active
└── _recorded/<plan-name>/         # Archived

Work Split (reference)

Anti-Patterns