Prepare

Overview

Prepares one feature without opening it: the brainstorm, the codename and the bump type confirmed once, the plan written phase by phase, and one line appended to the roadmap. It creates no branch and no state file, so it runs while another feature is in progress on another branch. implement:feature later offers it as a start.

Preflight: when this text opens on a Preflight: passed line, the check already ran before the text was loaded: skip it. Otherwise run bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/preflight.sh" as the first action. A non-zero exit stops the skill: print its output verbatim and do nothing else.

Announce at start: "I am using implement:prepare to plan this ahead." Speak to the user in the user's language; write every artifact in English.

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The Iron Rule

NEVER create a branch, switch branch or touch the working tree of the current one
NEVER stage or commit anything in local mode

The absence of IMPLEMENTATION.md is what makes a prepared feature recognisable. Writing one here would turn it into a feature already under way, which nothing would then be running.

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Preconditions

# Each bash block is its own shell; derive rather than inherit.
MODE=$(python3 -c 'import json,os; print(json.load(open(".implement.json")).get("artifacts","local") if os.path.exists(".implement.json") else "local")')
if [ "$MODE" = committed ]; then
  if git check-ignore -q docs/features/probe || git check-ignore -q ROADMAP.md; then
    echo "docs/features and ROADMAP.md must not be ignored in committed mode"; exit 1
  fi
elif ! git check-ignore -q docs/features/probe || ! git check-ignore -q ROADMAP.md; then
  echo "docs/features and ROADMAP.md must be ignored in local mode: add them to the excludes, or set artifacts to committed in .implement.json"; exit 1
fi
echo "artifacts $MODE"

Both paths are tested one by one, because this skill writes to both: the design and the plan under docs/features/, one line in ROADMAP.md at the root. An unignored roadmap in local mode leaves a dirty tree behind, which implement:feature and implement:close then refuse. In committed mode the test inverts rather than being skipped: neither path may be ignored there. The guard reads docs/features/probe, not docs/features: before the directory exists, check-ignore on the bare path reads not ignored, while the inner path is matched by every form the pattern takes.

The branch does not matter here and is not read: whatever is checked out stays checked out, dirty or clean.

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Step 1 — Brainstorm

superpowers:brainstorming, architectural path. Its output is the design of the prepared feature, and the only source of its title.

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Step 2 — The one question

One question, asked once, carrying three proposed values: the codename (kebab-case, derived from the title), the title, and the bump type (major, minor, patch or none). WAIT for the confirmation or the corrections. The branch type is not asked here: it is chosen when the feature is actually started, and asking for it now buys an answer that nothing reads.

Then write the design to docs/features/<codename>/DESIGN.md.

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Step 3 — Plan

superpowers:writing-plans on DESIGN.md, output under docs/features/<codename>/plan/: INDEX.md and one phase-NN-<slug>.md per phase. Same shape as a started feature, because it becomes one unchanged.

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Step 4 — The roadmap line

Append one line to ROADMAP.md at the repository root, creating the file when it is absent:

- <codename> — <title> (<bump>)

One line per prepared feature, nothing else. In local mode neither ROADMAP.md nor anything under docs/features/ is staged; in committed mode they join the repository through the commit of whoever starts the feature, not through this skill.

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Stops

Situation	The one line
docs/features or ROADMAP.md is not ignored in local mode	docs/features and ROADMAP.md must be ignored in local mode: add them to the excludes, or set artifacts to committed in .implement.json
Either of them is ignored in committed mode	docs/features and ROADMAP.md must not be ignored in committed mode
The user has not answered the one question	wait; a codename nobody confirmed becomes a path nobody recognises
A directory already holds that codename	<codename> already exists: pick another codename, or start it with implement:feature

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Report

branch:    untouched, <the branch that was checked out>
commits:   none
files:     docs/features/<codename>/DESIGN.md, plan/INDEX.md, plan/phase-NN-*.md, ROADMAP.md
gate:      not run here, no code is written
checks:    the roadmap line matches the codename, the title and the bump type
deviations: what departs from what the user confirmed, and why
open questions: what the design leaves for a phase to settle
status:    done|blocked|question — <one line>

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Quick Reference

1. Preflight, then MODE and the check-ignore guard on both paths. No branch is read
2. superpowers:brainstorming, architectural path, for the design and the title
3. The one question: codename, title, bump type. WAIT. No branch type
4. superpowers:writing-plans on DESIGN.md, output under plan/
5. Append "- <codename> — <title> (<bump>)" to ROADMAP.md
6. Write no IMPLEMENTATION.md, create no branch, commit nothing in local mode