planning

Technical implementation planning involves researching your codebase architecture, comparing design approaches with security and scalability trade-offs, then documenting a structured plan under plans/ with YAML frontmatter, phase breakdowns, and acceptance criteria to guide execution without writing code.

A plan.md document should contain YAML frontmatter, architectural analysis, solution comparison with trade-offs, phased task breakdown with concrete acceptance criteria, security considerations, and scalability assessments—organized under plans/ with date-based folder naming for traceability.

Architectural planning assesses security implications and scalability constraints by mapping existing codebase patterns, comparing alternative approaches against your technical requirements, identifying bottlenecks, and documenting trade-offs before implementation begins.

Yes. Planning decomposes complex requirements by researching dependencies, analyzing architectural patterns, defining phased tasks with clear acceptance criteria, and producing structured deliverables that make execution straightforward and testable.

Plan before implementing when designing new architectures, evaluating multiple technical approaches, introducing security-critical features, scaling to handle increased load, or when requirements span multiple systems—planning prevents costly rework and ensures maintainability.

Planning produces analysis, architectural diagrams, phase breakdowns, and documented trade-offs in plan.md artifacts; implementation executes those plans by writing and testing code—planning standardizes decisions and reduces implementation risk before coding begins.