planning-with-files

You can persist complex task context by writing goals, decisions, and progress to markdown files on disk. This approach maintains durable working memory across sessions for long-running research requiring many tool interactions.

File-based planning is a method that maintains task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md to act as persistent working memory. You need it for multi-phase tasks or complex projects that require many tool interactions and durable context.

To establish persistent working memory, create task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md on disk before starting your complex task. These files record plans, findings, and progress to maintain durable context across sessions.

Yes, file-based planning supports markdown templates and references to guide task planning and execution. These templates help maintain task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md for long-running research or multi-phase projects requiring many tool calls.

On-disk planning is suited for research or complex projects requiring many tool interactions, but limitations arise if your task does not benefit from durable file-based artifacts or if your workflow avoids maintaining persistent markdown files on disk.

Yes, file-based planning works without external dependencies. It uses frontmatter in SKILL.md to define the skill name and description, while supporting optional references, scripts, and assets folders for extended planning guidance.