/aide:plan — Plan Phase

Agent: This command is executed by the aide-architect agent.

Translate the intent spec into a step-by-step implementation plan. Output is a plan.aide file next to the .aide spec — checkboxed steps the implementor executes without making architectural decisions. See plan.aide spec for the file format.

Checklist

• Read the complete intent spec (.aide or intent.aide) in the target module — frontmatter AND body sections must be filled. If body sections are empty, stop and escalate back to /aide:synthesize
• Pull the coding playbook from the brain using the study-playbook skill — naming conventions, folder structure, patterns to follow and anti-patterns to avoid
• Scan the target module and its neighbors to understand what already exists — existing helpers to reuse, existing patterns to match, folders already in place
• Write plan.aide next to the .aide spec with:
  • Frontmatter: intent — one-line summary of what this plan delivers
  • ## Plan — checkboxed steps the implementor executes top-to-bottom:
    • Which files to create and where they live
    • Which existing helpers to reuse instead of writing new ones
    • Function boundaries and the contract between each step
    • Sequencing — what must exist before the next step can start
    • Tests to write for each behavior the spec's outcomes.desired names
  • ## Decisions — architectural choices made: why X over Y, naming rationale, tradeoffs
• No code in the plan — no function bodies, no worked examples, no copy-paste snippets. The plan describes decisions; the implementor writes the code and loads conventions directly from the playbook via each step's Read: list
• Every step must be traceable back to a line in the .aide spec or a rule in the coding playbook. If a step has no source, cut it or find the rule that justifies it
• If the spec is ambiguous, stop and escalate back to the spec writer (via the orchestrator) rather than inventing an answer
• PAUSE for user approval. Present the plan and do not proceed until the user approves it. Iterate if the user requests changes
• Hand the approved plan to the implementor via /aide:build