Plan Review

Pre-flight review of an implementation plan markdown file. Produces a verdict (READY / NEEDS_REVISION / BLOCKED) and a prioritized findings table. Used standalone and as a pre-execution gate by implement-plan.

This is a document review, not a code review. No static analyzers. No diff scoping. The plan is treated as the artifact under test; the codebase is read-only context for feasibility checks.

Workflow

1. Resolve the plan file

Priority order:

1. Explicit path from the invocation (e.g. /review-plan docs/plans/auth-rewrite.md).
2. ./PLAN.md in the current working directory.
3. Latest by mtime in ./docs/plans/*.md (typically YYYY-MM-DD-<feature>.md per convention).

If none resolve, stop and ask the user for a path. Do not guess.

2. Load context

• Read the resolved plan file fully.
• Read any docs the plan references inline (./REVIEW.md, ./CLAUDE.md, design docs cited).
• For each file path mentioned in the plan, confirm the file exists (or is named as new in the plan). Missing files referenced as "edit" targets are a feasibility issue.
• If the plan references prior work in commits or PRs, capture branch + base ref for the run metadata header.

Do not read the entire codebase. Read only what the plan references plus enough to verify the named files exist.

3. Apply the plan-shape contract

The plan must satisfy these structural rules. Any violation contributes to NEEDS_REVISION or BLOCKED per the verdict rules.

Rule	Severity if violated
Tasks are - [ ] checkboxes	BLOCKED — no machine-readable progress
Each task names the files it touches	NEEDS_REVISION — implementer guesses scope
Each task includes a probable verification step (greppable string, command with expected output, or file-content assertion — NOT "section X present" / "file exists")	NEEDS_REVISION — completion is unverifiable
Tasks are sized 2-5 min (small) to ~30 min (max)	NEEDS_REVISION — too coarse to track or recover from failure
Plan has a stated end-state (one paragraph or "Definition of Done")	NEEDS_REVISION — no exit criterion
Plan has a "Constraints" or "Out of scope" section (or equivalent)	LOW — preferred but not required

4. Apply the content checklist

Review the plan against the checklist in reference.md:

• Feasibility
• Completeness / gap
• Open questions
• Ordering
• Verification
• Scope creep
• Risk / blast radius
• Improvements

For each finding, cite the plan line (e.g. PLAN.md:42). When pr_url is provided (a plan being reviewed inside a PR), wrap line references via ~/.claude/scripts/pr-deeplink.sh "$pr_url" <plan-path> <line> — same convention as siblings.

5. Compute the verdict

Apply in order; first match wins:

1. BLOCKED if any of:
   • Plan does not resolve / is empty.
   • Plan-shape contract: missing checkboxes (no - [ ] lines).
   • A task references a file that doesn't exist and isn't created earlier in the plan.
   • A task requires a decision the user has not made and the plan does not record (architecture choice, library choice, naming convention). The plan can't be executed without inventing.
   • A task is destructive and lacks explicit user-confirmation gating (e.g. "drop table", "delete prod data", "force push").
2. NEEDS_REVISION if any of:
   • Two or more plan-shape contract NEEDS_REVISION rules violated.
   • High-priority open questions that are answerable but not yet answered.
   • Ordering bug: Task B depends on Task A but listed before A.
   • Verification missing on more than ~30% of tasks.
3. READY otherwise. Minor improvements may still be present; they are non-blocking.

6. Present results

Resolve the review output directory (same pattern as sibling reviews):

REVIEW_DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
REVIEW_DIR="reviews/${REVIEW_DATE}"
if [ -d "$REVIEW_DIR" ]; then REVIEW_DIR="reviews/${REVIEW_DATE}-$(date +%H%M)"; fi
mkdir -p "$REVIEW_DIR"

Capture run metadata (see Run metadata header) and prepend to ${REVIEW_DIR}/PLAN-REVIEW.md.

Output structure:

1. Run metadata header
2. Verdict line (first line after the H1): **Verdict:** READY | NEEDS_REVISION | BLOCKED
3. One-sentence rationale for the verdict
4. Findings table
5. Recommended action: if NEEDS_REVISION, the minimal set of edits to the plan that would flip it to READY; if BLOCKED, the decision(s) the user must make before re-review.

Present the report. When invoked by implement-plan, return the verdict as the first machine-parseable line and stop.

---

Invocation by other skills

When implement-plan (or any other skill) invokes review-plan as a gate:

• The plan path is supplied as an explicit argument.
• The caller treats the returned verdict as authoritative:
  • READY → proceed.
  • NEEDS_REVISION → surface findings to the user, ask whether to revise or proceed anyway.
  • BLOCKED → halt; surface findings; do not proceed even with user override (the plan literally cannot run).
• The caller must not implementation-edit the plan to flip the verdict; revisions are a separate human step.

---

Run metadata header

RUN_DATETIME=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M UTC")
GIT_BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "(not a git repo)")
GIT_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "—")
GIT_COMMIT_FULL=$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "—")
GIT_SUBJECT=$(git log -1 --pretty=%s 2>/dev/null || echo "—")
PLAN_PATH=<resolved plan file path>

> **Run:** {RUN_DATETIME}
> **Branch:** {GIT_BRANCH} @ {GIT_COMMIT} (`{GIT_COMMIT_FULL}`)
> **Subject:** {GIT_SUBJECT}
> **Plan:** {PLAN_PATH}

Note: this skill runs fine outside a git repo. Fall back gracefully when git commands fail.

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Output Templates

Verdict block (always first, after H1)

**Verdict:** READY

Plan is structurally sound, all tasks have verification, no open questions. Minor improvements noted below.

**Verdict:** NEEDS_REVISION

Two tasks missing verification; one ordering bug (Task 4 references a file Task 6 creates). Plan recoverable with ~5 edits.

**Verdict:** BLOCKED

Task 2 requires choosing between Redis and Memcached; the plan does not record this decision. Cannot proceed without user input.

Findings table

| Priority | Category | Finding | Recommendation | Plan line |
|----------|----------|---------|----------------|-----------|
| P0 | feasibility | Task 3 edits `internal/auth/jwt.go` but file does not exist and is not created earlier | Create the file in a preceding task or confirm path | PLAN.md:42 |
| P1 | open-question | Task 5 says "use the standard cache" — repo has both `bigcache` and `ristretto` in use | Specify which; or escalate to user | PLAN.md:58 |
| P2 | verification | Task 7 has no verification step | Add `task test ./internal/queue/...` with expected pass | PLAN.md:71 |
| P3 | improvement | Tasks 2-4 are independent of Tasks 5-8; could split into two PRs | nit: only worth doing if PRs are getting large | PLAN.md:30-72 |

Priority column values: P0 (blocker), P1 (high), P2 (medium), P3 (low / nit).

Category column values: feasibility, gap, open-question, ordering, verification, scope, shape, risk, improvement.

Plan line column: Line reference into the reviewed plan file. When pr_url is set, wrap the reference via ~/.claude/scripts/pr-deeplink.sh "$pr_url" <plan-path> <line>.

Recommended action

## To move to READY

1. Add a "depends on Task 3" annotation to Task 5 OR reorder so Task 5 precedes Task 3.
2. Add verification step to Task 7: `task test ./internal/queue/... → PASS`.
3. Pick a cache library in Task 5 (recommend `ristretto` per existing usage in `internal/...`).

## To unblock

The plan needs the following decisions before re-review:
1. **Cache library**: Redis or Memcached for Task 2?
2. **API versioning**: bump to `v2` or add additive field in `v1`?

Once decided, edit the plan to record the choice and request `review-plan` again.

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Guidelines

• The verdict is a gate, not a vote. Apply the rules; don't hedge to be polite.
• A READY plan is not a good plan, only an executable one. Improvements stay as P3 findings and don't block.
• Do not edit the plan during review. Surface findings; let the user (or plan-author) revise.
• When implement-plan invokes this skill, return the verdict first so the caller can branch without parsing the whole report.
• For detailed checklist categories, see reference.md.
• This skill is not included in review-all. Plan review is plan-time; code review is code-time. Different lifecycle, different invocation.
• Verification steps in tasks must be probable (run/grep/output), not presence-checks ("section X present" passes for anything). Per ~/.claude/rules/probe-not-assume.md.