Files
superpowers/skills/executing-plans/SKILL.md
Drew Ritter 81874ec5b1 refine(skills): staff-review round — trim reference rule, close executing-plans spec gap
Staff-review findings (4-reviewer panel):
- Reference paragraph rewritten 170→123 words preserving every
  behavioral condition (paraphrase/summarize coverage, no-skip guard,
  WHAT-WHY/HOW split, No Placeholders boundary, drift counter,
  zero-context rescope); fixes the "(brainstorming did)" syntax.
- **Spec:** header bracket: cut the never-skip sermon duplicated from
  the Overview (same loaded document); the conditional none-branch
  stays.
- executing-plans Step 1 now reads the spec the plan cites — plans are
  no longer self-contained, and the non-subagent execution path was
  never told (the eval only exercised the SDD consumer).
- writing-plans plan-location preference line gets the same
  existing-dir-is-not-a-preference guard as the spec path.
- brainstorming: deduplicate the docs/specs/ prohibition (step 6
  parenthetical stays; After-the-Design bullet was the second
  statement in one file).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-10 18:24:57 -07:00

2.6 KiB

name, description
name description
executing-plans Use when you have a written implementation plan to execute in a separate session with review checkpoints

Executing Plans

Overview

Load plan, review critically, execute all tasks, report when complete.

Announce at start: "I'm using the executing-plans skill to implement this plan."

Note: Tell your human partner that Superpowers works much better with access to subagents. The quality of its work will be significantly higher if run on a platform with subagent support (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Codex App, Copilot CLI, and Gemini CLI all qualify; see the per-platform tool refs in ../using-superpowers/references/). If subagents are available, use superpowers:subagent-driven-development instead of this skill.

The Process

Step 1: Load and Review Plan

  1. Read plan file, and the spec it cites in its **Spec:** header (plans reference requirements rather than restating them)
  2. Review critically - identify any questions or concerns about the plan
  3. If concerns: Raise them with your human partner before starting
  4. If no concerns: Create todos for the plan items and proceed

Step 2: Execute Tasks

For each task:

  1. Mark as in_progress
  2. Follow each step exactly (plan has bite-sized steps)
  3. Run verifications as specified
  4. Mark as completed

Step 3: Complete Development

After all tasks complete and verified:

  • Announce: "I'm using the finishing-a-development-branch skill to complete this work."
  • REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch
  • Follow that skill to verify tests, present options, execute choice

When to Stop and Ask for Help

STOP executing immediately when:

  • Hit a blocker (missing dependency, test fails, instruction unclear)
  • Plan has critical gaps preventing starting
  • You don't understand an instruction
  • Verification fails repeatedly

Ask for clarification rather than guessing.

When to Revisit Earlier Steps

Return to Review (Step 1) when:

  • Partner updates the plan based on your feedback
  • Fundamental approach needs rethinking

Don't force through blockers - stop and ask.

Remember

  • Review plan critically first
  • Follow plan steps exactly
  • Don't skip verifications
  • Reference skills when plan says to
  • Stop when blocked, don't guess
  • Never start implementation on main/master branch without explicit user consent

Integration

Required workflow skills:

  • superpowers:using-git-worktrees - Ensures isolated workspace (creates one or verifies existing)
  • superpowers:writing-plans - Creates the plan this skill executes
  • superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch - Complete development after all tasks