Skills Guide

Phase Discussion

VerifiedSafe

Gather phase context through adaptive questioning to clarify implementation decisions and explore gray areas before planning.

Download and use
Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
7/26/2026
Claude Code
#phase-planning#requirements-gathering#clarifying-questions#context-documentation#roadmap

Recommended for

Backend developerClaude CodeCode reviewFrontend developerFullstack developerRefactoring

Automated summary

A structured pre-planning dialogue that surfaces the ambiguous areas of a roadmap phase and records the resulting decisions in a CONTEXT.md file for downstream agents.

Strengths

  • Produces gray areas tied to the phase's domain (UI, API, CLI, content, organization) instead of generic categories
  • Enforces an explicit scope guardrail: requests for new capabilities are captured as deferred ideas rather than absorbed
  • Deep-dives each selected area in batches of four questions, letting the user keep going until satisfied
  • Writes a CONTEXT.md precise enough that the researcher and planner never need to re-ask the user

Limitations

  • Assumes an existing .planning/ setup (STATE.md, ROADMAP.md) plus the kit's reference files
  • Multi-turn interactive flow that can get long on a feature-rich phase
  • Deliberately skips architecture and technical trade-offs, leaving those to Claude
When to use it

Use it at the start of a roadmap phase when implementation decisions must be locked down before research or planning begins.

When not to use it

Not useful outside a kata-style roadmap project, or when you just want a plan written without interactive questioning.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score85/100

The skill is a structured discussion workflow for gathering phase context. Although it declares Read, Write, and Bash, it contains no destructive, exfiltration, obfuscation, or safety-disabling instructions; it only guides analysis, user questioning, and writing a CONTEXT.md file.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Run a phase discussion
/kata-discuss-phase 3
Find the gray areas first
What are the gray areas in phase 4 before I plan it? I want to settle the onboarding UX decisions first.
Clarify an API phase
Discuss phase 2 — it's the public API, so walk me through responses, errors, auth and versioning before we research.

name: kata-discuss-phase description: Gather phase context through adaptive questioning before planning, clarifying implementation decisions, or exploring gray areas for a phase. Triggers include "discuss phase", "clarify phase", "gather context", "what are the gray areas", and "phase discussion". metadata: version: "0.1.0" allowed-tools: Read Write Bash

<objective> Extract implementation decisions that downstream agents need — researcher and planner will use CONTEXT.md to know what to investigate and what choices are locked.

How it works:

  1. Analyze the phase to identify gray areas (UI, UX, behavior, etc.)
  2. Present gray areas — user selects which to discuss
  3. Deep-dive each selected area until satisfied
  4. Create CONTEXT.md with decisions that guide research and planning

Output: {phase}-CONTEXT.md — decisions clear enough that downstream agents can act without asking the user again </objective>

<execution_context> @./references/phase-discuss.md @./references/context-template.md </execution_context>

<context> Phase number: $ARGUMENTS (required)

Load project state: @.planning/STATE.md

Load roadmap: @.planning/ROADMAP.md </context>

<process> 1. Validate phase number (error if missing or not in roadmap) 2. Check if CONTEXT.md exists (offer update/view/skip if yes) 3. **Analyze phase** — Identify domain and generate phase-specific gray areas 4. **Present gray areas** — Multi-select: which to discuss? (NO skip option) 5. **Deep-dive each area** — 4 questions per area, then offer more/next 6. **Write CONTEXT.md** — Sections match areas discussed 7. Offer next steps (research or plan)

CRITICAL: Scope guardrail

  • Phase boundary from ROADMAP.md is FIXED
  • Discussion clarifies HOW to implement, not WHETHER to add more
  • If user suggests new capabilities: "That's its own phase. I'll note it for later."
  • Capture deferred ideas — don't lose them, don't act on them

Domain-aware gray areas: Gray areas depend on what's being built. Analyze the phase goal:

  • Something users SEE → layout, density, interactions, states
  • Something users CALL → responses, errors, auth, versioning
  • Something users RUN → output format, flags, modes, error handling
  • Something users READ → structure, tone, depth, flow
  • Something being ORGANIZED → criteria, grouping, naming, exceptions

Generate 3-4 phase-specific gray areas, not generic categories.

Probing depth:

  • Ask 4 questions per area before checking
  • "More questions about [area], or move to next?"
  • If more → ask 4 more, check again
  • After all areas → "Ready to create context?"

Do NOT ask about (Claude handles these):

  • Technical implementation
  • Architecture choices
  • Performance concerns
  • Scope expansion </process>

<success_criteria>

  • Gray areas identified through intelligent analysis
  • User chose which areas to discuss
  • Each selected area explored until satisfied
  • Scope creep redirected to deferred ideas
  • CONTEXT.md captures decisions, not vague vision
  • User knows next steps </success_criteria>

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/download' --output '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

Tools declared by the author (check availability in your agent): Read Write Bash

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/kata-discuss-phase' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad' '.claude/skills/kata-discuss-phase'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad'

openskills read 'phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/phase-discussion-ms1aw4ad/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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