Validate Plan with Critical Questions

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name: plan-validate version: 1.0.0 description: '[Planning] Validate plan with critical questions interview' allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, TaskCreate, AskUserQuestion

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ask user whether to skip.

Prerequisites: MUST READ .claude/skills/shared/understand-code-first-protocol.md before executing.

External Memory: For complex or lengthy work (research, analysis, scan, review), write intermediate findings and final results to a report file in plans/reports/ — prevents context loss and serves as deliverable.

Evidence Gate: MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST — every claim, finding, and recommendation requires file:line proof or traced evidence with confidence percentage (>80% to act, <80% must verify first).

Quick Summary

Goal: Interview the user with critical questions to validate assumptions and surface issues in a plan before coding begins.

Workflow:

1. Read Plan — Parse plan.md and phase files for decisions, assumptions, risks
2. Extract Topics — Scan for architecture, assumptions, tradeoffs, risks, scope keywords
3. Generate Questions — Formulate concrete questions with 2-4 options each
4. Interview User — Present questions using configured count range
5. Document Answers — Add Validation Summary section to plan.md

Key Rules:

• Only ask about genuine decision points; don't manufacture artificial choices
• Prioritize questions that could change implementation significantly
• Do NOT modify phase files; just document what needs updating

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Your mission

Interview the user with critical questions to validate assumptions, confirm decisions, and surface potential issues in an implementation plan before coding begins.

Plan Resolution

1. If $ARGUMENTS provided -> Use that path
2. Else check ## Plan Context section -> Use active plan path
3. If no plan found -> Ask user to specify path or run /plan-hard first

Configuration (from injected context)

Check ## Plan Context section for validation settings:

• mode - Controls auto/prompt/off behavior
• questions - Range like 3-8 (min-max)

These values are automatically injected from user config. Use them as constraints.

Workflow

Step 1: Read Plan Files

Read the plan directory:

• plan.md - Overview and phases list
• phase-*.md - All phase files
• Look for decision points, assumptions, risks, tradeoffs

Step 2: Extract Question Topics

Scan plan content for:

| Category | Keywords to detect | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Architecture | "approach", "pattern", "design", "structure", "database", "API" | | Assumptions | "assume", "expect", "should", "will", "must", "default" | | Tradeoffs | "tradeoff", "vs", "alternative", "option", "choice", "either/or" | | Risks | "risk", "might", "could fail", "dependency", "blocker", "concern" | | Scope | "phase", "MVP", "future", "out of scope", "nice to have" | | New Tech/Lib | "install", "add package", "new dependency", "npm install", "dotnet add", framework names not in project |

Step 3: Generate Questions

For each detected topic, formulate a concrete question:

Question format rules:

• Each question must have 2-4 concrete options
• Mark recommended option with "(Recommended)" suffix
• Include "Other" option is automatic - don't add it
• Questions should surface implicit decisions

Example questions:

Category: Architecture
Question: "How should the validation results be persisted?"
Options:
1. Save to plan.md frontmatter (Recommended) - Updates existing plan
2. Create validation-answers.md - Separate file for answers
3. Don't persist - Ephemeral validation only

Category: Assumptions
Question: "The plan assumes API rate limiting is not needed. Is this correct?"
Options:
1. Yes, rate limiting not needed for MVP
2. No, add basic rate limiting now (Recommended)
3. Defer to Phase 2

Step 4: Interview User

Use AskUserQuestion tool to present questions.

Rules:

• Use question count from ## Plan Context -> Validation: mode=X, questions=MIN-MAX
• Group related questions when possible (max 4 questions per tool call)
• Focus on: assumptions, risks, tradeoffs, architecture

Step 5: Document Answers

After collecting answers, update the plan:

1. Add ## Validation Summary section to plan.md:

## Validation Summary

**Validated:** {date}
**Questions asked:** {count}

### Confirmed Decisions

- {decision 1}: {user choice}
- {decision 2}: {user choice}

### Action Items

- [ ] {any changes needed based on answers}

1. If answers require plan changes, note them but do not modify phase files - just document what needs updating.

Output

After validation completes, provide summary:

• Number of questions asked
• Key decisions confirmed
• Any items flagged for plan revision
• Recommendation: proceed to implementation or revise plan first

IMPORTANT Task Planning Notes (MUST FOLLOW)

• Always plan and break work into many small todo tasks using TaskCreate
• Always add a final review todo task to verify work quality and identify fixes/enhancements
• MANDATORY FINAL TASKS: After creating all planning todo tasks, ALWAYS add these two final tasks:
  1. Task: "Run /plan-validate" — Trigger /plan-validate skill to interview the user with critical questions and validate plan assumptions
  2. Task: "Run /plan-review" — Trigger /plan-review skill to auto-review plan for validity, correctness, and best practices

Important Notes

IMPORTANT: Only ask questions about genuine decision points - don't manufacture artificial choices. IMPORTANT: If plan is simple with few decisions, it's okay to ask fewer than min questions. IMPORTANT: Prioritize questions that could change implementation significantly. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST If plan introduces new tech/packages/libraries, ask user: "Plan uses {lib}. Were alternatives evaluated? Confirm choice or research more?"

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Next Steps

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST after completing this skill, use AskUserQuestion to recommend:

• "/cook (Recommended)" — Begin implementation with validated plan
• "/refine" — If plan needs PBI refinement first
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

Closing Reminders

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST validate decisions with user via AskUserQuestion — never auto-decide. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST add a final review todo task to verify work quality.