name: decompose-plan description: Use when starting plan execution to decompose implementation plans into Claude Code Task tool tasks at H2 (Task) granularity - creates one task per plan task with citation-manager directives, keeping plan as source of truth

Decompose Plan into Tasks

Overview

Parse implementation plan and create one Task tool task per H2 Task header. Tasks reference plan via citation-manager, keeping plan authoritative.

Core principle: Plan is source of truth. Tasks are pointers, not copies.

Announce at start: "I'm using the decompose-plan skill to create tasks from this plan."

When to Use

• Before executing any implementation plan
• When /executing-plans or similar workflow starts
• When plan has ## Task N structure with ### Step sub-headers

The Process

Step 1: Parse Plan Structure

Use citation-manager to extract H2 headers (Tasks):

citation-manager extract header "{plan_path}" "Task 1"

Each ## Task N becomes one Claude Code Task.

Step 2: Create One Task Per H2

For EACH ## Task N header, create a Task tool task:

TaskCreate({
  subject: "Task {N}: {task_title}",
  description: `Fetch task details:\n\`citation-manager extract header "${plan_path}" "Task {N} - {task_title}"\`\n\nPlan: ${plan_path}`,
  activeForm: "{task_title}"
})

Step 3: Set Dependencies

• Task N+1 blocked by Task N (linear chain)
• If plan specifies non-linear dependencies, follow plan

Task Description Template

Fetch task details:
`citation-manager extract header "{plan_path}" "Task N - {task_title}"`

Plan: {plan_path}

Why citation directive: Plan may be updated. Task fetches current content at execution time.

Granularity Rules

Common Rationalizations (STOP These)

Red Flags - You're About to Violate

• Creating 22 tasks for a plan with 6 Tasks (too granular)
• Merging multiple ## Task into one task (too coarse)
• Copying task content into descriptions
• Ignoring dependency chain

Example Output

For a plan with 6 Tasks:

Task #1: Task 1: Create shared library lib/status-helpers.sh
Task #2: Task 2: Refactor task-status-sync.sh to use library  (blockedBy: #1)
Task #3: Task 3: Refactor stop-sync.sh to use library         (blockedBy: #2)
Task #4: Task 4: Enhance plan-path-sync.sh for multi-plan     (blockedBy: #3)
Task #5: Task 5: Create /set-plan slash command                (blockedBy: #4)
Task #6: Task 6: Verification                                 (blockedBy: #5)

Verification

After decomposition, verify:

# Count tasks created
ls ~/.claude/tasks/{session_id}/*.json | wc -l
# Should match number of H2 Task headers in plan

Quick Reference