# Implementation Plan Template

A reusable plan shape for breaking work into execution-ready tasks.

Implementation plans are the bridge between intent and execution. In ClosedLoop a plan is stored as `plan.json` with a human-readable mirror `plan.md`. The template below is the shape `plan-draft-writer` produces and `plan-writer` finalizes.

## Canonical JSON shape

```
{
  "content": "<plan summary>",
  "pendingTasks": [
    {
      "id": "T-001",
      "title": "<task title>",
      "description": "<what must happen>",
      "acceptanceCriteria": ["<criterion 1>", "<criterion 2>"],
      "repository": "primary",
      "filesOfInterest": ["src/..."]
    }
  ],
  "completedTasks": [],
  "acceptanceCriteria": ["<overall plan acceptance>"],
  "openQuestions": ["<question waiting for human answer>"],
  "answeredQuestions": [],
  "gaps": [],
  "manualTasks": [],
  "amendments": [],
  "repositories": {
    "primary": { "path": "/abs/path", "isPrimary": true }
  }
}
```

## Human-readable template

```
# Objective
<one paragraph describing the goal>

# Scope
- In:
  - <what is in>
- Out:
  - <what is explicitly out>

# Tasks
## T-001 <task title>
- Description: <what must happen>
- Acceptance criteria:
  - <criterion 1>
  - <criterion 2>
- Files of interest: <paths>

# Acceptance Criteria
- <plan-wide criterion 1>
- <plan-wide criterion 2>

# Open Questions
- <question>

# Risks
- <risk>. Mitigation: <plan>.

# Validation
- Tests to add or extend: <summary>
- Manual checks: <summary>
```

## Rules of thumb

- Each task should be implementable in a single `implementation-subagent` iteration (typically ≤ 4 internal gates).
- Acceptance criteria are how the judges score you. Keep them independent and measurable.
- Use `[CROSS-REPO: <peer>]` in a task title to route work to a peer repository in multi-repo mode.
- Put open questions in `openQuestions`, not in task descriptions. That is where the plan review checkpoint picks them up.

## What the planner will add

`plan-draft-writer` and `plan-writer` will also populate:

- task IDs (stable across amendments)
- dependency ordering implicit in the task array
- `filesOfInterest` harvested from `code-map.json`
- the `repositories` map in multi-repo mode

## Related reading

[**PRD template** \
\
The artifact a plan is typically generated from.](/content/docs/resources/prd-template/index.html) [**Artifacts** \
\
Where plan files live on disk.](/content/docs/mechanisms/artifacts/index.html) [**Amending a plan** \
\
How to refine a plan without starting over.](/content/docs/workflows/amending-a-plan/index.html)