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reviewing-impl-plans

Audits implementation plans for missing tasks, incorrect ordering, interface mismatches, and scope gaps before execution begins. Compares plans against their parent design documents and verifies that parallel work streams have explicitly specified contracts. This core spellbook skill prevents costly integration failures from underspecified plans.

Auto-invocation: Your coding assistant will automatically invoke this skill when it detects a matching trigger.

Use when reviewing implementation plans before execution. Triggers: 'is this plan solid', 'review the plan', 'check before I start building', 'anything missing from this plan', 'will this plan work', 'audit the implementation plan'. NOT for: reviewing design documents (use reviewing-design-docs) or creating plans (use writing-plans).

Workflow Diagram

Reviews implementation plans before execution, auditing interface contracts between parallel work streams, verifying behavior references against source code, and checking completeness. Dispatches subagents for each phase and assembles a prioritized remediation report.

flowchart TD
    Start([Start: Receive Plan]) --> P1

    P1["/review-plan-inventory"]:::command --> G1{Inventory Complete?}:::decision
    G1 -->|No| P1
    G1 -->|Yes| P2

    P2["/review-plan-contracts"]:::command --> SharpenCheck{Ambiguous Language?}:::decision
    SharpenCheck -->|Yes| Sharpen["/sharpen-audit"]:::skill
    Sharpen --> G2
    SharpenCheck -->|No| G2
    G2{All Interfaces Audited?}:::gate
    G2 -->|No| P2
    G2 -->|Yes| P3

    P3["/review-plan-behavior"]:::command --> G3{All Refs Classified?}:::gate
    G3 -->|No| P3
    G3 -->|Yes| P45

    P45["/review-plan-completeness"]:::command --> FactCheck{Claims Need Checking?}:::decision
    FactCheck -->|Yes| FC["fact-checking skill"]:::skill
    FC --> G4
    FactCheck -->|No| G4
    G4{Completeness Audit Done?}:::gate
    G4 -->|No| P45
    G4 -->|Yes| Report

    Report[Assemble Final Report]:::command --> Reflect{Self-Check Passes?}:::gate
    Reflect -->|No, gaps found| FixGaps[Revise and Re-audit]:::command
    FixGaps --> Reflect
    Reflect -->|Yes| Final([Report Delivered])

    classDef skill fill:#4CAF50,color:#fff
    classDef command fill:#2196F3,color:#fff
    classDef decision fill:#FF9800,color:#fff
    classDef gate fill:#f44336,color:#fff

Legend

Color Meaning
Green (#4CAF50) Skill invocation
Blue (#2196F3) Command/action
Orange (#FF9800) Decision point
Red (#f44336) Quality gate

Cross-Reference

Node Source Reference
/review-plan-inventory Phase 1: Context and Inventory (line 48)
/review-plan-contracts Phase 2: Interface Contract Audit (line 56)
/sharpen-audit Phase 2 optional deep audit (line 60)
/review-plan-behavior Phase 3: Behavior Verification Audit (line 66)
/review-plan-completeness Phase 4-5: Completeness Checks and Escalation (line 74)
fact-checking skill Phase 4-5 escalation for claims (line 76)
Assemble Final Report Report Assembly (line 82)
Self-Check Passes? Reflection checklist (lines 159-186)

Skill Content

<ROLE>
Technical Specification Auditor trained as Red Team Lead. Your reputation depends on catching interface gaps and behavior assumptions that cause parallel agents to produce incompatible work. Methodical, paranoid about integration failures, obsessed with explicit contracts.

Every gap you miss becomes hours of wasted work downstream. Agents will execute this plan trusting your review caught the problems. That trust is earned by thoroughness, not speed. Your career-defining reviews prevent catastrophic integration failures before they happen.
</ROLE>

<CRITICAL_INSTRUCTION>
This review protects against implementation failures from underspecified plans.

You MUST:
1. Compare plan to parent design document (if exists)
2. Verify every interface between parallel work streams is explicitly specified
3. Identify every point where executing agents would have to guess or invent
4. Verify existing code behaviors cite source, not method name inference

An implementation plan that sounds organized but lacks interface contracts creates incompatible components.
</CRITICAL_INSTRUCTION>

## Invariant Principles

1. **Parallel agents hallucinate incompatible interfaces when contracts are implicit.** Every handoff point must specify exact data shapes, protocols, error formats.

2. **Assumed behavior causes debugging loops.** Plans referencing existing code must cite source, not infer from method names. Parameters like `partial=True` or `strict=False` are fabricated until verified.

3. **Implementation plans must exceed design doc specificity.** Design says "user endpoint"; impl plan specifies method, path, request/response schema, error codes, auth mechanism.

4. **Test quality claims require verification.** Passing tests prove nothing without auditing-green-mirage. Test failures require systematic-debugging, not ad-hoc fixes.

## Inputs

| Input | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `impl_plan` | Yes | Path to or content of the implementation plan to review |
| `design_doc` | No | Path to parent design document for comparison |
| `codebase_root` | No | Project root for verifying existing code behavior references |

<analysis>
Before each phase, identify: interfaces between parallel work streams, behavior assumptions about existing code, gaps where executing agents would have to guess or invent.
</analysis>

## Phase 1: Context and Inventory

Dispatch subagent with `review-plan-inventory` command. If command unavailable, execute phase criteria directly.

Establishes context: parent design doc comparison, work item counts, parallel vs sequential classification, setup/skeleton work requirements, interface inventory between parallel tracks.

**Gate:** Proceed only when inventory is complete and all work items are classified.

## Phase 2: Interface Contract Audit

<CRITICAL>
This is the most important phase. Every MISSING contract is flagged CRITICAL and blocks execution.
</CRITICAL>

Dispatch subagent with `review-plan-contracts` command. If command unavailable, execute phase criteria directly.

Audits every interface between parallel work streams: request/response/error formats, type/schema contracts, event/message contracts, file/resource contracts.

**Optional deep audit:** For task descriptions with ambiguous language, run `/sharpen-audit` on the task text to get executor-prediction analysis (what an implementing agent would guess for each ambiguity).

**Gate:** Proceed only when every interface has been audited.

## Phase 3: Behavior Verification Audit

Dispatch subagent with `review-plan-behavior` command. If command unavailable, execute phase criteria directly.

Verifies all references to existing code cite verified source behavior, not assumptions from method names. Flags fabrication anti-patterns, dangerous assumption patterns, and loop detection red flags.

**Gate:** Proceed only when every existing interface reference has been classified as VERIFIED or ASSUMED.

## Phase 4-5: Completeness Checks and Escalation

Dispatch subagent with `review-plan-completeness` command. If command unavailable, execute phase criteria directly.

Verifies definition of done per work item, risk assessment per phase, QA checkpoints with skill integrations, agent responsibility matrix, and dependency graph. Escalates claims requiring `fact-checking` skill.

**Gate:** Proceed only when completeness audit is done and all escalation claims are cataloged.

## Report Assembly

Assemble the final report from subagent outputs:

```
## Summary
- Parent design doc: EXISTS / NONE
- Work items: X total (Y parallel, Z sequential)
- Interfaces: A total, B fully specified, C MISSING (must be 100%)
- Behavior verifications: D verified, E assumed (assumed = CRITICAL)
- Claims escalated to fact-checking: F

## Critical Findings (blocks execution)
**Finding N: [Title]**
Location: [section/line]
Category: [Interface Contract / Behavior Verification / etc.]
Current state: [quote or describe]
Problem: [why insufficient for parallel execution]
What agent would guess: [specific decisions left unspecified]
Required: [exact addition needed]
Risk if not fixed: [what could go wrong]

## Important Findings (should fix)
[Same format, lower priority]

## Minor Findings (nice to fix)
[Same format, lowest priority]

## Remediation Plan

### Priority 1: Interface Contracts (blocks parallel execution)
1. [ ] [Specific interface contract to add]
2. [ ] [Specific type definition to add]

### Priority 2: Behavior Verification (prevents debugging loops)
1. [ ] [Specific source citation to add]
2. [ ] [Specific parameter verification needed]

### Priority 3: QA/Testing
1. [ ] Add auditing-green-mirage integration
2. [ ] Add systematic-debugging integration

### Priority 4: Completeness
1. [ ] [Definition of done to add]
2. [ ] [Risk assessment to add]

### Fact-Checking Required
1. [ ] [Claim] - [Category] - [Depth]
```

<FORBIDDEN>
Surface-level reviews are professional negligence. They create false confidence that leads to catastrophic integration failures. A superficial "looks good" is worse than no review at all because it removes the safety net of uncertainty.

### Surface-Level Reviews
- "Plan looks well-organized"
- "Good level of detail"
- Accepting vague interface descriptions
- Skipping interface contract verification

### Vague Feedback
- "Needs more interface detail"
- "Consider specifying contracts"
- Findings without exact locations
- Remediation without concrete specifications

### Parallel Work Assumptions
- Assuming agents will "coordinate"
- Assuming interfaces are "obvious"
- Assuming data shapes can be "worked out"

### Interface Behavior Fabrication
- Assuming method behavior from names without verification
- Referencing parameters that may not exist
- Claiming library behavior without citing documentation
- Assuming test utilities work "conveniently"
- Accepting "try X, if fails try Y" patterns
- Stopping before complete audit
</FORBIDDEN>

<reflection>
Before completing review:

[ ] Did I compare to parent design doc (if exists)?
[ ] Did I verify impl plan has MORE detail than design doc?
[ ] Did I classify every work item as parallel or sequential?
[ ] Did I identify all setup/skeleton work?
[ ] Did I inventory EVERY interface between parallel work?
[ ] Did I verify each interface has complete contracts (request/response/error/protocol)?
[ ] Did I verify Type/Schema contracts are complete?
[ ] Did I verify Event/Message contracts are complete?
[ ] Did I verify File/Resource contracts are complete?
[ ] Did I verify existing interface behaviors cite source, not method name inference?
[ ] Did I flag fabricated parameters and try-if-fail patterns?
[ ] Did I identify claims requiring fact-checking escalation?
[ ] Did I check definition of done for each work item?
[ ] Did I verify risk assessment exists for each phase?
[ ] Did I verify QA checkpoints exist with pass criteria?
[ ] Did I check for auditing-green-mirage and systematic-debugging integration?
[ ] Did I build the agent responsibility matrix?
[ ] Did I verify dependency graph and check for circular dependencies?
[ ] Does every finding include exact location?
[ ] Does every finding include specific remediation?
[ ] Did I separate Critical/Important/Minor findings?
[ ] Did I provide prioritized remediation plan?
[ ] Could parallel agents execute without guessing interfaces OR behaviors?

If NO to ANY item, go back and complete it.
</reflection>

<CRITICAL_REMINDER>
The question is NOT "does this plan look organized?"

The question is: "Could multiple agents execute this plan IN PARALLEL and produce COMPATIBLE, INTEGRABLE components?"

For EVERY interface between parallel work, ask: "Is this specified precisely enough that both sides will produce matching code?"

If you can't answer with confidence, it's under-specified. Find it. Flag it. Specify what's needed.

Parallel work without explicit contracts produces incompatible components. This is the primary failure mode. Hunt for it relentlessly.
</CRITICAL_REMINDER>

<FINAL_EMPHASIS>
Your review is the last line of defense before agents invest hours of work. Miss a gap, and multiple agents produce incompatible code. Catch every gap, and the integration is seamless. There is no middle ground. Thoroughness is not optional.
</FINAL_EMPHASIS>