BMAD Planning & Orchestrator

PLANNING SUBAGENT — scopes ONE epic into an ordered list of stories with disjoint Owned File/Module Scope boundaries, making the epic's stories safe for parallel execution by the story-author subagents that follow. Receives: one epic's requirements slice (from epics.md or the PRD cluster), the architecture document, and any already-scoped epics (to avoid cross-epic collisions). Produces: a scoping manifest for the epic — story titles, one-line intents, proposed Owned File/Module Scopes, dependency order, and a sizing verdict per story — ready for the orchestrator to fan out to story-author agents. Use when the orchestrator says "scope epic {N}", "enumerate stories for epic {N}", "what stories does epic {N} need", or "build the story list for {slug}". This agent NEVER writes story files, application code, tests, or lint. Its sole output is a scoping manifest — a planning artifact the orchestrator uses to drive story-author subagents.

PLANNING SUBAGENT — independently audits one or more planning artifacts and returns a structured verdict of PASS, CONCERNS, or FAIL with itemized findings. Designed for parallel deployment: spawn one auditor per artifact domain (requirements, architecture, stories) and let the orchestrator merge verdicts. Use when the orchestrator says "audit the PRD", "audit the architecture", "audit story {N}", "run an independent audit", "check artifact readiness", "gate-check before story compilation", or "validate planning artifacts independently". This agent reads planning documents ONLY. It NEVER writes application code, runs tests, lints, builds, or reviews implementation diffs. Its sole output is an audit report and a PASS / CONCERNS / FAIL verdict that the orchestrator uses to decide whether to proceed, ask for fixes, or block the workflow.

PLANNING SUBAGENT — compiles ONE story file as a fully source-cited context object in isolation. Receives a single story assignment (epic number, story number, slug, and the shared sharding-context path) and produces one {epic}.{story}.{slug}.story.md that is self-contained (~8K tokens) and ready for the orchestrator's scope-conflict check. Spawned by the bmad-epics-and-stories skill when fanning out story compilation across parallel agents. Use when the orchestrator says "compile story {epic}.{story}" or "author the story file for {slug}". This agent NEVER writes application code, runs tests, lints, builds, or reviews diffs. Its sole output is a planning artifact — the story file. Implementation is handed to external dev tools after the orchestrator marks the story ready-for-dev.

Solutioning skill (Winston, the Architect). Produces architecture.md with ADRs and systematic NFR coverage, mapping every FR/NFR from the PRD to a concrete design decision. ONE architecture forces all future parallel dev agents to share the same API style, data model, state management, naming conventions, and security approach — catching alignment here is 10x cheaper than during implementation. Use when the user says "design the architecture", "create architecture", "/architecture", "solutioning", "tech stack", "system design", "ADR", "architecture decision record", "data model", "API design", "NFR coverage", "non-functional requirements", or after a PRD is done and they ask "what's next" / "ready for solutioning". Supports Create (new architecture.md), Update (revise against PRD changes), and Validate (check coverage + ADR completeness). PLANS only — never writes application code, runs tests, lints, or builds.

Facilitates structured ideation sessions using proven brainstorming techniques (SCAMPER, SWOT, 5 Whys, Mind Mapping, Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Brainstorming, Starbursting, Brainwriting). Produces a brainstorming-report.md of organized ideas and actionable insights. Operates in three intents: Create (new session), Update (add techniques or deepen coverage), Validate (confirm insights align with project goals). Use when the user says: "brainstorm", "ideate", "generate ideas", "explore options", "SCAMPER", "SWOT analysis", "mind map", "Six Thinking Hats", "5 Whys", "creative session", "what if we", "let's explore", "think through possibilities", "find alternatives", or "problem-solve". This skill PLANS only — it never writes application code or runs tests.

Meta-skill for scaffolding and validating custom PLANNING/ORCHESTRATION skills within the BMAD Planning & Orchestrator plugin. Produces the full skill directory: SKILL.md, scripts, and templates — all pre-targeted at this plugin's path conventions. Includes a scope-violation checker so newly created skills never drift into dev/lint/build/coverage territory. Use when the user says "create a skill", "scaffold a skill", "build a new planning skill", "add a skill to the orchestrator", "extend BMAD planning", "custom orchestration skill", "validate this skill", "check this skill for scope violations", "new skill for the planner", or "bmad-builder". Supports three intents: Create (new skill skeleton), Validate (check an existing SKILL.md), Scaffold (directory structure only). This skill plans and scaffolds only — it NEVER writes application code, runs tests, lints, or builds.

CROSS-PHASE mid-stream scope correction. Re-enters planning when requirements, features, architecture, or constraints change after planning has started. Re-shards affected epics/stories, re-sequences sprint-status.yaml, appends rationale to decision-log.md. Routes to bmad-epics-and-stories, bmad-sprint-planning, or bmad-parallel-plan as needed. Changes the PLAN, never code. Use when: "we need to change course", "scope has changed", "new requirement came in", "we're dropping feature X", "we need to pivot", "re-plan after the change", "requirements changed mid-sprint", "correct course", "architecture changed", "re-scope the backlog", "update epics after feedback", "cancel story X", "add epic for Y", "change the plan", "we got new constraints", or when stories are split/merged/reordered due to a decision not in the original plan. Produces: updated epics.md (affected only), revised/new story files, updated sprint-status.yaml, new decision-log.md entry. NEVER writes code or runs tests.

BROWNFIELD planning input. Scans an existing codebase READ-ONLY and writes project-documentation.md — ground truth for stack, structure, key flows, conventions, and integration points — so downstream BMAD planning skills start from reality. Does NOT modify code; produces only the doc artifact. Use when the user says: "document this codebase", "document the project", "document my app", "scan the existing code", "brownfield planning", "we have existing code, start planning", "map what's already built", "document current state", "capture the current architecture", "understand the existing system before planning", "write project-documentation.md", or before a PRD or architecture doc when the user already has code written. Three intents: Create (initial scan), Update (re-scan changed areas), Validate (check completeness). Plans only — reads code but never writes it, runs no tests, no linters, no build tools, no application code.

2 hooks across 2 events