Sprint Planning Skill

Overview

Orchestrate ClickUp sprint operations through the sprint-planner MCP server — sync plan documents, create story cards in bulk, and track sprint progress.

Core principle: Always sync before mutating. Show the user the diff, get confirmation, then execute.

When to Use

• Syncing plan docs to ClickUp (creating/updating stories)
• Bulk operations on ClickUp tasks (create, update, reorder)
• Sprint status checks and epic progress tracking
• Setting EPIC relationship fields on tasks

When NOT to Use

• Individual task updates — use ClickUp UI directly
• Creating plan documents — use dev-workflow:plan-docs skill
• Non-ClickUp project management

Available Tools

Tool	Purpose
sprint_sync	Diff plan docs against ClickUp state (read-only)
sprint_bulk_create	Create multiple tasks + set EPIC relationships
sprint_set_relationship	Set list_relationship custom fields directly
sprint_bulk_update	Batch update status/assignee/priority
sprint_bulk_rename	Preview/apply [EpicID] prefix to non-compliant task names
sprint_status	Get epic overview with stats
sprint_action_log	Query past operations

Rules

1. Sync before mutating. Always call sprint_sync first. Present the diff and get confirmation.
2. Use bulk operations. Never create tasks one-by-one. Use sprint_bulk_create with set_relationships: true.
3. Read config, don't hardcode. All IDs come from sprint-planner.json (path via SPRINT_PLANNER_CONFIG env var). Never hardcode ClickUp IDs.
4. Confirm before mutating. Show the user exactly what will happen and ask for confirmation.
5. Surface errors clearly. Our tools use the direct REST endpoint — if they report failure, it's real. Show which operations succeeded vs failed.
6. Present results as tables. After any operation, show task names, IDs, statuses, and any failures.
7. Never use raw ClickUp MCP tools for sprint write operations. Tools like clickup_create_task, clickup_update_task, clickup_create_task_comment bypass the action log, skip relationship linking, and ignore naming conventions. Always use sprint_bulk_create, sprint_bulk_update, and sprint_set_relationship instead.

Workflows

Creating Stories

1. sprint_sync(epic="P1a")            → see what exists vs plan doc
2. Present diff table to user         → match / to_create / to_update / to_link
3. User confirms which to create
4. sprint_bulk_create(list_id=config.lists.backlog.id, stories=[...], set_relationships=true)
   - Names auto-formatted as "{epic_id} - {name}" (e.g. "P3 - Install Istio")
   - Include orderindex with sequence * 1000 gaps
   - Include full card descriptions with all required sections
5. Show results table                 → created tasks with IDs and URLs
6. If sprint_sync flagged "to_link" items:
   sprint_sync(apply_links=true)      → auto-set relationship fields + log action

Updating Stories

1. sprint_sync(epic="P1")             → identify stale stories
2. Present diff to user
3. User confirms which to update
4. sprint_bulk_update(updates=[{ "task_id": "...", "description": "...", "orderindex": "1000" }])
5. Show results table                 → success/failure per task

The description field accepts full markdown — include all required card sections. See card-format.md for card content requirements, examples, and ordering rules.

Sprint Status Check

1. sprint_status(group_by="epic"|"status"|"assignee")
2. Present summary table
3. User drills into specific epic for story-level detail

Card Format

Task naming: [Project Name] {EpicID}-S{StoryIndex}: {StoryName}

Every card MUST include: Summary, Tasks checklist, Context/Notes, Acceptance Criteria. See card-format.md for full requirements, example card, ordering rules, and custom field reference.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Creating tasks one-by-one	Use sprint_bulk_create for all stories in one call
Not syncing before creating	Always sprint_sync first — avoids duplicating existing tasks
One-line card descriptions	Include all 4 required sections (see card-format.md)
Hardcoding ClickUp IDs	Read from sprint-planner.json config
Setting orderindex without gaps	Use sequence * 1000 to leave room for inserts
Using raw ClickUp MCP tools (clickup_create_task, etc.) for sprint ops	Always use sprint_bulk_create / sprint_bulk_update / sprint_set_relationship — raw tools bypass the action log and skip naming/relationship logic