Workflow-first design through collaborative dialogue. Use before creating features, building components, or modifying behavior.
/plugin marketplace add Nothflare/feature-tree/plugin install feature-tree@feature-treeThis skill inherits all available tools. When active, it can use any tool Claude has access to.
Turn ideas into fully formed plans through collaborative dialogue.
Four phases: Discovery → Product → Design → Specification
ONE QUESTION AT A TIME.
Do NOT dump all questions at once. That produces shallow, useless answers.
For each question:
DO NOT MOVE TO NEXT PHASE UNLESS USER EXPLICITLY AGREES.
At the end of each phase, ask: "Phase N complete. Ready for Phase N+1?"
Wait for "ok" or "yes" before continuing.
This is collaborative dialogue, not a checklist dump.
Push yourself to think. Don't skip these.
Users communicate in solutions, not problems. "Add a spinner" might mean "page feels slow."
Ask yourself:
Every project has ONE assumption that must be true or everything falls apart.
Ask yourself:
Imagine it failed. Why?
Ask yourself:
Scope creep kills projects. Define the boundaries.
Ask yourself:
"Users" is too vague. Pick a real person.
Ask yourself:
Think like you're explaining to a YC partner. Capture the essence.
Not the features. The VALUE.
Ask yourself:
Identify the workflows that ARE the product (not supporting stuff like auth).
For each core workflow:
This is human thinking. No technical details yet.
Technical thinking. Consider alternatives, find simplicity, identify risks.
Don't jump to first solution.
Ask yourself:
Complexity is the enemy.
Ask yourself:
Every design has weak points.
Ask yourself:
Output the plan. Workflows first, always.
# [Topic] Plan
## Summary
[What we're building, why, for whom — 2-3 sentences]
## Workflows
### WORKFLOW.id — Workflow Name
**Status:** planned
**Description:** [YC partner explanation — what this journey IS, why it matters]
**Steps:**
1. [Detailed step — what user does, what system does]
2. [Next step...]
3. [...]
**Depends on:** FEATURE.id, FEATURE.id
---
### WORKFLOW.id — Another Workflow
...
---
## Features
### FEATURE.id — Feature Name
**Status:** planned
**Description:** [YC partner explanation — what it does, user-facing]
**Technical Notes:** [How it works, gotchas, implementation details — enough for Claude to implement without asking questions]
**Uses:** INFRA.id, FEATURE.id
---
### INFRA.id — Infrastructure Feature
**Status:** planned
**Description:** [What it provides]
**Technical Notes:** [Technical details]
**Uses:** —
---
## Implementation Order
Group by commit. Distribute effort evenly — big features get own commit, small ones batch together.
### Commit 1: [Group Name]
- [ ] INFRA.database — setup connection pool
- [ ] INFRA.config — env-based config
(small, related → batch together)
### Commit 2: [Big Feature Name]
- [ ] AUTH.login — validate credentials, create session, handle errors
(complex feature → own commit)
### Commit 3: [Group Name]
- [ ] AUTH.logout — destroy session
- [ ] AUTH.refresh — refresh token
(small, related → batch together)
### Commit 4: [Integration]
- [ ] USER.login_flow — end-to-end test
(workflow integration test)
**Grouping rules:**
- Big/complex feature → own commit
- Small/simple features → batch with related ones
- Each commit should be test-able with REAL testing
- If a group feels too big to test confidently → split it
## Decisions
- [Decision]: [Why we chose this over alternatives]
- [Decision]: [Why]
Write to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md
Create the workflows and features in Feature Tree:
add_workflow(id="...", name="...", description="...", purpose="...", steps=[...], depends_on=[...])
add_feature(id="...", name="...", description="...", technical_notes="...", uses=[...])
Use sub-skill: ft-mem:brainstorm-sync
Syncs discoveries to CONTEXT.md and memories.
Use sub-skill: feature-tree:executing-plans
Implements the plan task-by-task with commits between.