feat(TASK-001): add rigor/surfaces declaration layer to planning skills

design-session: Quality bar round in Step 2 (rigor/surfaces proposal,
per-surface confirm/drop, other:<label> lane, autonomous fallback),
rigor+surfaces frontmatter and Quality bar section in the Step 3 PLAN
template, poc-dodge anti-pattern.
task-tracking: optional per-task surfaces key (inherits the plan's list);
rigor stays run-level only.
plan-gatekeeping: manifest category 11 (Quality bar) with
FRICTION/BLOCKING severity guidance.
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2026-08-28 14:47:57 -06:00
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@@ -31,6 +31,18 @@ Produce a structured proposal (iterate with the user when interactive — load t
- **Open questions** — ONLY questions the codebase cannot answer (business rules, priority calls). If none, say "No open questions." - **Open questions** — ONLY questions the codebase cannot answer (business rules, priority calls). If none, say "No open questions."
- **Task breakdown** — see below. - **Task breakdown** — see below.
## Quality bar round (closes Step 2)
The last round of Step 2 sets the plan's quality bar. It is grilling-compatible — run it as numbered questions, each carrying a recommended answer, like any other frontier round:
1. **Propose `rigor`** — one of `poc | prototype | production` (default `production`). Infer the recommended value from the design doc's own language: "spike"/"demo" → `poc`; "iterate"/"internal" → `prototype`; otherwise `production`. Rigor calibrates which review-finding severities BLOCK downstream work: 🔴-critical findings block at EVERY rigor; at `poc`, suggestion/nitpick-level (🟢/💡) convention findings may be dropped from reports entirely. Anything a lower rigor defers is tracked as a follow-up — never silently dropped.
2. **Propose `surfaces`** — zero or more of the closed enum: `rest-api`, `cli`, `library`, `worker`, `iac`, `db-migration`, `frontend`, `ci-cd` (`grpc`/`graphql` are aliases for `rest-api`), plus the escape hatch `other:<label>` for anything outside it. Infer from the approach: an HTTP handler → `rest-api`, a schema change → `db-migration`, and so on.
3. **Per-surface confirm/drop** — for each accepted surface, present the headline best practices its reviewers will enforce and let the user confirm or drop each one. Every drop demands a one-line reason and lands in the plan's `## Quality bar` section — a dropped practice without a recorded reason WILL be re-litigated by a reviewer.
For an `other:<label>` surface no reviewer checklist exists, so the lane is: a librarian lookup distills an authoritative best-practice checklist for the label; the user confirms or drops each item; accepted items become task acceptance criteria where possible, otherwise they live under `## Quality bar → Long-tail criteria`. (The architect drives the lookup; this skill documents the shape the results take in the plan.)
Autonomous runs (no user to grill): take the inferred values, drop nothing, and note "quality bar inferred, not user-confirmed" in the plan.
## Task breakdown rules ## Task breakdown rules
| Rule | Why | | Rule | Why |
@@ -51,6 +63,8 @@ Write `PLAN-<slug>.md` (kebab-case slug from the topic; verify no collision) to
slug: <slug> slug: <slug>
status: draft # draft | active | implemented status: draft # draft | active | implemented
created: YYYY-MM-DD created: YYYY-MM-DD
rigor: production # poc | prototype | production; omitted = production
surfaces: [] # from the closed enum and/or other:<label>; omitted = []
--- ---
# <Title> # <Title>
@@ -60,6 +74,7 @@ created: YYYY-MM-DD
## Approach ## Approach
## Alternatives considered ## Alternatives considered
## Constraints and risks ## Constraints and risks
## Quality bar
## Open questions ## Open questions
## Task breakdown ## Task breakdown
@@ -67,6 +82,8 @@ created: YYYY-MM-DD
|---|------|------|-----------|-------| |---|------|------|-----------|-------|
``` ```
`## Quality bar` records the quality-bar round in human-readable form: the rigor line with its one-line reason, the surfaces line, the dropped-practices list (each entry with its one-line reason and the date it was decided), and the long-tail criteria block (`none`, or the distilled checklist for each `other:<label>` surface).
The plan is the implementers' entire context. Write for the "sealed container" standard: every question an implementer will hit is either answered inline or delegated via a pointer to the exact file/doc that answers it (where infra code goes, what DB tech, which layout to mirror, exact test commands). Paste short code snippets for load-bearing patterns — a path alone forces re-exploration; a stale claim fails the executor mid-implementation. The plan is the implementers' entire context. Write for the "sealed container" standard: every question an implementer will hit is either answered inline or delegated via a pointer to the exact file/doc that answers it (where infra code goes, what DB tech, which layout to mirror, exact test commands). Paste short code snippets for load-bearing patterns — a path alone forces re-exploration; a stale claim fails the executor mid-implementation.
## Anti-patterns ## Anti-patterns
@@ -77,3 +94,4 @@ The plan is the implementers' entire context. Write for the "sealed container" s
- Acceptance criteria describing implementation ("uses a for loop") instead of behavior. - Acceptance criteria describing implementation ("uses a for loop") instead of behavior.
- Open questions the code could have answered — grep first, ask last. - Open questions the code could have answered — grep first, ask last.
- Unrecorded decisions — every settled fork carries its reason. - Unrecorded decisions — every settled fork carries its reason.
- Declaring `rigor: poc` to dodge review findings the user never agreed to drop.
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@@ -31,9 +31,12 @@ Walk EVERY category. For each, ask: "when the implementer hits this, does the pl
| 8 | **Config, secrets & environments** | New env vars/config keys — where are they declared and injected? Secrets — vault/parameter store conventions? Staging vs production differences that affect implementation? | | 8 | **Config, secrets & environments** | New env vars/config keys — where are they declared and injected? Secrets — vault/parameter store conventions? Staging vs production differences that affect implementation? |
| 9 | **Scope boundaries** | Is Out of scope present and specific? Are "tempting adjacent fixes" explicitly deferred? | | 9 | **Scope boundaries** | Is Out of scope present and specific? Are "tempting adjacent fixes" explicitly deferred? |
| 10 | **Settled decisions** | Are choices that were debated recorded WITH their one-line reason ("RDS over in-cluster Postgres because ops owns backups")? An unrecorded decision WILL be re-litigated by the implementer. | | 10 | **Settled decisions** | Are choices that were debated recorded WITH their one-line reason ("RDS over in-cluster Postgres because ops owns backups")? An unrecorded decision WILL be re-litigated by the implementer. |
| 11 | **Quality bar** | Are `rigor` and `surfaces` declared (or the plan explicitly generic)? Is every dropped best practice recorded WITH a one-line reason? Does every `other:<label>` surface carry non-empty long-tail criteria? |
Not every category applies to every plan (a docs-only plan has no data layer). Mark inapplicable categories as such — silently skipping one is how leaks survive. Not every category applies to every plan (a docs-only plan has no data layer). Mark inapplicable categories as such — silently skipping one is how leaks survive.
For category 11 specifically: a missing Quality bar declaration is FRICTION when the plan is plausibly `surfaces: []` (a docs-only or pure-refactor plan), BLOCKING when the plan self-evidently builds an enum surface (an HTTP API, a CLI, migrations…) but declares none.
## Pointer verification (do not trust, verify) ## Pointer verification (do not trust, verify)
For every pointer the plan offers: For every pointer the plan offers:
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@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ points: 1.0 # engineer-days; ~1.0 per the sizing rule
plan: PLAN-<slug>.md plan: PLAN-<slug>.md
blocked_by: [] # TASK ids that must be complete first blocked_by: [] # TASK ids that must be complete first
created: YYYY-MM-DD created: YYYY-MM-DD
surfaces: [] # this task's surfaces; omitted = inherit the plan's list
--- ---
## What ## What
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ One paragraph: what this task produces, named concretely (files, symbols, behavi
Status lives in frontmatter — there are no lifecycle directories. `status: complete` plus all boxes checked IS done. Status lives in frontmatter — there are no lifecycle directories. `status: complete` plus all boxes checked IS done.
`surfaces` come from the plan's `## Quality bar`; rigor is run-level only — there is no per-task rigor.
## log.md conventions ## log.md conventions
Append-only. Each entry is an H2: `## YYYY-MM-DD — <short label>` (`created`, `started`, `implemented`, `diverged`, `completed`, ...). Body is 1-3 sentences of prose; structured data lives in markdown links (branch URLs, commit SHAs, PR links). Never rewrite an old entry — add a new one. Append-only. Each entry is an H2: `## YYYY-MM-DD — <short label>` (`created`, `started`, `implemented`, `diverged`, `completed`, ...). Body is 1-3 sentences of prose; structured data lives in markdown links (branch URLs, commit SHAs, PR links). Never rewrite an old entry — add a new one.