/cf-plan | Coding Friend

Context footprint: ⚡⚡⚡ (high) — what does this mean?

The /cf-plan skill helps you design solutions before writing code. It clarifies requirements, explores your codebase, brainstorms approaches, and produces a detailed implementation plan — then optionally implements it for you.

Usage

/cf-plan [task description]
/cf-plan --fast [task description]
/cf-plan --hard [task description]

Modes

Normal (default) — Full workflow: discovery, agent-based exploration, brainstorming, validation, plan writing
Fast (--fast) — Skip discovery and brainstorming. Inline codebase search instead of agents. Go straight to the plan. Best for clear, single-module, additive tasks
Hard (--hard) — Extra discovery round (risk & rollback), deeper blast-radius exploration, rollback strategy per task, review gates during implementation. Best for breaking changes, migrations, multi-module refactors

If no flag is given, the skill auto-detects the appropriate mode based on task signals (e.g. "just add a command like X" → fast, "rewrite the auth pipeline" → hard). Auto-detected modes are confirmed with you before proceeding.

Workflow

Discovery & Brainstorm — Runs a focused discovery session in rounds: first asks probing questions to deeply understand your objectives and constraints, then challenges your initial approach with brutal honesty about feasibility and trade-offs (applying YAGNI/KISS/DRY), and finally presents 2–3 alternatives if needed. Respects your choice to skip brainstorming
Codebase Exploration — Launches the cf-explorer agent to gather context: project structure, affected files, existing patterns, and relevant tests
Brainstorm Approaches — Launches the cf-planner agent to generate 2–3 possible approaches, each with pros, cons, effort estimate, risk, and confidence level. Recommends one with rationale
Validate with You — Presents key findings, approaches, and open questions. Waits for your approval before writing anything
Write & Save the Plan — Breaks the approved approach into phased tasks with [parallel] or [sequential] markers, specific files, expected outcomes, and verification steps. Saves to docs/plans/
Offer Implementation — Asks if you want to start implementing. Executes phases in order: parallel phases launch all tasks concurrently via background cf-implementer agents; sequential phases run one task at a time. All tasks follow TDD discipline. If an implementer fails, retries once with error context before escalating. Automatically runs /cf-review when done

Examples

# Normal — full workflow with brainstorming and agents
/cf-plan Build a REST API with JWT authentication and rate limiting

# Fast — skip discovery, inline search, straight to plan
/cf-plan --fast Add a new CLI command similar to cf-install

# Hard — deep exploration, rollback strategy, review gates
/cf-plan --hard Migrate from REST to GraphQL across all API endpoints

The skill will:

Ask probing questions about your requirements, challenge assumptions, and suggest alternatives if needed (skipped in fast mode)
Explore your existing codebase structure (inline search in fast mode, double exploration in hard mode)
Propose 2–3 approaches with trade-offs (skipped in fast mode, 3–4 approaches with rollback strategies in hard mode)
Present findings and wait for your approval (skipped in fast mode)
Create a phased implementation plan with [parallel] and [sequential] markers (with rollback fields per task in hard mode)
Save the plan to docs/plans/2026-03-05-rest-api-auth-plan.md
Offer to implement it — parallel phases run concurrently, sequential phases run one at a time (with review gates after every phase in hard mode)

When to Use

Starting a new feature with uncertain scope → normal mode
Adding something similar to existing patterns → --fast
Redesigning a complex system → --hard
Onboarding to unfamiliar codebases → normal mode
Planning migrations or refactors → --hard

Output

Plans are saved to docs/plans/ with a date-prefixed filename:

docs/plans/
  ├── 2026-03-05-rest-api-auth-plan.md
  ├── 2026-02-20-database-migration-plan.md
  └── ...

Each plan includes:

Context and problem statement
Confirmed assumptions with basis
Chosen approach and rationale
Phased tasks ([parallel] / [sequential]) with specific files and verification steps
Risk assessment and mitigations
Migration & Rollback section (hard mode only) — overall rollback strategy, point of no return, incremental deployment options
Next steps — a reminder to run /cf-review before committing

Recommended Workflow

/cf-plan → implement (implicitly via /cf-implementer) → /cf-review → /cf-commit

After implementation, /cf-review runs automatically — no need to trigger it manually before /cf-commit.