planning-and-task-breakdown
Breaks work into ordered tasks. Use when you have a spec or clear requirements and need to break work into implementable tasks. Use when a task feels too large to start, when you need to estimate scope, or when parallel work is possible.
npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill planning-and-task-breakdown --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Planning and Task Breakdown ## Overview Decompose work into small, verifiable tasks with explicit acceptance criteria. Good task breakdown is the difference between an agent that completes work reliably and one that produces a tangled mess. Every task should be small enough to implement, test, and verify in a single focused session. ## When to Use - You have a spec and need to break it into implementable units - A task feels too large or vague to start - Work needs to be parallelized across multiple agents or sessions - You need to communicate scope to a human - The implementation order isn't obvious **When NOT to use:** Single-file changes with obvious scope, or when the spec already contains well-defined tasks. ## The Planning Process ### Step 1: Enter Plan Mode Before writing any code, operate in read-only mode: - Read the spec and relevant codebase sections - Identify existing patterns and conventions - Map dependencies between components - Note risks and unknowns **Do NOT write code during planning.** The output is a plan document saved to `tasks/plan.md` and a task list saved to `tasks/todo.md`, not implementation. ### Step 2: Identify the Dependency Graph Map what depends
- Overview
- When to Use
- The Planning Process
- Step 1: Enter Plan Mode
- Step 2: Identify the Dependency Graph
- Step 3: Slice Vertically
- Step 4: Write Tasks
- Step 5: Order and Checkpoint
- Task Sizing Guidelines
- Output Files
- Plan Document Template
- Parallelization Opportunities
- Common Rationalizations
- Red Flags
What does the planning-and-task-breakdown skill do?
Breaks work into ordered tasks. Use when you have a spec or clear requirements and need to break work into implementable tasks. Use when a task feels too large to start, when you need to estimate scope, or when parallel work is possible.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills --skill planning-and-task-breakdown --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From addyosmani/agent-skills, a repository with 81,574 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.