Planning with Files

Work like Manus — the AI agent company Meta acquired for $2 billion.

<strong>💬 A Note from the Author</strong>

To everyone who starred, forked, and shared this skill — thank you. This project blew up in less than 24 hours, and the support from the community has been incredible.

If this skill helps you work smarter, that's all I wanted.

<strong>🌍 What the community shipped</strong>

Forks & Extensions

Fork	Author	What They Built
devis	@st01cs	Interview-first workflow, /devis:intv and /devis:impl commands, guaranteed activation
multi-manus-planning	@kmichels	Multi-project support, SessionStart git sync
plan-cascade	@Taoidle	Multi-level task orchestration, parallel execution, multi-agent collaboration
agentfund-skill	@RioTheGreat-ai	Crowdfunding for AI agents with milestone-based escrow on Base
openclaw-github-repo-commander	@wd041216-bit	7-stage GitHub repo audit, optimization, and cleanup workflow for OpenClaw

Used in the Wild

Project	What It Is
lincolnwan/Planning-with-files-copilot-agent	Entire Copilot agent repo built around the planning-with-files skill
cooragent/ClarityFinance	AI finance agent framework — Planning-with-Files approach directly credited
oeftimie/vv-claude-harness	Claude Code harness built on Manus-style persistent markdown planning
jessepwj/CCteam-creator	Multi-agent team orchestration skill using file-based planning

Skill Registries & Hubs

Registry	What It Is
buzhangsan/skill-manager	Bilingual (EN/中文) skill hub indexing 31,000+ Claude Code skills — planning-with-files installable one-click.

Built something? Open an issue to get listed!

<strong>🤝 Contributors</strong>

See the full list of everyone who made this project better in CONTRIBUTORS.md.

<strong>📦 Releases & Session Recovery</strong>

Current Version: v2.43.0

Version	Highlights
v2.43.0	CONTRIBUTING.md + OpenCode docs fix + .continue/.gemini/.kiro variant sync to parity (PR #171 by @Skulli485, issue #172 by @luyanfeng, issues #159/#160/#161): first CONTRIBUTING.md at repo root, auto-surfaced by GitHub in the PR creation flow. docs/opencode.md Quick Install switched from `git clone` to `npx skills add` after the manual-install block was found referencing a doubled path (planning-with-files/planning-with-files/SKILL.md). Three historically lagging IDE SKILL.md variants brought to v2.43.0 parity: .continue from v2.34.0 (9 versions behind), .gemini from v2.34.0 (9 versions behind), .kiro from v2.32.0-kiro (11 versions behind), preserving IDE-specific frontmatter, hook shapes, and Kiro Agent Skill layout.
v2.42.0	POSIX init-session.sh portability + plugin-vs-skill install transparency + Topic Handoff docs (PR #169 and PR #170 by @carterusedulm2-maker): init-session.sh and its 7 mirrors swap the [[ ]] bashism for POSIX [ ] so tests/test_init_session_slug.py runs cleanly under dash (Ubuntu) when the test invokes the script via sh rather than the bash shebang. Canonical SKILL.md gains an install-scope clarification: /plugin install ships the commands/ folder with /plan-goal and /plan-loop, but npx skills add (and ClawHub) do not. A manual fallback procedure for both wrappers is documented inline so skill-only sessions can produce the same effect by invoking Claude Code's native /goal and /loop primitives directly. docs/quickstart.md and docs/workflow.md add an optional Topic Handoff Pattern for very long-running operational topics (handoffs/<topic>.md alongside progress.md).
v2.41.0	Windows exec-bit test skip + attestation-locking docs (PR #167 by @gauravvojha, Issue #166; PR #168 by @CleanDev-Fix, Issue #165): test_script_permissions.py now skips on Windows with a class-level pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32") since NTFS does not store POSIX executable bits; the 2 pre-existing Windows exec-bit failures (present since v2.34.1) are resolved. New dedicated docs/attestation-locking.md page documents the attest-plan.sh write path, the atomic temp-rename guarantee, the optional flock advisory lock, and the recommended slug-mode workflow for parallel sessions.
v2.40.1	Pi adapter SKILL.md sync gap + npm scope correction (PR #158 by @TomXPRIME): the .pi SKILL.md lagged the canonical Claude Code copy after v2.39.0; v2.40.1 backports Rule 7 (Continue After Completion), the Security Boundary section, the expanded Scripts section covering set-active-plan.sh/resolve-plan-dir.sh/attest-plan.sh plus the parallel task workflow, and the "Write web content to task_plan.md" anti-pattern row. The Pi npm package is renamed from the unscoped pi-planning-with-files to @tomxprime/planning-with-files, matching the package author's namespace; install docs updated accordingly. Author, repository, license, and bugs URLs preserved.
v2.40.0	Slug-mode resolution fixes + perf cache + KV-cache hygiene + Pi false-positive fix (9 items from the v2.40 R&D experiment): hook resolution order inverted so slug-mode wins over legacy root, .active_plan target dir + content validated against a safe-identifier regex, check-complete.sh honors $PLAN_ID and .active_plan, Pi extension isDangerousBashCommand swapped to a word-boundary regex array so benign git push origin <branch> no longer fires the warning, mtime-keyed SHA-256 cache cuts attestation-hook latency on Windows Git Bash, progress.md tail timestamps normalized for KV-cache prefix stability, resolve-plan-dir.sh mtime resolution made portable across GNU/BSD/macOS/Alpine/Git Bash with python+perl fallbacks, attest-plan.sh uses atomic temp-rename with optional flock to close the concurrent-writer race. 130 pass / 2 pre-existing Windows exec-bit fails, +20 new tests.
v2.39.0	Pi Coding Agent full hook parity extension + Codex hooks flag fix (PR #157 by @TomXPRIME, Issue #154 by @DLI1996): the .pi adapter ships a bundled TypeScript extension mapping eight Pi lifecycle events to the same behavior the skill provides on Claude Code, with a four-mode system (auto/parity/cache-safe/notify) that auto-detects DeepSeek and keeps the KV-cache prefix stable. Pi runtime reads the same .attestation file the canonical v2.37 attest-plan.sh writes, so attesting once locks the plan across both runtimes. Four slash commands (/plan-status, /plan-attest, /plan-goal, /plan-loop) mirror their Claude Code counterparts. Separately, docs/codex.md swaps from codex_hooks = true to hooks = true to match the current OpenAI canonical key, with an alias note so users on older configs are not pushed to migrate.
v2.38.1	Description field garbled in Claude Code skill picker (surfaced via Discussion #153 by @bmyury): hook commands embedded '---BEGIN PLAN DATA---' plan-injection delimiters; Claude Code's skill-discovery loader split frontmatter on the first --- and read the truncated value as the description. Swapped to ===BEGIN PLAN DATA=== / ===END PLAN DATA=== across canonical SKILL.md, all five language variants, the .codebuddy/.codex/.cursor adapter mirrors, and clawhub-upload. Hook execution and tamper attestation never affected; only the displayed metadata.
v2.38.0	Claude Code turn-loop integration + OpenCode SQLite fix: new PreCompact hook fires on /compact and autoCompact, surfaces a reminder to flush progress before compaction completes and prints the active Plan-SHA256 when attested. New /plan-goal slash command composes with Claude Code's /goal (v2.1.139, May 12 2026): derives a termination condition from the active plan. New /plan-loop composes with /loop (v2.1.72+): default 10-minute tick re-reads planning files and runs check-complete. New templates/loop.md for the bare /loop planning-aware default. Session-catchup rewritten for OpenCode's SQLite migration. Codex gets a PermissionRequest adapter that surfaces plan context at permission prompts.
v2.37.0	Hash attestation + parity bumper (closes #150, #151): /plan-attest locks task_plan.md with a SHA-256; hooks block injection on tamper. scripts/bump-version.py + parity test kill the "missed one variant" regression class behind v2.34.1, v2.36.0, v2.36.2, and v2.36.3. (thanks @oaabahussain!)
v2.36.3	Parallel planning scripts now ship in the skill: resolve-plan-dir.sh and set-active-plan.sh were missing from the installed skill in v2.36.0; now in canonical + all IDE mirrors + SKILL.md docs updated
v2.36.2	Canonical script sync (PR #149): skills/planning-with-files/scripts/init-session.sh was missing slug mode from v2.36.0; now synced with IDE mirrors + regression test. (thanks @voidborne-d!)
v2.36.1	Security hardening: Stop hook cache search removed, ExecutionPolicy Bypass changed to RemoteSigned, prompt injection delimiters added. (Gen Agent Trust Hub FAIL resolved)
v2.36.0	Parallel plan isolation + Codex session isolation (closes #146, #148): init-session.sh slug mode, set-active-plan.sh, resolve-plan-dir.sh, all Codex hooks route through resolver, session attachment gating. Hermes docs (closes #147): integration notes added to docs/hermes.md. 34 new tests. (thanks @githubYiheng, @09ashishkapoor, @shawnli1874!)
v2.35.1	Shebang portability fix: changed /bin/bash to /usr/bin/env bash in hook scripts, fixing compatibility on NixOS and other systems where bash is not at /bin/bash. (thanks @Emin017!)
v2.35.0	Hermes adapter + NLPM audit hardening: Hermes platform 17 support (thanks @bailob!), NLPM audit fixed Python PATH resolution, session-catchup injection cap, Pi PowerShell syntax (thanks @xiaolai!)
v2.34.1	Stop hook Windows portability fix (closes #133): export SD= failed in Windows Git Bash hook context; fallback path was wrong for plugin cache structure. Fixed across all 13 SKILL.md variants. (thanks @nazeshinjite!)
v2.34.0	Codex hooks fully restored (closes #132): .codex/hooks.json + lifecycle scripts back — SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop. Tessl CI for SKILL.md quality reviews. Exec bit fix. 4 missing contributors added. (thanks @Leon-Algo, @popey!)
v2.33.0	Multi-language expansion: Arabic, German, and Spanish skill variants added (thanks to community contributors!)
v2.32.0	Codex session catchup rewrite (thanks @ebrevdo!), Loaditout A-grade security badge, Stop hook Git Bash fix
v2.31.0	Codex hooks.json integration with full lifecycle hooks (thanks @Leon-Algo!)
v2.30.1	Fix: Codex script executable bits restored (thanks @Leon-Algo!)
v2.30.0	CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR variable, IDE configs moved to per-IDE branches, plugin.json bumped from 2.23.0
v2.29.0	Analytics workflow template: --template analytics flag for data exploration sessions (thanks @mvanhorn!)
v2.28.0	Traditional Chinese (zh-TW) skill variant (thanks @waynelee2048!)
v2.26.2	Fix: --- in hook commands broke YAML frontmatter parsing, hooks now register correctly
v2.26.1	Fix: session catchup after /clear, path sanitization on Windows + content injection (thanks @tony-stark-eth!)
v2.26.0	IDE audit: Factory hooks, Copilot errorOccurred hook, Gemini hooks, bug fixes
v2.18.2	Mastra Code hooks fix (hooks.json + docs accuracy)
v2.18.1	Copilot garbled characters complete fix
v2.18.0	BoxLite sandbox runtime integration
v2.17.0	Mastra Code support + all IDE SKILL.md spec fixes
v2.16.1	Copilot garbled characters fix: PS1 UTF-8 encoding + bash ensure_ascii (thanks @Hexiaopi!)
v2.16.0	GitHub Copilot hooks support (thanks @lincolnwan!)
v2.27.0	Kiro Agent Skill layout (thanks @EListenX!)
v2.15.1	Session catchup false-positive fix (thanks @gydx6!)
v2.15.0	/plan:status command, OpenCode compatibility fix
v2.14.0	Pi Agent support, OpenClaw docs update, Codex path fix
v2.11.0	/plan command for easier autocomplete
v2.10.0	Kiro steering files support
v2.7.0	Gemini CLI support
v2.2.0	Session recovery, Windows PowerShell, OS-aware hooks

View all releases · CHANGELOG

Parallel plan isolation (.planning/YYYY-MM-DD-slug/ directories) and Codex session isolation shipped in v2.36.0. The experimental/isolated-planning branch was the earlier prototype; master is now the canonical location.

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Session Recovery

When your context fills up and you run /clear, this skill automatically recovers your previous session.

How it works:

1. Checks for previous session data in the active IDE's session store (~/.claude/projects/ for Claude Code, ~/.codex/sessions/ for Codex)
2. Finds when planning files were last updated
3. Extracts conversation that happened after (potentially lost context)
4. Shows a catchup report so you can sync

Pro tip: Disable auto-compact to maximize context before clearing:

{ "autoCompact": false }

<strong>🛠️ Supported IDEs (17+ Platforms)</strong>

Enhanced Support (hooks + lifecycle automation)

These IDEs have dedicated hook configurations that automatically re-read your plan before tool use, remind you to update progress, and verify completion before stopping:

IDE	Installation Guide	Integration
Claude Code	Installation	Plugin + SKILL.md + Hooks
Cursor	Cursor Setup	Skills + hooks.json
GitHub Copilot	Copilot Setup	Hooks (incl. errorOccurred)
Mastra Code	Mastra Setup	Skills + Hooks
Gemini CLI	Gemini Setup	Skills + Hooks
Kiro	Kiro Setup	Agent Skills
Codex	Codex Setup	Skills + Hooks
Hermes Agent	Hermes Setup	Skill + Project Plugin
CodeBuddy	CodeBuddy Setup	Skills + Hooks
FactoryAI Droid	Factory Setup	Skills + Hooks
OpenCode	OpenCode Setup	Skills + Custom session storage

Standard Agent Skills Support

These IDEs implement the Agent Skills open specification. Install with npx skills add — the installer places the skill in each IDE's discovery path automatically:

IDE	Installation Guide	Skill Discovery Path
Continue	Continue Setup	.continue/skills/ + .prompt files
Pi Agent	Pi Agent Setup	.pi/skills/ (npm package)
OpenClaw	OpenClaw Setup	.openclaw/skills/ (docs)
Antigravity	Antigravity Setup	.agent/skills/ (docs)
Kilocode	Kilocode Setup	.kilocode/skills/ (docs)
AdaL CLI (Sylph AI)	AdaL Setup	.adal/skills/ (docs)

Note: If your IDE uses the legacy Rules system instead of Skills, see the legacy-rules-support branch.

<strong>🧱 Sandbox Runtimes (1 Platform)</strong>

Runtime	Status	Guide	Notes
BoxLite	✅ Documented	BoxLite Setup	Run Claude Code + planning-with-files inside hardware-isolated micro-VMs

Note: BoxLite is a sandbox runtime, not an IDE. Skills load via ClaudeBox — BoxLite’s official Claude Code integration layer.

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A Claude Code plugin that transforms your workflow to use persistent markdown files for planning, progress tracking, and knowledge storage — the exact pattern that made Manus worth billions.

Quick Install

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files -g

<strong>🌐 Available in 5 other languages</strong>

🇸🇦 العربية / Arabic

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files-ar -g

🇩🇪 Deutsch / German

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files-de -g

🇪🇸 Español / Spanish

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files-es -g

🇨🇳 中文版 / Chinese (Simplified)

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files-zh -g

🇹🇼 正體中文版 / Chinese (Traditional)

npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files-zht -g

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, and 40+ agents supporting the Agent Skills spec.

<strong>🔧 Claude Code Plugin (Advanced Features)</strong>

For Claude Code-specific features like /plan autocomplete commands:

/plugin marketplace add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files
/plugin install planning-with-files@planning-with-files

That's it! Now use one of these commands in Claude Code:

Command	Autocomplete	Description
/planning-with-files:plan	Type /plan	Start planning session (v2.11.0+)
/planning-with-files:status	Type /plan:status	Show planning progress at a glance (v2.15.0+)
/planning-with-files:start	Type /planning	Original start command

Alternative: If you want /planning-with-files (without prefix), copy skills to your local folder:

macOS/Linux:

cp -r ~/.claude/plugins/cache/planning-with-files/planning-with-files/*/skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/

Windows (PowerShell):

Copy-Item -Recurse -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\plugins\cache\planning-with-files\planning-with-files\*\skills\planning-with-files" -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\"

See docs/installation.md for all installation methods.

Why This Skill?

On December 29, 2025, Meta acquired Manus for $2 billion. In just 8 months, Manus went from launch to $100M+ revenue. Their secret? Context engineering.

"Markdown is my 'working memory' on disk. Since I process information iteratively and my active context has limits, Markdown files serve as scratch pads for notes, checkpoints for progress, building blocks for final deliverables." — Manus AI

The Problem

Claude Code (and most AI agents) suffer from:

• Volatile memory — TodoWrite tool disappears on context reset
• Goal drift — After 50+ tool calls, original goals get forgotten
• Hidden errors — Failures aren't tracked, so the same mistakes repeat
• Context stuffing — Everything crammed into context instead of stored

The Solution: 3-File Pattern

For every complex task, create THREE files:

task_plan.md      → Track phases and progress
findings.md       → Store research and findings
progress.md       → Session log and test results

The Core Principle

Context Window = RAM (volatile, limited)
Filesystem = Disk (persistent, unlimited)

→ Anything important gets written to disk.

The Manus Principles

Principle	Implementation
Filesystem as memory	Store in files, not context
Attention manipulation	Re-read plan before decisions (hooks)
Error persistence	Log failures in plan file
Goal tracking	Checkboxes show progress
Completion verification	Stop hook checks all phases

Usage

Once installed, the AI agent will:

1. Ask for your task if no description is provided
2. Create task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md in your project directory
3. Re-read plan before major decisions (via PreToolUse hook)
4. Remind you to update status after file writes (via PostToolUse hook)
5. Store findings in findings.md instead of stuffing context
6. Log errors for future reference
7. Verify completion before stopping (via Stop hook)

Invoke with:

• /planning-with-files:plan - Type /plan to find in autocomplete (v2.11.0+)
• /planning-with-files:start - Type /planning to find in autocomplete
• /planning-with-files - Only if you copied skills to ~/.claude/skills/

See docs/quickstart.md for the full 5-step guide.

Benchmark Results

Formally evaluated using Anthropic's skill-creator framework (v2.22.0). 10 parallel subagents, 5 task types, 30 objectively verifiable assertions, 3 blind A/B comparisons.

Test	with_skill	without_skill
Pass rate (30 assertions)	96.7% (29/30)	6.7% (2/30)
3-file pattern followed	5/5 evals	0/5 evals
Blind A/B wins	3/3 (100%)	0/3
Avg rubric score	10.0/10	6.8/10

Full methodology and results · Technical write-up

Key Rules

1. Create Plan First — Never start without task_plan.md
2. The 2-Action Rule — Save findings after every 2 view/browser operations
3. Log ALL Errors — They help avoid repetition
4. Never Repeat Failures — Track attempts, mutate approach

When to Use

Use this pattern for:

• Multi-step tasks (3+ steps)
• Research tasks
• Building/creating projects
• Tasks spanning many tool calls

Skip for:

• Simple questions
• Single-file edits
• Quick lookups

File Structure

planning-with-files/
├── commands/                # Plugin commands
│   ├── plan.md              # /planning-with-files:plan command (v2.11.0+)
│   ├── plan-ar.md           # Arabic /plan command (v2.33.0+)
│   ├── plan-de.md           # German /plan command (v2.33.0+)
│   ├── plan-es.md           # Spanish /plan command (v2.33.0+)
│   └── start.md             # /planning-with-files:start command
├── templates/               # Root-level templates (for CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT)
├── scripts/                 # Root-level scripts (for CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT)
├── docs/                    # Documentation
│   ├── installation.md
│   ├── quickstart.md
│   ├── workflow.md
│   ├── troubleshooting.md
│   ├── gemini.md            # Gemini CLI setup
│   ├── cursor.md
│   ├── windows.md
│   ├── kilocode.md
│   ├── codex.md
│   ├── opencode.md
│   ├── mastra.md             # Mastra Code setup
│   └── boxlite.md            # BoxLite sandbox setup
├── examples/                # Integration examples
│   └── boxlite/             # BoxLite quickstart
│       ├── README.md
│       └── quickstart.py
├── planning-with-files/     # Plugin skill folder
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   ├── templates/
│   └── scripts/
├── skills/                  # Skill variants
│   ├── planning-with-files/     # English (default)
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   ├── examples.md
│   │   ├── reference.md
│   │   ├── templates/
│   │   └── scripts/
│   │       ├── init-session.sh
│   │       ├── check-complete.sh
│   │       ├── init-session.ps1   # Windows PowerShell
│   │       └── check-complete.ps1 # Windows PowerShell
│   ├── planning-with-files-ar/   # Arabic (v2.33.0+)
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   ├── templates/
│   │   └── scripts/
│   ├── planning-with-files-de/   # German (v2.33.0+)
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   ├── templates/
│   │   └── scripts/
│   ├── planning-with-files-es/   # Spanish (v2.33.0+)
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   ├── templates/
│   │   └── scripts/
│   ├── planning-with-files-zh/   # Chinese Simplified (v2.25.0+)
│   └── planning-with-files-zht/  # Chinese Traditional (v2.28.0+)
├── .gemini/                 # Gemini CLI skills + hooks
│   ├── settings.json        # Hook configuration (v2.26.0)
│   ├── hooks/               # Hook scripts (SessionStart, BeforeTool, AfterTool, BeforeModel, SessionEnd)
│   └── skills/
│       └── planning-with-files/
├── .codex/                  # Codex CLI skills + hooks
│   └── skills/
├── .opencode/               # OpenCode skills (custom session storage)
│   └── skills/
├── .claude-plugin/          # Plugin manifest
├── .cursor/                 # Cursor skills + hooks
│   ├── hooks.json           # Hook configuration
│   ├── hooks/               # Hook scripts (bash + PowerShell)
│   └── skills/
├── .codebuddy/              # CodeBuddy skills + hooks
│   └── skills/
├── .factory/                # FactoryAI Droid skills + hooks (v2.26.0)
│   └── skills/
├── .pi/                     # Pi Agent skills (npm package)
│   └── skills/
│       └── planning-with-files/
├── .continue/               # Continue.dev skills + prompt files
│   ├── prompts/             # .prompt file for slash commands
│   └── skills/
├── .github/                 # GitHub Copilot hooks (incl. errorOccurred)
│   └── hooks/
│       ├── planning-with-files.json  # Hook configuration
│       └── scripts/         # Hook scripts (bash + PowerShell)
├── .mastracode/             # Mastra Code skills + hooks
│   └── skills/
├── .kiro/                   # Kiro Agent Skills (v2.27.0+)
│   └── skills/
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CITATION.cff
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Documentation

All platform setup guides and documentation are in the docs/ folder.

Acknowledgments

• Manus AI — For pioneering context engineering patterns
• Anthropic — For Claude Code, Agent Skills, and the Plugin system
• Lance Martin — For the detailed Manus architecture analysis
• Based on Context Engineering for AI Agents

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License — feel free to use, modify, and distribute.

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Author: Ahmad Othman Ammar Adi

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