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create-feature-from-plans

Productivity
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Create a Switchboard feature from a known set of plans — no discovery, just mechanics. Use when the user already knows which plans to group.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/TentacleOpera/switchboard/blob/HEAD/.claude/skills/create-feature-from-plans/SKILL.md

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Create Feature from Plans (Direct)

Create a Switchboard feature when the user already knows which plans belong together. This is the direct path — no board scanning, no clustering, no proposal step. Just create the feature, verify it, and write the narrative.

When to Use

  • The user says "create a feature from these plans" / "group these into a feature" / "make a feature for X containing plans A, B, C"
  • The user has just written several related plans and wants them grouped
  • The planner persona (switchboard-chat) flagged 3+ related plans and the user confirmed they want a feature
  • The improve-plan workflow restructured plans into a feature set during review and needs to create the feature
  • Do NOT use this skill if the user wants you to discover groupings from the board — use group-into-features instead
  • Do NOT use this skill if the extension is NOT running — use create-feature (the remote fallback) instead

Prerequisites

1. Extension must be running

Check for .switchboard/api-server-port.txt in the workspace root. If absent, the extension is not running — fall back to the create-feature skill (direct file write).

2. Plans must be in the kanban DB

create-feature.js needs planId values from the kanban DB plans table. If the plans were just written as files to .switchboard/plans/, the GlobalPlanWatcherService will import them within a few seconds.

To check if plans are imported:

sqlite3 {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban.db \
  "SELECT plan_id, topic FROM plans WHERE plan_file LIKE '%{plan-filename}%'"

If the query returns no rows, wait 3-5 seconds for the watcher and re-check. Do NOT proceed until all plan IDs are confirmed in the DB.

3. Collect plan IDs

If the user gave plan filenames, resolve them to plan_ids via the SQL query above. If the user gave plan_ids directly, use those.

Execution

Step 1: Create the feature

node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/create-feature.js \
  "<feature name>" \
  '["planId1","planId2","planId3"]' \
  "<workspace root absolute path>" \
  "<goal description — 2-4 sentences>"

The description becomes the ## Goal section in the feature file.

Shell escaping: Escape double quotes (" → \"). Avoid $, backticks, and backslashes — shell metacharacters inside double quotes. Newlines ARE safe and preserved as multi-line Goal content — do not flatten them.

Expected output:

{"ok":true,"featurePlanId":"<uuid>","featureSessionId":"<uuid>"}

If ok: false, read the error field. Common failures:

  • Extension not reachable → fall back to create-feature skill (the script itself returns ok:false with a clear message; the AGENT then switches skills).
  • Zero subtasks linked (silent blank feature) → create-feature.js returns ok: true even when none of the supplied plan IDs resolve to DB rows (the extension deliberately allows blank features). This is NOT an error. The Prerequisites §2 pre-flight SQL check is the ONLY gate that prevents this. If you skipped it, Step 2 verification will show zero subtasks — recover by deleting the blank feature: node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/delete-feature.js "<featurePlanId>" "<workspaceRoot>", then re-run the pre-flight and retry.

Step 2: Verify

sqlite3 {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban.db \
  "SELECT plan_id, is_feature, topic FROM plans WHERE plan_id='<featurePlanId>'"

Confirm is_feature=1. Then verify subtasks are linked:

sqlite3 {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban.db \
  "SELECT plan_id, topic, feature_id FROM plans WHERE feature_id='<featurePlanId>'"

All subtask plan IDs should appear with the feature's plan_id in feature_id.

Step 3: Write narrative sections

The feature file is at .switchboard/features/{slug}-{featurePlanId}.md. create-feature.js only writes the ## Goal section. Write the remaining narrative sections manually:

  1. ## How the Subtasks Achieve This — one bullet per subtask plan: - **{Plan Name}**: {what it does and how it contributes to the goal}

  2. ## Dependencies & sequencing — note ordering constraints between subtasks. If none, write "No hard ordering constraints; subtasks can be executed in parallel."

Insert ## How the Subtasks Achieve This between the ## Goal section and the <!-- BEGIN SUBTASKS --> marker. Insert ## Dependencies & sequencing immediately after the <!-- END SUBTASKS --> marker.

These sections are preserved by _regenerateFeatureFile on subsequent subtask changes, so they only need to be written once.

Notes

  • Feature creation does NOT sync to Linear/ClickUp.
  • To add more plans to an existing feature later, use node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/assign-to-feature.js "{featurePlanId}" '["newPlanId"]' "{workspaceRoot}"
  • The <!-- BEGIN SUBTASKS --> block is auto-managed by the extension — do not edit it manually.
, backticks, and backslashes — shell metacharacters inside double quotes. Newlines ARE safe and preserved as multi-line Goal content — do not flatten them.\n\nExpected output:\n```json\n{\"ok\":true,\"featurePlanId\":\"\u003cuuid>\",\"featureSessionId\":\"\u003cuuid>\"}\n```\n\nIf `ok: false`, read the `error` field. Common failures:\n- Extension not reachable → fall back to `create-feature` skill (the script itself returns ok:false with a clear message; the AGENT then switches skills).\n- Zero subtasks linked (silent blank feature) → `create-feature.js` returns `ok: true` even when none of the supplied plan IDs resolve to DB rows (the extension deliberately allows blank features). This is NOT an error. The Prerequisites §2 pre-flight SQL check is the ONLY gate that prevents this. If you skipped it, Step 2 verification will show zero subtasks — recover by deleting the blank feature: `node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/delete-feature.js \"\u003cfeaturePlanId>\" \"\u003cworkspaceRoot>\"`, then re-run the pre-flight and retry.\n\n### Step 2: Verify\n\n```bash\nsqlite3 {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban.db \\\n \"SELECT plan_id, is_feature, topic FROM plans WHERE plan_id='\u003cfeaturePlanId>'\"\n```\n\nConfirm `is_feature=1`. Then verify subtasks are linked:\n\n```bash\nsqlite3 {{WORKSPACE_ROOT}}/.switchboard/kanban.db \\\n \"SELECT plan_id, topic, feature_id FROM plans WHERE feature_id='\u003cfeaturePlanId>'\"\n```\n\nAll subtask plan IDs should appear with the feature's plan_id in `feature_id`.\n\n### Step 3: Write narrative sections\n\nThe feature file is at `.switchboard/features/{slug}-{featurePlanId}.md`.\n`create-feature.js` only writes the `## Goal` section. Write the remaining\nnarrative sections manually:\n\n1. **`## How the Subtasks Achieve This`** — one bullet per subtask plan:\n `- **{Plan Name}**: {what it does and how it contributes to the goal}`\n\n2. **`## Dependencies & sequencing`** — note ordering constraints between\n subtasks. If none, write \"No hard ordering constraints; subtasks can be\n executed in parallel.\"\n\nInsert `## How the Subtasks Achieve This` between the `## Goal` section and\nthe `\u003c!-- BEGIN SUBTASKS -->` marker. Insert `## Dependencies & sequencing`\nimmediately after the `\u003c!-- END SUBTASKS -->` marker.\n\nThese sections are preserved by `_regenerateFeatureFile` on subsequent\nsubtask changes, so they only need to be written once.\n\n## Notes\n\n- Feature creation does NOT sync to Linear/ClickUp.\n- To add more plans to an existing feature later, use\n `node .agents/skills/kanban_operations/assign-to-feature.js \"{featurePlanId}\" '[\"newPlanId\"]' \"{workspaceRoot}\"`\n- The `\u003c!-- BEGIN SUBTASKS -->` block is auto-managed by the extension —\n do not edit it manually.\n"}],"versionEndpoint":"/skill/api/version"}