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Planning with Files

Keeps plan, findings and progress in on-disk markdown files so multi-step work survives context loss and /clear.

AutomationIntermediate★ 26,060⑂ 2,177AI score 9/10Last updated: Aug 9, 2026

What it does

Brings the Manus-style "working memory on disk" pattern to Claude Code. Before any complex task it creates and maintains three files in your project directory:

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | task_plan.md | Phases, status, key decisions | | findings.md | Research and discoveries | | progress.md | Session log, test results |

It also enforces a set of operating rules:

  • 2-Action Rule — after every two view/search operations, write key findings to disk before multimodal context is lost
  • 3-Strike Error Protocol — diagnose, try an alternative, rethink assumptions, then escalate to the user
  • Session recovery — session-catchup.py plus git diff rebuilds state after /clear or compaction
  • Hook automation — re-injects the active plan on prompts/compaction and nudges you to update progress after writes

Who it's for

  • Developers running long refactors or feature builds who keep losing the thread mid-task
  • Anyone doing extended research who wants intermediate results preserved
  • Teams tired of the agent retrying the exact same failing action

Examples

  1. Large refactor — ask to migrate auth to JWT; the skill writes a 5-phase task_plan.md, flips each phase to complete, and logs every error in a table.
  2. Technology comparison — while evaluating libraries, pros/cons land in findings.md every two lookups, so the comparison survives context compaction.
  3. Resuming tomorrow — run session-catchup.py, cross-check with git diff, refresh the planning files, then continue exactly where you stopped.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the .codebuddy/skills/planning-with-files folder from the GitHub repo OthmanAdi/planning-with-files into my ~/.claude/skills/othmanadi-planning-with-files/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git /tmp/pwf && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r /tmp/pwf/.codebuddy/skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Clone the repository into a temporary folder: 
    git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git /tmp/pwf
  3. Copy the skill into your Claude Code skills directory: 
    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/pwf/.codebuddy/skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/
  4. Make the helper scripts executable: 
    chmod +x ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/scripts/*.sh
  5. If hooks report a missing script, export the path in your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc): 
    export PWF_SCRIPT_DIR="$HOME/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/scripts"
  6. Restart Claude Code and try "plan this out step by step" — confirm task_plan.md appears in your project root, not the skill folder.
  7. (Optional) Install python3 to enable the session-catchup recovery script.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT