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Planning with Files (Manus-style)

Keeps plans, findings, and progress in markdown files so long multi-step tasks survive context loss and session gaps.

AutomationIntermediate★ 26,415⑂ 2,209AI score 9/10Last updated: Aug 29, 2026

What it does

Enforces the Manus pattern: treat the context window as volatile RAM and the filesystem as persistent disk.

  • Creates and maintains task_plan.md (goal, phases, status), findings.md (research), progress.md (session log)
  • Re-reads the plan every turn so goals stay in the attention window
  • "2-action rule": after every two view/browse/search operations, findings are written to disk immediately
  • 3-strike error protocol: diagnose → alternative approach → question assumptions → escalate to the user
  • Security boundary: untrusted web content goes only into findings.md, never into the auto-surfaced plan

Who it's for

  • Developers running refactors, migrations, or research that spans dozens of tool calls
  • Anyone frustrated by an agent forgetting the goal or retrying the same failing action
  • People who want to resume work cleanly after a broken or compacted session

Examples

  1. Say "start planning" — the bootstrap script scaffolds .kiro/plan/ and the work is split into phases.
  2. Days later say "resume work" — session-catchup summarizes file mtimes so the plan gets reconciled with the real codebase.
  3. When a test fails repeatedly, the error is logged to progress.md, the approach is mutated, and after three tries you're asked for guidance.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files/HEAD/.kiro/skills/planning-with-files/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

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 AI Skill Mart.
Copy the .kiro/skills/planning-with-files folder from the GitHub repo OthmanAdi/planning-with-files into my ~/.claude/skills/othmanadi-planning-with-files-8/.
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 && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r planning-with-files/.kiro/skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/

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

  1. Open a terminal and clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git
  2. Copy the skill folder: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r planning-with-files/.kiro/skills/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/
  3. Kiro users can instead import it via Agent Steering & Skills → Import a skill and pick the folder.
  4. From your project root, run the one-time bootstrap: sh ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/assets/scripts/bootstrap.sh (use bootstrap.ps1 on Windows PowerShell).
  5. Verify Python 3 is available (python3 --version) since session-catchup.py needs it.
  6. In Claude Code, say "start planning" or "resume work" to activate the skill.
  7. Note that all paths assume .kiro/; edit SKILL.md and the scripts if you prefer a different directory layout.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT