to-issues

Break a PRD, plan, or spec into independently grabbable vertical-slice issues/tickets. Use when the user says "/to-tickets", "turn this into issues", "break this down", "make tickets", "create implementation tasks", or wants AFK/HITL agent-ready work packets. Adapted from mattpocock/skills.

Category
Engineering
Skill
180 of 261
Source
Kevin wiki

Convert a plan into tracer-bullet issues: thin vertical slices through every relevant layer, each independently demoable.

First Move

  1. Read the PRD/spec/plan in full.
  2. Identify the user-visible capabilities and the proof seam.
  3. Search existing issues/plans to avoid duplicates.
  4. Choose output: · GitHub/Linear only when Kevin explicitly wants writes · otherwise plans/issues/<slug>.md or repo-local docs/issues/<slug>.md

Slice Rules

  • Prefer many thin issues over a few thick ones.
  • Avoid horizontal tickets like "write all tests" or "build backend".
  • Each issue must include its own proof.
  • Give every issue explicit blocking edges. The execution frontier is the set of open issues whose blockers are complete; reject dependency cycles before publishing.
  • Mark AFK when an agent can execute without human input.
  • Mark HITL when product, taste, credentialed, or irreversible judgment is needed.

Wide mechanical refactors are the exception to ordinary vertical slicing. Use expand–migrate–contract: add the new form without breaking the old one, migrate callers in independently green batches, then remove the old form only after every batch. If no batch can remain green by itself, use an integration branch and a final integrate-and-verify issue rather than pretending each partial migration is deployable.

Issue Template

## <Issue Title>

Type: AFK | HITL

Outcome:
Scope:
Out of scope:
Implementation notes:
Proof:
Dependencies:
Status: ready-for-agent | blocked
  • to-prd for the spec source.
  • wayfinder when the decisions are not yet clear enough to become implementation issues.
  • tdd for implementing each slice.
  • agent-iteration-loop for execution.
  • issue when creating a GitHub issue is explicitly requested.

Upstream: github.com/mattpocock/skills/skills/engineering/to-tickets/SKILL.md at 84fdeffd12f2ee307994d1eb6feb48173b6e0502 (MIT), adapted to Kevin's local-first authority model.