/nova-plan

Converts proposal.md into a concrete, checkbox-driven tasks.md your agent can execute.

/nova-plan

quick-fix tickets skip this step.

What it does

1. Runs bash novaspec/guardrails/proposal-closed.sh <ticket-id> — exits non-zero if proposal.md contains TBD, TODO, FIXME, ???, <placeholder>, or [ ] decision. Blocks if the spec isn't closed.
2. Reads proposal.md to identify affected services, closed decisions, and success criteria.
3. Writes context/changes/active/<TICKET>/tasks.md using novaspec/templates/tasks.md as the structure.
4. Stops at a human checkpoint before you run /nova-build.

Guardrails

#	Check
1	Branch matches branch.pattern
2	proposal.md exists
7	proposal-closed.sh passes

How tasks are structured

Rules the planner follows:

• Each task executable in 15–60 minutes.
• Tasks in executable order — no forward references.
• Characterization tests before modifying existing code.
• Use - [ ] checkboxes (so /nova-status can count progress).
• No memory updates as tasks (context/services/, context/decisions/, context/gotchas/ are owned by /nova-wrap). Top-level docs like README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md are fair game.
• The plan derives from the spec — no inventing scope.

A typical tasks.md has a ## Files to touch section listing every file the change will modify. The review-checks guardrail verifies later that every declared file actually shows up in the diff.

What it produces

Artifact	Where
tasks.md	context/changes/active/<TICKET>/tasks.md

Next step

/nova-build

Errors you may see

Error	Why	Fix
✗ Proposal has open markers	proposal-closed.sh found TBD / TODO / etc.	Re-run /nova-spec and close them
proposal.md does not exist	You skipped /nova-spec	Run it first
Plan invents scope not in the spec	The agent over-reached	Re-prompt with "the spec doesn't say X — drop it or update the spec first"

Customizing it

• The shape of tasks.md → edit novaspec/templates/tasks.md.
• Custom task categories (e.g. [infra], [migration]) → add them to the template and to novaspec/commands/nova-plan.md step 2 rules.
• Stricter proposal closure → add greps to novaspec/guardrails/proposal-closed.sh.