Files
loop-loop/prompts/planner/plan.md
Sheldon Finlay f26bdce534 fix: replace misleading context budget percentages with scope guidance
The planner prompt had vague context window budget percentages that
don't reflect how agents actually work. Replaced with concrete
scope guidance (keep stories to ~10 files) which aligns with the
existing scope budgets in config.json.
2026-03-28 11:49:04 -04:00

1.5 KiB

Planner Context

This file provides additional context for PRD generation.

Story Decomposition Guidelines

When breaking a feature into stories, think about:

Independence

Each story should be independently deployable. After completing story N, the codebase should be in a valid, working state — even if the feature isn't fully built yet.

Scope

A story must be completable in a single iteration. Keep each story focused — a handful of files modified, not a sweeping change across the whole codebase. If a story requires reading and modifying more than ~10 files, it's too big — split it.

Failure Isolation

If a story fails (evaluator rejects it), the next iteration should be able to retry it cleanly. Stories with too many moving parts are hard to retry because partial state is messy.

Evaluability

Every story must have criteria the evaluator can independently verify. "The code is clean" is not evaluable. "The function returns 404 when the user doesn't exist" is evaluable.

PRD Anti-Patterns

Avoid these common mistakes:

  • Stories too large: "Build the API" — split into individual endpoints
  • Stories too small: "Create the file" — combine with meaningful work in that file
  • Vague criteria: "Works correctly" — what does correctly mean? Be specific.
  • Missing dependencies: Story 5 needs Story 3's database table but doesn't say so
  • Testing as afterthought: Tests should be part of each story, not a separate "add tests" story at the end
  • UI without backend: A UI story that calls an API that doesn't exist yet