ia-planninglisted

# Planning ## Core Principle ``` Context window = RAM (volatile, limited) Filesystem = Disk (persistent, unlimited) → Anything important gets written to disk. ``` Planning tokens are cheaper than implementation tokens. Front-load thinking; scale effort to complexity. ## Goal Quality Gate Run this gate before reaching for *When to Plan* below — a weak goal makes either path (full plan, flat list, or skip) waste tokens. Confirm the goal is measurable; a weak goal produces a weak plan and an unverifiable skip. Answer these five questions before proceeding: 1. **What concrete thing will be true when this is done?** (named artifact, system state, or user-visible behavior — not "improve X" or "investigate Y") 2. **What evidence will prove it?** (specific test, command, screenshot, metric — not "looks right") 3. **What quantitative or binary threshold defines success?** (p95 < 250ms; `npm run test:checkout` passes; `gh pr view 123` shows no unresolved threads) 4. **What scope boundaries matter?** (which files/modules/environments are in scope; which are explicitly not) 5. **What should cause the agent to stop and ask?** (which decisions belong to the user, not Claude) Repair weak goals before continuing. Reject pure-activity goals ("make progress", "keep investigating", "improve things") -- rewrite them into a verifiable outcome or ask one concise clarification before planning. Skip this gate only when the request already names a specific artifact AND a clear success sign