spikelisted

# Spike (investigate and plan, no code) A ticket link in, an approved plan out. Nothing is implemented, branched, or committed. **Kind** procedure · **Used by** [architect](../../agents/architect.md) · **When** a ticket needs sizing, shaping or a design decision before anyone commits to building it · **Ends with** an approved plan at `$TROIKA_SCRATCHPAD/plans/<TICKET>.md` and a summary, with no worktree and no code This is [develop-flow](../develop-flow/SKILL.md) steps 0, 1f and 2f — its **feature** path's planning half — and nothing after them. A spike plans even where the ticket is a bug: the answer wanted is a shape and a cost, and reproducing it belongs to the flow that will fix it ([Kind](../develop-flow/SKILL.md#kind)). Run it when the answer wanted is *what would this take* rather than *ship it*; when the plan is approved and the work is wanted, [develop-flow](../develop-flow/SKILL.md) picks up the same plan file at its step 3. Read-only over every repo. Set `TROIKA_WORKSPACE` first (workspace paths (`#workspace-paths`)). ## 1. Fan out — index, ticket, memory, all at once Start together; join before investigating: 1. Refresh each repo index from its root (code search (`#code-search`)). 2. Read every ticket surface — description, comments, attachments, links, fields ([ticket surfaces](../plan-review/SKILL.md#ticket-surfaces)). The argument is a ticket key or link; auth and access per PROFILE.md › Tracker (`#tracker`) and [tracker](../tracker/SKILL.md). A ticket k