Manage Lifecycle Skill

Manage Lifecycle Skill

Manage plan lifecycle with status.toon and phase operations. Replaces plan.md and absorbs phase-management skill functionality.

What This Skill Provides

• Status.toon CRUD operations
• Phase management (transitions, progress)
• Plan discovery (list all plans)
• Phase routing (skill mapping)
• Delete operations (via manage-files)
• Archive operations

When to Activate This Skill

Activate this skill when:

• Creating or updating plan status
• Transitioning between phases
• Discovering all plans
• Deleting plans (to replace or abandon)
• Archiving completed plans

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Storage Location

Status is stored in the plan directory:

.plan/​plans/​{plan_id}/​status.toon

Archived plans:

.plan/​archived-plans/​{yyyy-mm-dd}-{plan-name}/

---

File Format

TOON format with phases table:

title: Implement JWT Authentication
current_phase: 4-execute

phases[5]{name,status}:
1-init,done
2-outline,done
3-plan,done
4-execute,in_progress
5-finalize,pending

created: 2025-12-02T10:00:00Z
updated: 2025-12-02T14:30:00Z

Status Fields

Note: Domain information is stored in config.toon (as a domains array), not in status.toon.

Phase Statuses

---

Status Operations

Script: pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle

read

Read plan status.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle read \
  --plan-id {plan_id}

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature

plan:
  title: Implement JWT Authentication
  current_phase: 4-execute
  phases[5]{name,status}:
  1-init,done
  2-outline,done
  3-plan,done
  4-execute,in_progress
  5-finalize,pending

create

Initialize status.toon for a new plan.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle create \
  --plan-id {plan_id} \
  --title "Feature Title" \
  --phases 1-init,2-outline,3-plan,4-execute,5-finalize \
  [--force]

Parameters:

• --plan-id (required): Plan identifier (kebab-case)
• --title (required): Plan title
• --phases (required): Comma-separated phase names
• --force: Overwrite existing status.toon

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
file: status.toon
created: true

plan:
  title: Feature Title
  current_phase: 1-init

set-phase

Set the current phase.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle set-phase \
  --plan-id {plan_id} \
  --phase 4-execute

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
current_phase: 4-execute
previous_phase: 3-plan

update-phase

Update a specific phase status.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle update-phase \
  --plan-id {plan_id} \
  --phase 1-init \
  --status done

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
phase: 1-init
phase_status: done

progress

Calculate plan progress.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle progress \
  --plan-id {plan_id}

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature

progress:
  total_phases: 5
  completed_phases: 3
  current_phase: 4-execute
  percent: 60

---

Phase Management Operations

list

Discover all plans.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle list \
  [--filter 1-init,4-execute]

Parameters:

• --filter: Filter by phases (comma-separated)

Output (TOON):

status: success
total: 2
plans:
  - id: my-feature
    current_phase: 4-execute
    status: in_progress
  - id: bug-fix-123
    current_phase: 1-init
    status: in_progress

transition

Transition to next phase.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle transition \
  --plan-id {plan_id} \
  --completed 1-init

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
completed_phase: 1-init
next_phase: 2-outline

archive

Archive a completed plan.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle archive \
  --plan-id {plan_id} \
  [--dry-run]

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
archived_to: .plan/​archived-plans/​2025-12-02-my-feature/

---

Delete Operations

Delete operations use pm-workflow:manage-files:manage-files (not manage-lifecycle) because deletion involves removing plan directories, not just status management.

delete-plan

Delete an entire plan directory. Use when:

• Replacing an existing plan with a fresh one
• Abandoning a plan that's no longer needed
• Cleaning up failed or corrupted plans

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-files:manage-files delete-plan \
  --plan-id {plan_id}

Parameters:

• --plan-id (required): Plan identifier to delete

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
action: deleted
path: .plan/​plans/​my-feature
files_removed: 7

Error Output:

status: error
plan_id: my-feature
error: plan_not_found
message: Plan directory does not exist

Safety Notes:

• Only deletes directories under .plan/​plans/
• Validates plan_id format (kebab-case)
• Does NOT prompt for confirmation (caller handles user confirmation)
• Cannot be undone - ensure user confirms before calling

Delete vs Archive

---

route

Get skill for a phase.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle route \
  --phase 4-execute

Parameters:

• --phase (required): Phase name (e.g., 1-init, 2-outline, 3-plan, 4-execute, 5-finalize)

Output (TOON):

status: success
phase: 4-execute
skill: plan-execute
description: Execute implementation tasks

get-routing-context

Get combined routing context (phase, skill, and progress) in one call.

python3 .plan/​execute-script.py pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle get-routing-context \
  --plan-id {plan_id}

Parameters:

• --plan-id (required): Plan identifier

Output (TOON):

status: success
plan_id: my-feature
title: Implement JWT Authentication
current_phase: 4-execute
skill: plan-execute
skill_description: Execute implementation tasks
total_phases: 5
completed_phases: 3
phases:
  - name: 1-init
    status: done
  - name: 2-outline
    status: done
  - name: 3-plan
    status: done
  - name: 4-execute
    status: in_progress
  - name: 5-finalize
    status: pending

---

Scripts

Script: pm-workflow:manage-lifecycle:manage-lifecycle

Script: pm-workflow:manage-files:manage-files (delete operations)

---

Phase Routing

The route command returns skill names for each phase (from script PHASE_ROUTING):

Note: These are skill names, not full bundle:skill notation.

Note: Domain information is managed in config.toon (via domains array), not in status.toon. Domains are detected during the outline phase.

---

Error Handling

status: error
plan_id: my-feature
error: invalid_transition
message: Cannot transition from 'init' to 'execute' - must complete phases in order