--- name: plane description: | Plane is a team behavior observatory — synthesize Plane API data into observations about how teams actually behave under pressure, not just ticket state. Five compound commands surface cycle velocity vs. plan, stale-ticket ownership churn, reviewer gate strength, stated-vs-actual priority drift, and cross-project workload concentration. Reads from the live mcp__plane MCP server when present; documentation-only otherwise. Use when investigating "why is this team's plan diverging from reality", auditing cycle health, finding orphan tickets, identifying review bottlenecks, or onboarding to a new project. Trigger with "/plane-cycle-velocity", "/plane-stale-tickets", "/plane-reviewer-gate-strength", "/plane-priority-drift", "/plane-cross-project-load", "audit Plane cycle", "team behavior plane", "how is my team behaving". allowed-tools: "Read,Bash(jq:*),Bash(date:*),AskUserQuestion" version: 0.1.0 author: Jeremy Longshore license: MIT compatibility: Designed for Claude Code; requires mcp__plane MCP server configured (PLANE_API_KEY, PLANE_WORKSPACE_SLUG, PLANE_API_HOST_URL env vars) tags: [plane, project-management, team-behavior, observability, productivity] model: inherit --- # Plane — Team Behavior Observatory A behavioral observation layer on top of Plane's project-tracking API. This skill **does not** wrap Plane CRUD — `mcp__plane` already does that and you should call it directly for ticket entry, status changes, etc. Instead, this skill answers behavioral questions about how a team is actually performing under pressure: cycle velocity vs. plan, ownership churn, reviewer gate strength, priority drift, and cross-project load. Each question is answered by a compound command that synthesizes data across multiple Plane endpoints — observations no single endpoint exposes. ## Overview The NOI (`references/noi.md`) is the design anchor: **Plane is a team behavior observatory**. Five compound commands derive from that framing: 1. `/plane-cycle-velocity` — does cycle close-out match cycle planning? 2. `/plane-stale-tickets` — which `In Progress` tickets are quietly failing under shared ownership? 3. `/plane-reviewer-gate-strength` — which reviewers gate-keep harder than the spec demands? 4. `/plane-priority-drift` — does the team plan high-priority work but ship low-priority work? 5. `/plane-cross-project-load` — which engineers are spread across too many active projects? None of these are answerable from any single Plane API call. Each requires cross-endpoint synthesis. That synthesis is the value. ## Prerequisites - `mcp__plane` MCP server installed and configured (env vars `PLANE_API_KEY`, `PLANE_WORKSPACE_SLUG`, `PLANE_API_HOST_URL`) - A Plane workspace with at least one project, cycle, and active issues (otherwise the commands return informative empty states) ## Authentication This skill does not handle credentials directly. Auth is delegated to the MCP server. See `references/api-surface.md` for the env-var setup; if `mcp__plane` returns an auth error, the skill surfaces the error verbatim and instructs the user to verify their token. ## Instructions ### Mode detection Determine user intent from their prompt: - **Compound query mode** (default): user asks about cycle health, team behavior, stale tickets, reviewer patterns, priority drift, or workload distribution → route to `plane-analyst` agent (see `agents/plane-analyst.md`) which orchestrates the compound commands. - **API help mode**: user asks "how do I query X in Plane" or "what endpoint does Y" → route to `plane-expert` agent (see `agents/plane-expert.md`) which answers from `references/api-surface.md` without firing live API calls. - **Skill metadata**: user asks "what does this skill do" / "explain plane skill" → return the Overview above + the 5 commands. If unclear, use `AskUserQuestion`: > Are you asking about (a) team behavior / cycle health / patterns, or (b) how to use a specific Plane API endpoint? ### Step 1: Resolve target project Most compound commands operate on a specific project. Extract the project slug or readable identifier (e.g., `BRAVES`, `OPS`) from the user's prompt. If absent, list available projects via `mcp__plane__get_projects` and ask which one. Cache the chosen project for the rest of the conversation. ### Step 2: Route to compound command Match user intent to one of the five commands: | User asks about... | Command | |---|---| | cycle velocity, sprint completion, overrun | `/plane-cycle-velocity` | | stale tickets, orphan work, ownership churn | `/plane-stale-tickets` | | reviewer bottlenecks, blocked PRs, gate-keeping | `/plane-reviewer-gate-strength` | | priority drift, planning vs. reality, P1 vs. P3 | `/plane-priority-drift` | | workload distribution, project sprawl, focus | `/plane-cross-project-load` | Read `references/compound-commands.md` for the exact endpoint sequence and output format per command. ### Step 3: Execute via `plane-analyst` agent Invoke the analyst agent (`agents/plane-analyst.md`) with the chosen command + project. The agent: 1. Calls the relevant `mcp__plane__*` tools in sequence 2. Performs the JOIN logic 3. Computes the behavioral score per the command's formula 4. Renders the output table per the format in `compound-commands.md` 5. Adds a "Behavioral signal" interpretation paragraph If `mcp__plane` is unavailable, the agent emits a documentation-only response: shows what the command WOULD return, plus the install hint. ### Step 4: Interpret the signal The output is observations, not prescriptions. The skill says "this team plans P1s and ships P3s — the planning conversation is theater." It does NOT say "fire the planner." Interpretation belongs to the human reading the report. ## Output Each compound command produces: - A table of metrics specific to that observation - A "Behavioral signal" paragraph that names the pattern in plain language - Optionally, a follow-up suggestion (e.g., "consolidate projects" / "split this queue") — framed as a question the team can take to its retro ## Error Handling | Error | Recovery | |---|---| | `mcp__plane` unavailable | Emit documentation-only output + install hint pointing at `~/.claude.json` MCP config | | API rate limit (429) | Back off + retry with exponential delay; if persistent, advise user to wait and re-run | | Empty project (no cycles / issues) | Return informative empty state explaining why the command can't compute | | Auth error (401/403) | Surface verbatim + instruct user to verify env vars or re-issue token | | Workspace member lookup fails | Fall back to assignee UUIDs in output (less readable but functional) | ## Examples **"How is my team performing on cycle velocity?"** ``` /plane-cycle-velocity BRAVES ``` → Renders the cycle-velocity table from `references/compound-commands.md` § Command 1. **"Are we shipping what we plan?"** ``` /plane-priority-drift BRAVES ``` → Renders the priority-drift table; surfaces the gap between planned and shipped priorities. **"Which engineers are stretched too thin?"** ``` /plane-cross-project-load ``` → Walks the entire workspace; lists engineers with their active-project / active-cycle / open-issue counts; flags crisis-level stretch. ## Resources - [NOI](references/noi.md) — the secret-identity statement that anchors every command - [API surface](references/api-surface.md) — endpoints consumed + auth + pagination - [Compound commands](references/compound-commands.md) — exact endpoint sequence + output format per command - [Plane docs](https://docs.plane.so/) — upstream API reference - `mcp__plane` MCP server — direct CRUD wrapper this skill builds on top of