Fixture. This page is the stdout of
wayfinder skill to-tickets, run against a config with tracker value github cli and two registered ticket skills (grill-design, pre-mortem). Change either and this render changes with it.$ wayfinder skill to-tickets99 lines
1# To Tickets
2
3Break a plan, spec, or conversation into a set of **tickets** — tracer-bullet vertical slices, each declaring the tickets that **block** it.
4
5This repo's issue tracker is **github cli**. If you do not know how to operate it, run `wayfinder skill tracker` first.
6
7## Process
8
9### 1. Gather context
10
11Work from whatever is already in the conversation context. If the user passes a reference (a spec path, an issue number or URL) as an argument, fetch it and read its full body and comments.
12
13### 2. Explore the codebase (optional)
14
15If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code. Ticket titles and descriptions should use the project's domain glossary vocabulary, and respect ADRs in the area you're touching.
16
17Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier. "Make the change easy, then make the easy change."
18
19### 3. Draft vertical slices
20
21Break the work into **tracer bullet** tickets.
22
23<vertical-slice-rules>
24
25- Each slice cuts a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests) — vertical, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer
26- A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own
27- Each slice is sized to fit in a single fresh context window
28- Any prefactoring should be done first
29
30</vertical-slice-rules>
31
32Give each ticket its **blocking edges** — the other tickets that must complete before it can start. A ticket with no blockers can start immediately.
33
34**Wide refactors are the exception to vertical slicing.** A **wide refactor** is one mechanical change — rename a column, retype a shared symbol — whose **blast radius** fans across the whole codebase, so a single edit breaks thousands of call sites at once and no vertical slice can land green. Don't force it into a tracer bullet; sequence it as **expand–contract**. First expand: add the new form beside the old so nothing breaks. Then migrate the call sites over in batches sized by blast radius (per package, per directory), each batch its own ticket blocked by the expand, keeping CI green batch to batch because the old form still exists. Finally contract: delete the old form once no caller remains, in a ticket blocked by every migrate batch. When even the batches can't stay green alone, keep the sequence but let them share an integration branch that all block a final integrate-and-verify ticket — green is promised only there.
35
36### 4. Quiz the user
37
38Present the proposed breakdown as a numbered list. For each ticket, show:
39
40- **Title**: short descriptive name
41- **Blocked by**: which other tickets (if any) must complete first
42- **What it delivers**: the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work
43
44Ask the user:
45
46- Does the granularity feel right? (too coarse / too fine)
47- Are the blocking edges correct — does each ticket only depend on tickets that genuinely gate it?
48- Should any tickets be merged or split further?
49
50Iterate until the user approves the breakdown.
51
52### 5. Publish the tickets to the configured tracker
53
54Publish the approved tickets. **How** depends on the tracker configured for this repo — the tickets are the same either way, only the shape of the blocking edges changes:
55
56- **Local files** → write one file per ticket under `.scratch/<feature-slug>/issues/<NN>-<slug>.md`, numbered from `01` in dependency order (blockers first). Each file's "Blocked by" lists the numbers/titles it depends on. Use the per-ticket file template below — one ticket per file, never a single combined file.
57- **A real issue tracker (GitHub, Linear, …)** → publish one issue per ticket in dependency order (blockers first) so each ticket's blocking edges can reference real identifiers. Use the platform's native blocking / sub-issue relationship where it has one; otherwise set each ticket's "Blocked by" to the blocking issues. Apply the `ready-for-agent` triage label unless instructed otherwise — the tickets are agent-grabbable by construction.
58
59Work the **frontier**: any ticket whose blockers are all done. For a purely linear chain that means top to bottom.
60
61Do NOT close or modify any parent issue.
62
63<local-ticket-template>
64
65# <NN> — <Ticket title>
66
67**What to build:** the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective — not a layer-by-layer implementation list.
68
69**Blocked by:** the numbers/titles of the tickets that gate this one, or "None — can start immediately".
70
71**Status:** ready-for-agent
72
73- [ ] Acceptance criterion 1
74- [ ] Acceptance criterion 2
75
76</local-ticket-template>
77
78<issue-template>
79
80## Parent
81
82A reference to the parent issue on the tracker (if the source was an existing issue, otherwise omit this section).
83
84## What to build
85
86The end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective — not layer-by-layer implementation.
87
88## Acceptance criteria
89
90- [ ] Criterion 1
91- [ ] Criterion 2
92
93## Blocked by
94
95- A reference to each blocking ticket, or "None — can start immediately".
96
97</issue-template>
98
99In either form, avoid specific file paths or code snippets — they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts — not a working demo, just the important bits.