Planning with Files — Manus-Style Persistent Planning Skill

The 3-File Pattern

The core concept is simple but powerful:

Context Window = RAM (volatile)
Filesystem = Disk (persistent)
→ Anything important gets written to disk.

task_plan.md — Track phases and progress

# Task Plan

## Phase 1: Research

- [x] Investigate existing solutions
- [x] Document findings
- [ ] Choose approach

## Phase 2: Implementation

- [ ] Build core feature
- [ ] Add tests

findings.md — Store research and discoveries

# Findings

## API Options

- Option A: REST API (simpler, documented)
- Option B: GraphQL (flexible, newer)
→ Decision: Option A — better docs, team familiarity

progress.md — Session log and test results

# Progress

## Session 2026-04-04

- Completed Phase 1 research
- Found 3 API options, chose REST
- Next: Start Phase 2 implementation

Key Features

• Session Recovery: When context resets, the skill reads planning files to restore full project context
• 2-Action Rule: After every 2 significant actions, update planning files
• 3-Strike Error Protocol: If the same error occurs 3 times, document it in findings.md and try a different approach
• Security Boundaries: Planning files never contain secrets, API keys, or credentials

Benchmark Results

FAQ

Q: What is Planning with Files? A: A Claude Code skill that implements persistent markdown planning using a 3-file pattern, achieving 96.7% benchmark pass rate for complex multi-session projects.

Q: Is Planning with Files free? A: Yes, fully free and open source under the MIT license.

Q: How do I install Planning with Files? A: Run npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files -g for global installation.