Skip to main content

A structured `## Progress` checklist for plan files

· 2 min read
Carefree Investments LLC
Anchor maintainers

Plans that span multiple sessions — especially the ones a human is assigned to complete — had no glanceable way to show step-level progress between sessions. The plan template now carries a ## Progress checklist that /draft seeds and /work keeps in sync.

The gap​

The freeform ## Progress note has existed for a while: /work writes one on a mid-plan pause, and is told to "resume from the first incomplete step" when one exists. Both instructions were vague — a prose note doesn't say which step is incomplete, and there was nothing for a human-assigned plan (- **Assignee:** human) to update between sessions of its own.

What's there now​

anchor/templates/plan.md gains a ## Progress section right after the header bullets:

## Progress
- [ ] Step 1: <short label>
- [ ] Step 2: <short label>
- [ ] Step 3: <short label>
- [ ] Done when holds

One bullet per Steps-table row, plus a trailing Done when holds bullet. /draft populates it last — after ## Steps and ## Done when are actually written, so the checklist mirrors real content instead of guessing ahead. Everything starts unchecked.

/work keeps it honest during execution: a Step bullet checks off once that step's Verify by passes; Done when holds checks off right before the review-needed/ move; a mid-plan pause leaves unfinished bullets [ ]. "Resume from the first incomplete step" is no longer vague prose — it's literally the first - [ ] bullet.

Advisory, not enforced​

Nothing parses or gates on checklist state — no picker, no /review, no plan_fit.py. It's a glanceable summary, not ground truth. It's also fully optional: nothing in the existing backlog needs retrofitting, and a plan predating this convention just doesn't have the section.

Where it ships​

  • Claude: .claude/commands/draft.md, .claude/commands/work.md
  • Grok: .grok/skills/draft/SKILL.md, .grok/skills/work/SKILL.md
  • Docs: /draft, /work
  • .plans/README.md documents the shape

No code changes anywhere — the checklist lives entirely inside ## Progress, so none of the existing heading-parsing (GOAL_RE, DEPENDS_SECTION_RE, check_plans.py's required-sections check) had to change.