Add project-backlog skill and integrate with planning workflows

[joachimboggild]

Summary

• Adds project-backlog skill for managing project backlogs
• Integrates backlog checking into brainstorming and writing-plans skills

Changes

New skill: project-backlog

Reference skill for working with project backlogs (docs/BACKLOG.md):

• Check backlog before planning work
• Add items when noticing unrelated improvements
• Remove items when work completes

Modified: brainstorming

Added "FIRST: Check the project backlog" section at the start of The Process. Agents now check for related backlog items before exploring requirements.

Modified: writing-plans

Added "FIRST: Check the Backlog" section. Agents verify work isn't already tracked and note items to bundle or clean up.

Why

Without this, agents start planning work that's already tracked in the backlog, leading to duplicate effort and missed context. Tested with baseline scenarios showing agents don't naturally check backlogs when planning.

Test plan

• Baseline test: Agent plans work without checking backlog (fails as expected)
• With skill: Agent invokes brainstorming, checks backlog, mentions existing items
• Skill discovery: superpowers:project-backlog loads correctly

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added backlog to the initial brainstorming checklist to broaden context gathering and guidance on what to review
  • Introduced a new Project Backlog skill with guidelines, when to reference backlog items, action scenarios, an add-item template, and common pitfalls/fixes
  • Updated planning/writing workflows with an explicit backlog-check reminder to surface existing or bundleable work

_{✏️ Tip: You can customize this high-level summary in your review settings.}

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a new Project Backlog skill document and updates two existing skills: the brainstorming SKILL now checks backlog as part of "Understanding the idea", and the writing-plans SKILL adds a reminder to check the backlog. All edits are documentation-only; no code or public API changes.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
New Project Backlog Skill Documentation skills/project-backlog/SKILL.md	Added a new SKILL describing when/how to reference the project backlog, expected backlog file locations (docs/BACKLOG.md or docs/backlog.md), pre-planning steps, a quick-reference action table, a markdown template for adding items, and common mistakes with fixes.
Brainstorming SKILL update skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md	In "Understanding the idea" step, added backlog to the context check list (now: files, docs, recent commits, backlog).
Writing Plans reminder skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md	Added a single bullet under "Remember": "Check backlog for related items".

Sequence Diagram(s)

(No sequence diagrams generated — changes are documentation-only and do not introduce new control flow.)

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~5 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• Add problem-solving skills from amplifier patterns #1 — Updates to skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md that overlap with backlog-related changes in brainstorming flow.

Poem

🐰 I nibble through backlog pages by moonlight,

I sort the tasks before ideas take flight,
A little hop, a tidy stack in place,
Plans bloom clearer at a steady pace. ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately reflects the main changes: adding a new project-backlog skill and integrating backlog checks into existing planning workflows (brainstorming and writing-plans).
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 2

🤖 Fix all issues with AI agents

In `@skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md`:
- Line 16: Replace the bold inline text "**FIRST: Check the project backlog**"
with a proper markdown heading to match the other skill (use "## FIRST: Check
the Backlog"); update capitalization ("Backlog") and switch to an H2 heading so
the section uses consistent heading syntax and style with
skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md.

In `@skills/project-backlog/SKILL.md`:
- Around line 1-14: The skill "project-backlog" in SKILL.md references a
non-existent backlog location (`docs/BACKLOG.md` or `docs/backlog.md`); either
add a real backlog file named `docs/BACKLOG.md` with the intended backlog
content, or edit the "Location" line in skills/project-backlog/SKILL.md to point
to an existing file (for example one of the docs/*.md files or a new canonical
path) and include a short note describing where developers should look for
backlog items; update only the "Location" entry and any descriptive text in the
SKILL.md or create the new backlog file accordingly so the referenced path is
valid.

[joachimboggild]

Hmm. I just noticed another PR that integrates with a new Claude Code feature regarding tasks. So this might not be the best idea after all :-(

[joachimboggild]

More research done. TaskCreate is for in-session tasks. Backlogs are long-lived and contain work that is identified now but put aside for another day. So this might still be relevant.

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Fix all issues with AI agents

In `@skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md`:
- Line 18: The SKILL markdown references a non-existent backlog file ("Before
ANY exploration, read `docs/BACKLOG.md` (or `docs/backlog.md`). Look for:") —
update or remove this broken reference: either create the missing
docs/BACKLOG.md (and ensure contents expected by the skill), or change the
reference in skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md, skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md, and
skills/project-backlog/SKILL.md to the actual backlog path in the repo (or
remove the sentence). Make sure the exact string `docs/BACKLOG.md` is corrected
consistently across those three SKILL.md files.

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md (1)

16-24: Consider whether backlog-first order suits all workflows.

The "FIRST" placement checks the backlog before agents explore the current project state (line 26: "Check out the current project state first"). For agents unfamiliar with the project, reviewing the backlog without project context might be less effective than checking project state → backlog → requirements.

However, per the PR objectives, this order is intentional: baseline tests showed agents skipped backlog checks entirely, so the strong "FIRST" emphasis enforces the desired behavior to prevent duplicate work.

💭 Alternative workflow order to consider

If you find that agents struggle with context-free backlog review, consider:

1. Move the backlog check after initial project state exploration:

**Understanding the idea:**
- Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
+- Check `docs/BACKLOG.md` for related or bundlable items, mentioning any findings
- Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea

2. Or keep "FIRST" but add brief context gathering:

## FIRST: Check the project backlog

+Quickly scan the project structure and README, then read `docs/BACKLOG.md`...

Only pursue if user testing shows the current order causes confusion.