vac-optimizer/.agents/skills/to-tickets/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
to-tickets	Break a plan, spec, or the current conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges, published to the configured tracker — edges as text in one file per ticket locally, or native blocking links on a real tracker.

To Tickets

Break a plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tickets — tracer-bullet vertical slices, each declaring the tickets that block it.

Honor the requested deliverable: a local breakdown stays local; publication requires a request to file tickets. Carry existing publication approval forward without asking again. Ticket decomposition does not itself authorize implementation or edits to unrelated issues.

The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run /setup-matt-pocock-skills if not.

Process

1. Gather context

Work 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.

2. Explore the codebase (optional)

If 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.

Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier. "Make the change easy, then make the easy change."

3. Draft vertical slices

Break the work into tracer bullet tickets.

• Each slice cuts a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests) — vertical, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer
• A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own
• Each slice is sized to fit in a single fresh context window
• Any prefactoring should be done first

Give each ticket its blocking edges — the other tickets that must complete before it can start. A ticket with no blockers can start immediately.

Wide refactors are the exception to vertical slicing. For a mechanical change whose callers must change together, plan a cohesive replacement and a final integration check. Follow the development data lifecycle: this repository replaces obsolete schemas and contracts directly, updates all callers and tests in the same change, and reseeds disposable data. Do not introduce expand–contract, dual paths, or compatibility adapters merely to make batches independently green. If the work needs multiple tickets, use a scoped integration branch and make their shared verification gate explicit. Reconsider compatibility only after an explicit project decision requires preserving production data.

4. Quiz the user

Present the proposed breakdown as a numbered list. For each ticket, show:

• Title: short descriptive name
• Blocked by: which other tickets (if any) must complete first
• What it delivers: the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work

When the breakdown contains a consequential unresolved choice, ask the user about:

• Does the granularity feel right? (too coarse / too fine)
• Are the blocking edges correct — does each ticket only depend on tickets that genuinely gate it?
• Should any tickets be merged or split further?

Honor an already approved plan and requested granularity. Do not require another approval round for routine decomposition; state reasonable assumptions and proceed within the requested publication scope.

5. Publish the tickets to the configured tracker

When publication is requested, publish the in-scope tickets using the configured tracker. Preserve a user-selected local output path. Check ambiguous creation results before retrying to avoid duplicates; on unavailable access, keep drafts and report what remains. The representation depends on the tracker:

• 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.
• 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.

The frontier is the set of tickets whose blockers are all done; identify it in the handoff without starting implementation.

Do NOT close or modify any parent issue.

—

What to build: the end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective — not a layer-by-layer implementation list.

Blocked by: the numbers/titles of the tickets that gate this one, or "None — can start immediately".

Status: ready-for-agent

• Acceptance criterion 1
• Acceptance criterion 2

Parent

A reference to the parent issue on the tracker (if the source was an existing issue, otherwise omit this section).

What to build

The end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective — not layer-by-layer implementation.

Acceptance criteria

• Criterion 1
• Criterion 2

Blocked by

• A reference to each blocking ticket, or "None — can start immediately".

In 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.

Stop after the requested decomposition/publication and report the first actionable tickets. Use /implement only if the user also asks to implement them.