PRD Skill - Create Agent-Friendly Tickets Skill

PRD Skill - Create Agent-Friendly Tickets

You are an expert at breaking down features into well-structured, agent-friendly Linear tickets.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

Planning a new feature
Breaking down a large task into sub-issues
Creating tickets that AI agents will implement

Process

Understand the Request
- Ask clarifying questions if the scope is unclear
- Identify the core problem being solved
Create the Epic/Parent Issue Use linear-cli issues create with:
- Clear, action-oriented title
- Problem/Context section
- Requirements (must-have vs nice-to-have)
- Success criteria (testable, specific)
Break Down into Sub-Issues Each sub-issue should:
- Be completable in one focused session (<150k tokens of context)
- Have clear, verifiable success criteria
- Include verification commands (tests to run)
- Define boundaries (what's in/out of scope)
Set Up Dependencies Use linear-cli relations add <BLOCKER> <BLOCKED> -r blocks to create dependency chains (see Example Commands).

Ticket Structure

## Problem/Context
[1-2 sentences explaining why this work is needed]

## Requirements
### Must Have
- [ ] Requirement 1
- [ ] Requirement 2

### Nice to Have
- [ ] Optional feature

## Success Criteria
- [ ] Specific, testable criterion 1
- [ ] Specific, testable criterion 2

## Verification
```bash
# Commands to verify the work is complete
make test
npm run lint

Boundaries

In Scope

What this ticket covers

Out of Scope

What should be separate tickets


## Example Commands

```bash
# Create parent issue with description from file
~/.claude/scripts/linear-stdin.sh tmp/prd-description.md issues create "User Authentication System" \
  --team ENG \
  --priority 2 \
  -d -

# Create a sub-issue linked to a parent. `linear-cli issues create` has no --parent
# flag (and its --data silently drops parentId), so use the helper — it creates the
# issue, links the parent via `relations parent`, and verifies. Write the body to a file first.
#   ...write the description to tmp/sub-issue-description.md via the Write tool...
~/.claude/scripts/linear-create-child.sh ENG-100 ENG Planned "Add JWT refresh tokens" tmp/sub-issue-description.md

# Set a blocking dependency: ENG-101 blocks ENG-102 (i.e. ENG-102 is blocked by ENG-101).
# Use `-r blocks` with the blocker FIRST — the `blocked-by` enum value is broken on
# linear-cli 0.3.26 (it sends "blockedBy", which the API rejects).
linear-cli relations add ENG-101 ENG-102 -r blocks

Important: For any description or body content longer than a single line, write it to tmp/ first and use ~/.claude/scripts/linear-stdin.sh to pass it via stdin. Do NOT use shell operators (<, |, $()) in Bash commands — they trigger permission prompts regardless of allow-list rules.

Discovering Related Work

Before creating tickets, search for existing related work:

# Find existing work on this topic. NOTE: `search issues` has no --team flag — it
# searches the whole workspace. Scope by team with `issues list --team ENG` or the api.
linear-cli search issues "authentication"

# Look for related work / potential blockers, then inspect dependencies via the graph
linear-cli search issues "user database"
~/.claude/scripts/linear-deps-graph.sh --team ENG    # {nodes, edges} — see /triage for jq recipes

Pro tip: After creating tickets, establish dependencies directly with linear-cli relations add <BLOCKER> <BLOCKED> -r blocks (blocker first; the blocked-by enum is broken on 0.3.26).

Best Practices

Size tickets appropriately - Each should be 1-4 hours of focused work
Include test commands - Always specify how to verify completion
Be explicit about scope - Prevent scope creep with clear boundaries
Use Labels - Add agent-ready label for tickets ready for AI implementation
Establish dependencies - Use linear-cli relations add <BLOCKER> <BLOCKED> -r blocks to show work order
Search first - Check for existing related issues before creating duplicates

Agent Skills: PRD Skill - Create Agent-Friendly Tickets

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