Test Planning Orchestrator Skill

Paths: File paths (shared/, references/, ../ln-*) are relative to skills repo root. If not found at CWD, locate this SKILL.md directory and go up one level for repo root. If shared/ is missing, fetch files via WebFetch from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/levnikolaevich/claude-code-skills/master/skills/{path}.

Test Planning Orchestrator

Type: L2 Coordinator Category: 5XX Quality

Runtime-backed test-planning coordinator. The runtime owns skip/reuse gates, worker summary tracking, and deterministic resume.

Inputs

| Input | Required | Source | Description | |-------|----------|--------|-------------| | storyId | Yes | args, git branch, kanban, user | Story to process | | --simplified | No | args | Skip research (ln-521) and manual testing (ln-522). Run only auto-test planning (ln-523). Used in fast-track mode. |

Resolution: Story Resolution Chain. Status filter: To Review

Purpose & Scope

Orchestrate test planning: research → manual testing → automated test planning
Delegate to workers: ln-521-test-researcher, ln-522-manual-tester, ln-523-auto-test-planner
No direct work — only coordination and delegation via Skill tool

Runtime Contract

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/coordinator_runtime_contract.md, shared/references/test_planning_runtime_contract.md, shared/references/test_planning_summary_contract.md

Runtime family: test-planning-runtime

Identifier:

Story ID

Phases:

PHASE_0_CONFIG
PHASE_1_DISCOVERY
PHASE_2_RESEARCH
PHASE_3_MANUAL_TESTING
PHASE_4_AUTO_TEST_PLANNING
PHASE_5_FINALIZE
PHASE_6_SELF_CHECK

Worker summary contract:

ln-521, ln-522, ln-523 may receive summaryArtifactPath
each worker writes or returns test-planning-worker summary envelope
ln-520 consumes worker summaries, not free-text worker prose

When to Use

This skill should be used when:

Story passed implementation and regression work and needs full test planning
All implementation tasks in Story are Done
Need complete test planning (research + manual + auto)

Prerequisites:

All implementation Tasks in Story status = Done
Regression tests passed (ln-513)
Code quality checked (ln-511)

Pipeline Overview

ln-520-test-planner (Orchestrator)
    │
    ├─→ ln-521-test-researcher
    │     └─→ Posts "## Test Research: {Feature}" comment
    │
    ├─→ ln-522-manual-tester
    │     └─→ Creates tests/manual/ scripts + "## Manual Testing Results" comment
    │
    └─→ ln-523-auto-test-planner
          └─→ Creates test task in Linear via ln-301/ln-302

Workflow

Phase 0: Resolve Inputs

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/input_resolution_pattern.md

Resolve storyId: Run Story Resolution Chain per guide (status filter: [To Review]).

Phase 1: Discovery

Auto-discover Team ID from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md
Validate Story ID

Phase 2: Research Delegation

Simplified mode gate:

IF --simplified flag AND research comment already exists on Story: Skip Phase 2 (research). Proceed to Phase 4.

IF --simplified flag AND no research comment: Skip Phase 2. Proceed to Phase 4 (ln-523 will generate minimal inline research).

Check if research exists:
- Search Linear comments for "## Test Research:" header
- If found → skip to Phase 3
If no research:
- Use Skill tool to invoke ln-521-test-researcher
- Pass: Story ID
- Wait for completion
- Verify research comment created

Phase 3: Manual Testing Delegation

Simplified mode gate:

IF --simplified flag: Skip Phase 3 (manual testing). Proceed to Phase 4.

Check if manual testing done:
- Search Linear comments for "## Manual Testing Results" header
- If found with all AC passed → skip to Phase 4
If manual testing needed:
- Use Skill tool to invoke ln-522-manual-tester
- Pass: Story ID
- Wait for completion
- Verify results comment created
If any AC failed:
- Stop pipeline
- Report to ln-500: "Manual testing failed, Story needs fixes"

Phase 4: Auto Test Planning Delegation

Invoke auto test planner:
- Use Skill tool to invoke ln-523-auto-test-planner
- Pass: Story ID
- Wait for completion
Verify results:
- Test task created in Linear (or updated if existed)
- Return task URL to ln-500

Phase 5: Report to Caller

Return summary to ln-500:
- Research: completed / skipped (existed)
- Manual testing: passed / failed
- Test task: created / updated + URL

Runtime Summary Artifact

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/coordinator_summary_contract.md

Write .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{run_id}/story-tests/{story_id}.json before finishing.

Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)

CRITICAL: All delegations use Agent tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose" for context isolation.

| Phase | Worker | Purpose | |-------|--------|---------| | 2 | ln-521-test-researcher | Research real-world problems | | 3 | ln-522-manual-tester | Manual AC testing via bash scripts | | 4 | ln-523-auto-test-planner | Plan E2E/Integration/Unit tests |

Prompt template:

Agent(description: "[Phase N] test planning via ln-52X",
     prompt: "Execute test planning worker.

Step 1: Invoke worker:
  Skill(skill: \"ln-52X-{worker}\")

CONTEXT:
Story: {storyId}",
     subagent_type: "general-purpose")

Anti-Patterns:

❌ Direct Skill tool invocation without Agent wrapper
❌ Running web searches directly (delegate to ln-521)
❌ Creating bash test scripts directly (delegate to ln-522)
❌ Creating test tasks directly (delegate to ln-523)
❌ Skipping any phase without justification

TodoWrite format (mandatory)

- Resolve Story and prerequisites (pending)
- Check or reuse research state (pending)
- Invoke ln-521 or skip deterministically (pending)
- Check or reuse manual testing state (pending)
- Invoke ln-522 or skip deterministically (pending)
- Invoke ln-523 and verify test-task result (pending)
- Write story-tests summary artifact (pending)
- Report final planning outcome (pending)

Critical Rules

No direct work: Orchestrator only delegates, never executes tasks itself
Sequential execution: 521 → 522 → 523 (each depends on previous)
Fail-fast: If manual testing fails, stop pipeline and report
Skip detection: Check for existing comments before invoking workers
Single responsibility: Each worker does one thing well

Definition of Done

[ ] Story ID validated
[ ] Research phase: ln-521 invoked OR existing comment found
[ ] Manual testing phase: ln-522 invoked OR existing results found
[ ] Auto test planning phase: ln-523 invoked
[ ] Test task created/updated in Linear
[ ] Summary prepared with phase results and test task URL
[ ] Story-test summary artifact written to the shared location

Output: Summary with phase results + test task URL

Phase 6: Meta-Analysis

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/meta_analysis_protocol.md

Skill type: planning-coordinator. Run after all phases complete. Output to chat using the planning-coordinator format.

Reference Files

Workers: ../ln-521-test-researcher/SKILL.md, ../ln-522-manual-tester/SKILL.md, ../ln-523-auto-test-planner/SKILL.md
Risk-based testing: shared/references/risk_based_testing_guide.md

Version: 4.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-15

Agent Skills: Test Planning Orchestrator

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files