using-planflowlisted

# PlanFlow — Plan-Driven, Short-Session Workflow Long conversations degrade: details get lost, context rots, and the agent starts re-deriving or contradicting earlier decisions. PlanFlow routes around this by **externalizing state to files** and keeping each working session **short and focused on exactly one task**. ## When to use this - The user hands you a substantial, multi-step goal (a feature, refactor, data pipeline, migration). - A `PLAN.md` or `HANDOFF.md` already exists in the project — read it FIRST. - The user mentions planning, tasks, checklists, or "fresh session". For a small one-off change, skip the ceremony and just do it. ## The memory spine (three files) - **`PLAN.md`** (project root): the source of truth for WHAT to do — the work broken into small, ordered, checkbox tasks, each with acceptance criteria and the files it touches. - **`CLAUDE.md`**: durable decisions and conventions, never to be re-derived. - **`HANDOFF.md`**: an emergency snapshot, only when a single task runs long. ## How to size a task A good task is something ONE fresh session can finish without approaching the context limit: one coherent unit (a module, function, fix, or thin slice), doesn't need the whole codebase in context, has a concrete "Done when…" condition, and is ordered so earlier tasks unblock later ones. If a task needs more than ~1 hour or touches many files at once, split it further. ## Session discipline - On starting work: read `PLAN.md` and (if present) `HANDO