Story Breakdown Skill

Break large stories into work items in .agent/queue/.

When to Break Down

• •Multi-component scope
• •Requires sequential execution phases
• •Dependencies between work items
• •More than 2-3 distinct tasks

Breakdown Process

1. •Analyze scope - Identify distinct work units
2. •Define items - Create work item for each unit
3. •Set dependencies - Note which items block others
4. •Assign roles - Specify the role skill for execution (for example developer, reviewer)
5. •Add to queue - Create files in .agent/queue/

Work Item Creation

For each item, create in .agent/queue/:

# [Short Title]

**Status**: pending
**Priority**: high | medium | low
**Assignee**: developer | reviewer | etc.
**Blocks**: 002, 003 (optional)
**BlockedBy**: none | 001 (optional)

## Description
What needs to be done.

## Success Criteria
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2

Splitting Strategies

By Component

• •001-pending-frontend-auth.md
• •002-pending-backend-api.md
• •003-pending-database-schema.md

By Phase

• •001-pending-core-functionality.md
• •002-pending-error-handling.md
• •003-pending-tests.md

By Domain

• •001-pending-authentication.md
• •002-pending-data-processing.md
• •003-pending-api-integration.md

Example Breakdown

Story: "Add user authentication"

.agent/queue/
├── 001-pending-setup-auth-database.md
├── 002-pending-implement-login-api.md
├── 003-pending-add-frontend-forms.md
└── 004-pending-write-auth-tests.md

With dependencies:

• •002 blocked by 001
• •003 blocked by 002
• •004 blocked by 002, 003

Validation

Before execution:

• • Each item has clear scope
• • Dependencies are noted
• • Roles assigned
• • Success criteria defined
• • No circular dependencies