Plan Viewer Skill

Display Claude Code plan files in a split pane with real-time updates.

Description

The plan viewer allows you to watch a markdown plan file and display it in a separate terminal pane. As the plan is written or updated, the display automatically refreshes to show the latest content.

Usage

Watch a Plan File

bash

# Watch a plan file and display in split pane
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md

# With custom title
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md --title "Implementation Plan"

# Show in current terminal (no split pane)
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ~/.claude/plans/my-plan.md --no-spawn

Integration with Claude Code Plan Mode

When Claude Code enters plan mode, it writes to a plan file (e.g., ~/.claude/plans/<plan-name>.md). You can watch this file to see the plan as it's being written:

bash

# Watch the current plan file
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan "C:\Users\YourName\.claude\plans\current-plan.md"

Features

•Live Updates: Content refreshes automatically when the file changes
•Split Pane: Opens in a separate pane (Windows Terminal, tmux)
•Scroll Controls: Navigate long plans with arrow keys
•Auto-scroll: Stays at bottom when new content is added (if already at bottom)
•Markdown Highlighting: Headers, lists, and bold text are highlighted

Controls

Key	Action
`↑` / `↓`	Scroll up/down
`Page Up` / `Page Down`	Scroll by page
`g`	Go to top
`G`	Go to bottom
`q` / `Esc`	Close canvas

Configuration

The plan viewer accepts these options:

Option	Default	Description
`--title`	"Plan"	Title shown in the canvas header
`--no-spawn`	false	Show in current terminal instead of split pane

Example

bash

# Start watching a plan file
bun run canvas/src/cli.ts watch-plan ./my-plan.md --title "Feature Plan"

# In another terminal, append to the file
echo "## New Section" >> ./my-plan.md
echo "- Task 1" >> ./my-plan.md
echo "- Task 2" >> ./my-plan.md

# The canvas will automatically update to show the new content

Architecture

code

┌─────────────────────┐     writes     ┌──────────────┐
│  Claude Code        │ ─────────────> │  Plan File   │
│  (Plan Mode)        │                │  (.md)       │
└─────────────────────┘                └──────────────┘
                                              │
                                              │ watches
                                              ▼
┌─────────────────────┐     IPC        ┌──────────────┐
│  watch-plan CLI     │ ─────────────> │  Document    │
│  (Controller)       │    update      │  Canvas      │
└─────────────────────┘                └──────────────┘

Troubleshooting

Canvas doesn't spawn

•Ensure you're running in Windows Terminal, ConEmu, or a tmux session
•Check with bun run canvas/src/cli.ts env to see your terminal environment

Updates not showing

•The file watcher debounces changes (100ms) to avoid excessive updates
•Ensure the file is being saved (not just buffered)
•Check the controller terminal for "File updated" messages

Connection issues

•The canvas shows "[connecting...]" until IPC is established
•Once connected, it shows "[live]" indicator
•If connection fails, the canvas still shows the initial content