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 - Tag with @Role for execution
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