# to-issues

Decomposes PRDs and technical specs into thin, demoable vertical issues with explicit blocking edges for GitHub or local tracking.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 451 installs · ★ 294
- Author: smallnest
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/smallnest/goal-workflow/tree/HEAD/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-09-13
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/to-issues

## What it does

The skill turns product requirements and technical specs into focused tasks that an AI agent can execute in a single context window. Instead of slicing work horizontally by technical layer, it builds vertical slices. Each ticket delivers a complete end-to-end path through schema, API, UI, and tests for one behaviour.

Before splitting features, the skill isolates prefactoring groundwork such as helper extraction or type adjustments. It arranges tickets in dependency order with falsifiable acceptance criteria, deliberately omitting line numbers and file paths so descriptions do not rot. Before publishing to GitHub or local files, it pauses to quiz you on granularity and dependency links.

Keep this skill in the same context window as `/prd-to-spec` because compacting or clearing context forces a spec reload that can truncate the input.

## Requirements
- Works with: GitHub

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add smallnest/goal-workflow --skill to-issues -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/to-issues/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add smallnest/goal-workflow --skill to-issues -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add smallnest/goal-workflow --skill to-issues -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install smallnest/goal-workflow to-issues
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add smallnest/goal-workflow --skill to-issues -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/smallnest/goal-workflow --path skills/to-issues
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add smallnest/goal-workflow --skill to-issues -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/smallnest/goal-workflow/tree/HEAD/skills/to-issues/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- decompose large PRDs into independently demoable vertical issues
- isolate prefactoring groundwork before implementing core features
- define clean dependency edges between tickets
- write falsifiable acceptance criteria for agent-ready sessions

## Example prompts
- Break tasks/spec-priority-system.md into vertical issues
- Generate agent-ready tickets from tasks/prd-auth.md
- Turn PRD into small vertical issues with blocking edges

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 12306a32857c927f.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 12306a32857c927f
````text
---
name: to-issues
description: "Decompose a PRD and/or SPEC into implementable, vertically-sliced Issues with real blocking edges, then create them in your chosen platform (GitHub or Local). Use after /prd (and optionally /prd-to-spec) to turn requirements into agent-ready tickets. Triggers on: create issues, to-issues, 创建issue, 拆解issue, 生成卡片, 创建卡片, generate issues from PRD, issues from spec."
user-invocable: true
---

# to-issues — PRD/SPEC to Issues

Decompose a PRD and/or technical SPEC into small, **independently demoable** Issues, each sized to fit a single fresh context window, then create them in your chosen platform. Works standalone — you don't need to have run `/prd` first.

Every Issue this skill produces is **agent-ready by construction**: a fresh session that has never seen your PRD/SPEC can pick it up and finish it.

---

## Core principle: tracer bullets, not layers

This is the rule that matters most, and the one models break most often.

- A **horizontal** slice ships one layer of the change (all the schema in one ticket, all the API in another, all the UI in a third). Nothing works until every layer lands, and each ticket's acceptance criteria have to reach into work another ticket owns. This is the default the model falls into — **avoid it.**
- A **vertical** slice — the *tracer bullet* — ships one thin but complete path through every layer at once (schema + API + UI + tests for a single narrow behaviour). It is verifiable alone the moment it lands, and it owns everything it grades.

**The test for every Issue: "What can I demo when this is done?"** If the answer is a layer ("the database has a priority column") rather than a behaviour ("a user can set a task's priority and see it persist"), it is a horizontal slice — re-slice it.

**Sizing floor:** if the whole change fits in one context window, you don't need Issues at all. Say so and point the user straight at `/goal`.

> Keep this skill in the **same context window** as `/prd-to-spec`. Don't clear or compact between them, or the SPEC has to be re-fetched and may truncate.

---

## The Job

1. **Locate input** — find a PRD or SPEC file (auto-detect or user-specified)
2. **Find prefactoring** — surface "make the change easy, then make the easy change" work and order it first
3. **Decompose into vertical Issues** — break behaviour into tracer-bullet tickets with blocking edges
4. **Quiz the user** — present the numbered list and push on granularity, edges, and demo paths before publishing
5. **Choose platform** — GitHub / Local
6. **Create Issues** — blockers first, with native blocking links, then print summary

---

## Step 1: Locate Input

Find the input document:

```
What should I base the Issues on?

A. Auto-detect: scan tasks/ for recent PRDs and SPECs
B. Specific PRD file (e.g., tasks/prd-priority-system.md)
C. Specific SPEC file (e.g., tasks/spec-priority-system.md)
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 12306a32857c927f

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 12306a32857c927f tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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