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Story Coordinator
Type: L2 Domain Coordinator Category: 2XX Planning
Runtime-backed Story planning coordinator. The runtime owns flow control, pause/resume, and worker result tracking.
MANDATORY READ
Load these before execution:
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shared/references/coordinator_runtime_contract.md
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shared/references/story_planning_runtime_contract.md
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shared/references/coordinator_summary_contract.md
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shared/references/environment_state_contract.md
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shared/references/storage_mode_detection.md
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shared/references/problem_solving.md
Purpose
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assemble Epic planning context
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perform focused standards research when it changes Technical Notes
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build the ideal Story plan before checking existing Stories
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detect routing and mode per epic group
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batch child manifest/artifact preparation before delegation
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delegate creation or replanning to standalone workers
Inputs
Parameter Required Description
epicId
Yes Epic to decompose
autoApprove
No If false, runtime pauses on preview confirmation
Runtime
Runtime family: story-planning-runtime
Identifier:
- epic-{epicId}
Phases:
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PHASE_0_CONFIG
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PHASE_1_CONTEXT_ASSEMBLY
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PHASE_2_RESEARCH
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PHASE_3_PLAN
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PHASE_4_ROUTING
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PHASE_5_MODE_DETECTION
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PHASE_6_DELEGATE
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PHASE_7_FINALIZE
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PHASE_8_SELF_CHECK
Terminal phases:
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DONE
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PAUSED
Summary flow:
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consume child story-plan-worker artifacts from ln-221 / ln-222
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write coordinator story-plan artifact during PHASE_7_FINALIZE
Phase Map
Phase 1: Context Assembly
Resolve Epic and assemble only the planning inputs that change Story decomposition:
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Epic scope
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success criteria
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known personas and constraints
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project task provider
Checkpoint payload:
- context_ready
Phase 2: Research
Do focused research only when it changes Story Technical Notes or implementation constraints.
Do not let research expand Story scope.
Checkpoint payload:
-
research_status
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research_file
Phase 3: Plan
Build the ideal Story plan before looking at existing Stories.
Rules:
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vertical slices only
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5-10 Stories when Epic warrants it
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concise Story statements and observable ACs
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no orchestration prose inside the plan
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delegate ACs must specify what equips the actor (context, instructions, tools, configuration), not just what the actor does
Checkpoint payload:
- ideal_plan_summary
Phase 4: Routing
Route planned Stories to epic groups.
Fast path:
- all Stories stay in the resolved Epic
Pause only when routing is ambiguous or requires confirmation.
Checkpoint payload:
- routing_summary
Phase 5: Mode Detection
Determine mode per epic group:
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CREATE
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REPLAN
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ADD
Checkpoint payload:
- epic_group_modes
Phase 6: Delegate
Phase 6 has two internal steps.
Phase 6a: Prepare delegation
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finalize routing groups
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materialize worker manifests
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precompute run_id and summary_artifact_path for each child
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checkpoint the expected worker set before execution
Phase 6b: Execute delegation
Delegate by group:
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ln-221-story-creator
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ln-222-story-replanner
Workers remain standalone-capable. In managed mode the coordinator starts them through planning-worker-runtime , passes runId + summaryArtifactPath , stores the launch metadata in child_run , then records the resulting worker artifact through record-epic .
Worker summary kind:
- story-plan-worker
Phase 7: Finalize
Finalize only after all expected worker summaries are recorded.
Coordinator output:
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build one story-plan summary for the parent runtime
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write it through node shared/scripts/story-planning-runtime/cli.mjs record-plan-summary
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persist the artifact before advancing to PHASE_8_SELF_CHECK
Template compliance gate: Fetch each created Story via get_issue . Run validateTemplateCompliance(description, 'story') from planning-runtime/lib/template-compliance.mjs . All stories must pass (9 sections in order). Record template_compliance_passed in state. Guard blocks SELF_CHECK without it.
Checkpoint payload:
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final_result
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template_compliance_passed
Phase 8: Self-Check
Confirm:
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phase coverage
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planned vs produced Story counts
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no missing epic groups
Checkpoint payload:
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pass
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final_result
Pending Decisions
Use runtime PAUSED + pending_decision for:
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missing context
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routing confirmation
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ambiguous ADD vs REPLAN
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preview confirmation when autoApprove=false
Do not hold these decisions only in chat.
Worker Contract
Workers:
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do not know the coordinator
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do not read runtime state
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remain standalone
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may receive summaryArtifactPath
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return shared summary envelope either way
Expected summary kind:
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child workers: story-plan-worker
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coordinator output: story-plan
Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)
Phase Worker Context
6 ln-221-story-creator
CREATE or ADD path
6 ln-222-story-replanner
REPLAN path
node shared/scripts/planning-worker-runtime/cli.mjs start --skill {worker} --identifier {identifier} --manifest-file {workerManifestPath} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path {childSummaryArtifactPath} child_run = { skill, run_id, identifier, summary_artifact_path } childSummaryArtifactPath = .hex-skills/runtime-artifacts/runs/{parent_run_id}/story-plan-worker/{worker}--{identifier}.json Skill(skill: "{worker}", args: "{identifier} --ideal-plan {idealPlanJSON} --epic {epicId} --run-id {childRunId} --summary-artifact-path {childSummaryArtifactPath}") Read {childSummaryArtifactPath} node shared/scripts/story-planning-runtime/cli.mjs record-epic --epic {epicId} --payload-file {childSummaryArtifactPath} node shared/scripts/story-planning-runtime/cli.mjs record-plan-summary --epic {epicId} --payload-file {coordinatorSummaryPath}
TodoWrite format (mandatory)
- Phase 1: Assemble context (pending)
- Phase 2: Research only what changes Technical Notes (pending)
- Phase 3: Build ideal Story plan (pending)
- Phase 4: Route Stories by Epic (pending)
- Phase 5: Detect mode per group (pending)
- Phase 6a: Prepare delegation batch (pending)
- Phase 6b: Execute worker(s) sequentially (pending)
- Phase 7: Finalize result (pending)
- Phase 8: Self-check (pending)
Critical Rules
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Build the ideal plan before checking existing Stories.
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Use research only to improve Technical Notes and implementation realism.
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Do not keep routing or preview approvals in chat-only state.
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Batch only read-only preparation. Do not parallelize Story mutations across routed groups unless runtime semantics explicitly allow it.
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Do not create or update Stories directly when a worker should do it.
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Consume worker summaries, not free-text worker prose.
Definition of Done
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Runtime started with Epic-scoped identifier
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Context assembly checkpointed
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Research checkpointed or explicitly minimal
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Ideal plan checkpointed
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Routing checkpointed
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Mode detection checkpointed
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All expected worker summaries recorded
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Coordinator story-plan summary recorded
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Final result checkpointed
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Template compliance passed for all created Stories
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Self-check passed
Meta-Analysis
MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/meta_analysis_protocol.md
Skill type: planning-coordinator . Run after all phases complete. Output to chat using the protocol format.
Reference Files
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shared/references/environment_state_contract.md
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shared/references/storage_mode_detection.md
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references/replan_algorithm.md
Version: 5.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-02-03