fix(plan-feature): clarify direct dependency requirement for create-branch bookend

[mrizzi]

Summary

• Strengthens the create-branch bookend dependency instruction in plan-feature/SKILL.md to explicitly state that chain dependencies are insufficient
• Every non-documentation intermediate task must directly list the create-branch bookend in its ## Dependencies section, in addition to any task-specific dependencies
• Documentation task exemption preserved — they may list implementation tasks as dependencies instead

Implements TC-5055

Test plan

• Existing eval-5 assertion 7 ("All non-documentation intermediate tasks list the create-branch bookend task as a dependency") should pass
• Read the updated instruction and confirm it is unambiguous about direct vs transitive dependency requirements
• Run grep -A 8 "All intermediate tasks MUST" plugins/sdlc-workflow/skills/plan-feature/SKILL.md to verify the strengthened text

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by Sourcery

Documentation:

• Clarify that all non-documentation intermediate tasks must directly list the create-branch bookend as a dependency and that chained dependencies are insufficient, while preserving the documentation-task exemption.

[sourcery-ai]

Reviewer's guide (collapsed on small PRs)

Reviewer's Guide

Clarifies the plan-feature skill documentation so that every non-documentation intermediate task must explicitly and directly depend on the create-branch bookend task, disallowing reliance on transitive/chain dependencies while preserving a documentation-task exemption.

Flow diagram for dependency rules on intermediate tasks

flowchart TD
  A[Intermediate task] --> B{Is task documentation?}
  B -- Yes --> C[May list implementation tasks in Dependencies]
  C --> D[Documentation depends on implementation completion]
  B -- No --> E[Must list create-branch bookend in Dependencies]
  E --> F[May also list task-specific dependencies]
  F --> G[No reliance on chain dependencies]

Loading

File-Level Changes

Change	Details	Files
Strengthened dependency requirement wording for intermediate tasks relative to the create-branch bookend task in the plan-feature skill documentation.	Expanded the existing rule that all intermediate tasks must list the create-branch task in their Dependencies section to emphasize that this applies to every non-documentation intermediate task. Clarified that chain (transitive) dependencies are not sufficient; each applicable task must directly list the create-branch bookend. Documented that documentation tasks can instead depend on implementation tasks, preserving the previous exemption semantics.	plugins/sdlc-workflow/skills/plan-feature/SKILL.md

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[sourcery-ai]

Hey - I've left some high level feedback:

• The new dependency paragraph repeats the requirement in multiple ways; consider tightening the wording to a single, concise statement to reduce redundancy while keeping the direct-vs-chain distinction clear.
• Use consistent terminology for the same concept (e.g., always "create-branch bookend task" instead of alternating between "create-branch task" and "create-branch bookend") to avoid potential ambiguity.

Prompt for AI Agents

Please address the comments from this code review:

## Overall Comments
- The new dependency paragraph repeats the requirement in multiple ways; consider tightening the wording to a single, concise statement to reduce redundancy while keeping the direct-vs-chain distinction clear.
- Use consistent terminology for the same concept (e.g., always "create-branch bookend task" instead of alternating between "create-branch task" and "create-branch bookend") to avoid potential ambiguity.

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[github-actions]

Eval Results

Eval Results: plan-feature

Eval	Passed	Failed	Pass Rate
eval-1	19/19	0	100%
eval-2	16/16	0	100%
eval-3	15/15	0	100%
eval-4	11/11	0	100%
eval-5	14/15	1	93%
eval-6	14/14	0	100%

Failed Assertions

eval-5: 1 failing assertion

• Assertion: "Each non-documentation task file contains all required template sections: Repository, Target Branch, Description, at least one of Files to Modify or Files to Create, Implementation Notes, Acceptance Criteria, Test Requirements. Documentation tasks are exempt from requiring Files to Modify, Files to Create, and Implementation Notes — they must still include Repository, Target Branch, Description, Acceptance Criteria, and Test Requirements"
  Evidence: "Bookend tasks (Task 1 create-branch and Task 8 merge-branch) are non-documentation tasks but lack required sections: neither has Files to Modify, Files to Create, or Implementation Notes. The assertion text exempts only 'Documentation tasks' — bookend tasks are not documentation tasks. Task 1 has only: Repository, Target Branch, Bookend Type, Description, Acceptance Criteria, Test Requirements, Dependencies. Task 8 similarly lacks Files to Modify/Create and Implementation Notes. Per grading instructions: the assertion literally says 'non-documentation' without mentioning bookends, so bookend tasks that lack these sections are a FAIL."

Pass rate: 99% · Tokens: 65,352 · Duration: 283s

Baseline (fcbfa091): 93% · 44,336 tokens · 250s

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Generated by sdlc-workflow/run-evals v0.12.1

[mrizzi]

[sdlc-workflow/verify-pr] Re: @sourcery-ai[bot] review — Classified as suggestion (2 items):

1. "Tighten wording to reduce redundancy" — this proposes an editorial improvement that is not documented in CONVENTIONS.md and has no established codebase convention for prose conciseness. No sub-task created.

2. "Use consistent terminology" — this proposes standardizing on "create-branch bookend task" terminology. CONVENTIONS.md has no terminology consistency convention for documentation prose, and the existing SKILL.md itself uses varied forms ("bookend tasks", "create-branch"). No sub-task created.

[mrizzi]

Verification Report for TC-5055 (commit 4ee2a61)

Check	Result	Details
Review Feedback	PASS	2 suggestions from sourcery-ai[bot]; no code change requests
Root-Cause Investigation	N/A	No sub-tasks created
Scope Containment	PASS	PR modifies exactly the 1 file specified in the task
Diff Size	PASS	6 lines added to 1 file; proportionate to task scope
Commit Traceability	PASS	Single commit references TC-5055
Sensitive Patterns	PASS	No sensitive patterns detected in added lines
CI Status	PASS	All 4 CI checks pass
Acceptance Criteria	PASS	3 of 3 criteria met
Test Quality	WARN	Eval Quality: WARN (99% pass rate, 1 pre-existing failure in eval-5); Repetitive Test Detection: N/A; Test Documentation: N/A
Test Change Classification	N/A	No test files in PR diff
Verification Commands	PASS	grep output shows strengthened instruction with chain dependency clarification

Overall: PASS

All checks pass. The single eval-5 assertion failure is pre-existing (same assertion failed at baseline with identical root cause — bookend tasks lack template sections the assertion expects). The PR improved overall eval pass rate from 93% (baseline) to 99%.

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This comment was AI-generated by sdlc-workflow/verify-pr v0.12.1.