When should I activate this skill?

This skill is best for any task requiring more than 5 tool calls, complex research, or multi-phase engineering projects that might exceed the context window.

Why use files instead of just talking to Claude?

Files provide unlimited, non-volatile storage that survives session clears and keeps the agent focused on long-term goals without repeating previous mistakes.

Does this skill work on Windows?

Yes, the skill includes support for both Bash and PowerShell environments to ensure cross-platform compatibility.

What is Manus-style planning?

It is a workflow pattern that uses persistent markdown files as 'working memory' on disk to prevent information loss caused by LLM context window limits.

How does the session recovery work?

It includes a session-catchup script that analyzes existing planning files and git diffs to restore Claude's understanding of the project state after a restart.

Manus-Style Task Planning

Name: Manus-Style Task Planning
Author: iseepatterns-jz

byiseepatterns-jz

Productivity & Workflow

Implements persistent, file-based state management for complex multi-step tasks and research projects within Claude Code.

About

This skill brings structured, "Manus-style" workflow management to Claude Code by shifting critical task state from the volatile context window to persistent markdown files. By maintaining a task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md directly in your project directory, it ensures that goals, research discoveries, and error logs are never lost during session clears or context shifts. It is specifically designed for complex engineering or research tasks requiring more than five tool calls, enforcing rigorous protocols like the '3-Strike Error Protocol' and 'Read Before Decide' to significantly improve the reliability of long-running autonomous sessions.

Key Features

Automatic session recovery and context catchup after using /clear or starting new sessions.
Built-in templates for phase tracking, research storage, and session logging.
0 GitHub stars
Persistent state management using task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md files.
Automated hooks that remind the agent to update progress and check plans after tool usage.
Standardized 3-Strike Error Protocol to prevent repetitive failures and ensure approach mutation.

Use Cases

Building complex features that require tracking specific errors and multiple implementation attempts.
Conducting deep research projects where web data needs to be saved to disk before context is lost.
Managing multi-step software engineering tasks that span across multiple days or sessions.

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add iseepatterns-jz/planning-with-files planning-with-files

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill

GitHub

About

Key Features

Automatic session recovery and context catchup after using /clear or starting new sessions.
Built-in templates for phase tracking, research storage, and session logging.
0 GitHub stars
Persistent state management using task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md files.
Automated hooks that remind the agent to update progress and check plans after tool usage.
Standardized 3-Strike Error Protocol to prevent repetitive failures and ensure approach mutation.

Use Cases

Building complex features that require tracking specific errors and multiple implementation attempts.
Conducting deep research projects where web data needs to be saved to disk before context is lost.
Managing multi-step software engineering tasks that span across multiple days or sessions.