Planner Pattern — Context

Pattern: Planner
Component: context.md
Version: 1.2 | Updated: 2026-07-29

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Purpose

Define the minimum evidence package required before the Planner pattern may start — and when to refuse to start.

Required before activation

• Locked acceptance criteria (testable)
• Context pack with trust labels and size budget
• Existing topology / ADR pointers for touched services
• Hard constraints: perf, security, compliance, data class
• Named human who can approve or reject the plan

Refuse to start when

• AC still negotiable or contradictory
• Empty or untrusted context pack
• No owner for irreversible steps (schema, cutover, public API)

Trust and data class

• Label segments as trusted, internal, or untrusted for Planner packs.
• Keep untrusted retrieval out of the Planner system channel.
• Planner MCP enablement follows data class in mcps.md.

Pack shape for Planner

1. Trigger / AC (human-owned)
2. Ranked evidence inside the Planner budget
3. Constraints and non-goals for this activation
4. Open questions (empty before irreversible Planner steps)

Related

• Context pattern when packing is itself the hard problem
• Prompt variable bindings
• Skills activation triggers

Changelog

• 1.2 (2026-07-29): Planner context gates (required/refuse) rewritten for this envelope.