To issues

To Issues

Break a plan into independently-grabbable iudex tickets using vertical slices (tracer bullets). The iudex queue is the tracker: each slice becomes a t<id>.md brief in .iudex/queue/, registered with iudex queue. Blocking relationships between slices map directly onto iudex dependencies (--deps).

Process

1. Gather context

Work from whatever is already in the conversation context. If the user points at a PRD (e.g. .context/prd/<slug>.md), read it in full. Read the domain glossary — every top-level *.md in .context/ — so ticket titles and descriptions use the project's vocabulary, and respect ADRs in .context/adr/ for the area you're touching.

If the source is a PRD, make sure every requirement has a stable id first: list them with grep -nE '^#{1,6} +REQ-' .context/prd/<slug>.md. If any heading still reads REQ-?, assign ids using the to-prd skill's numbering rule (file-scoped: highest existing REQ-<n> in this file + 1, in order of appearance, never renumbering existing ids), then re-run the grep to confirm no REQ-? remains. Reference those REQ-N ids when you slice, so each ticket traces back to the requirements it satisfies.

2. Explore the codebase (optional)

If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code.

3. Draft vertical slices

Break the plan into tracer bullet tickets. Each ticket is a thin vertical slice that cuts through ALL integration layers end-to-end, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer.

Slices may be 'HITL' or 'AFK'. HITL slices require human interaction, such as an architectural decision or a design review. AFK slices can be implemented and merged without human interaction. Prefer AFK over HITL where possible. (iudex itself doesn't track HITL/AFK — every ticket passes through the same human-qa gate — so note it in the brief prose to guide how the human drives activate/human-qa.)

<vertical-slice-rules> - Each slice delivers a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests) - A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own - Prefer many thin slices over few thick ones </vertical-slice-rules>

4. Quiz the user

Present the proposed breakdown as a numbered list. For each slice, show:

• Title: short descriptive name
• Type: HITL / AFK
• Blocked by: which other slices (if any) must complete first
• Requirements covered: which PRD requirements (REQ-N ids) this slice satisfies, if the source is a PRD

Ask the user:

• Does the granularity feel right? (too coarse / too fine)
• Are the dependency relationships correct?
• Should any slices be merged or split further?
• Are the correct slices marked as HITL and AFK?

Iterate until the user approves the breakdown.

5. Register the tickets in the iudex queue

Publish the approved slices in dependency order — blockers first — so every blocker already has a real ticket id by the time a dependent references it. iudex requires deps to be pre-registered, and iudex next-ticket-id returns "highest registered id + 1", so you must complete the full register step for one ticket before computing the id for the next.

For each slice, in order:

1. Get the id: id=$(iudex next-ticket-id)
2. Author the brief: write the ticket body to .iudex/queue/t$id.md using the template below. The first line must be an H1 title — # <short descriptive title> (the slice's Title from step 4, no tN: prefix — the id is shown separately). The GUI reads a ticket's title from the brief's first # heading, so a brief without one shows no title in the Tickets, Agents, and Review views. Use a single # — section headings inside the brief are ## or deeper.
3. Register it (with deps): iudex queue t$id --deps t<blocker-ids> (comma-separated blocker ids; omit --deps entirely if the slice has none).

Do not put status or dependencies inside the t<id>.md file. iudex's event log is the single source of truth — dependencies live ONLY in the iudex queue --deps command. You may mention blockers in the brief's prose for a human reader, but the canonical dependency edge is the registered queue event. The markdown carries the spec, nothing else.

After registering, run iudex status to show the user the queued tickets (each annotated ready or blocked by).

<ticket-template> # <short descriptive title>

What to build

A concise description of this vertical slice. Describe the end-to-end behavior, not layer-by-layer implementation.

Avoid specific file paths or code snippets — they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it here and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts — not a working demo, just the important bits.

Acceptance criteria

• Criterion 1
• Criterion 2
• Criterion 3

Notes

• Type: HITL / AFK (and why, if HITL).
• Blockers (for the human reader): tN, tM — registered canonically via iudex queue --deps.
• Requirements covered (for the human reader): REQ-N, REQ-M from the source PRD. This is prose traceability for now; a canonical requirement→ticket link (iudex queue --satisfies) is planned but not yet available.
• Reference to the source PRD under .context/prd/ if applicable. </ticket-template>