Speclet Ticket Skill

Convert a large draft document into individual tickets for isolated implementation sessions.

What I Do

• Read .speclet/draft.md and identify discrete work items
• Create ticket folders at .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/
• Generate ticket metadata at .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket.json
• Copy general draft to .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket-draft.md
• Create/update .speclet/tickets/index.json for centralized status tracking
• Delete root draft.md only after ALL tickets are successfully created
• Enable ticket-by-ticket workflow: one ticket → one session → full speclet cycle

When to Use Me

Use this when:

• A draft contains multiple independent fixes/features
• The combined scope would overwhelm LLM context
• You want to work on items one at a time across sessions

Your Task

Step 1: Read the Draft

Read .speclet/draft.md

Identify discrete work items. Each item that can be implemented independently = 1 ticket.

Splitting Rule: 1 ticket = 1 friction/problem. Maximum atomicity.

Step 2: Ask Clarifying Questions (if needed)

If the draft is ambiguous about how to split, ask questions with lettered options.

Example:

1. How should I group these items?
   A. One ticket per file mentioned ⭐ Recommended — maximum isolation
   B. Group by feature area
   C. Group by complexity
   D. Keep as single ticket

   **Reason for recommendation:** Isolated tickets prevent context bleed and allow
   prioritization between sessions.

Global Rules

Always Show Recommendation + Reason

When asking questions with options, ALWAYS:

1. Mark the recommended option with ⭐
2. Add **Reason for recommendation:** explaining why

Example format:

1. [Question]?
   A. Option A
   B. Option B ⭐ Recommended — [brief reason]
   C. Option C

   **Reason for recommendation:** [Detailed explanation of why B is best]

Step 3: Create Ticket Files and Folders

For each discrete item:

1. Create ticket folder: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/
2. Copy draft to folder: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket-draft.md
3. Create ticket JSON: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket.json

IMPORTANT: Complete ALL tickets before proceeding to Step 4. Do NOT delete draft.md until all tickets exist.

Ticket JSON Structure

{
  "specletVersion": "1.0",
  "id": "TICKET-1",
  "title": "Short descriptive title",
  "description": "2-3 sentences explaining the problem/friction and desired outcome",
  "files": ["path/to/likely/affected/file.ts"],
  "sourceContext": ".speclet/draft.md", 
  "preliminaryCriteria": [
    "Preliminary acceptance criterion (will be refined in speclet-draft)",
    "Another criterion"
  ],
  "priority": 1,
  "dependsOn": [],
  "retryHints": [],
  "status": "pending"
}

Field Descriptions

specletVersion Field (CRITICAL)

The specletVersion field is mandatory. It serves two purposes:

1. Identification: Allows speclet-draft to recognize this as a speclet-generated ticket
2. Compatibility: Future versions can check compatibility

If specletVersion is missing, other skills will NOT recognize this as a speclet ticket.

sourceContext Best Practices

The sourceContext field must point to the original source of the requirement:

✅ Good sourceContext values:

• .speclet/draft.md
• GitHub Issue #123
• Code review comment on PR #456

❌ Bad sourceContext values:

• TICKET-1.json — Self-referential
• "From the analysis" — Not traceable

Step 4: Create/Update Index

Create or update .speclet/tickets/index.json:

{
  "specletVersion": "1.0",
  "source": "docs/original-analysis.md",
  "createdAt": "2025-01-09T15:30:00Z",
  "tickets": [
    {
      "id": "TICKET-1",
      "title": "Fix empty state guidance",
      "status": "pending",
      "priority": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "TICKET-2", 
      "title": "Improve serial scanner UX",
      "status": "pending",
      "priority": 2
    }
  ]
}

Note: The source field in index.json should point to the original source document .speclet/draft.md.

Step 5: Delete Root Draft (ONLY AFTER ALL TICKETS CREATED)

Pre-condition check (MANDATORY):

Before deleting, verify:

1. All ticket folders exist: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/, .speclet/tickets/TICKET-2/, etc.
2. Each folder has ticket.json and ticket-draft.md
3. index.json exists and lists all tickets

# Verification command
ls .speclet/tickets/*/ticket.json | wc -l  # Should equal number of tickets
ls .speclet/tickets/*/ticket-draft.md | wc -l  # Should equal number of tickets

Only if verification passes:

rm .speclet/draft.md

If verification fails: STOP. Do not delete draft.md. Report which tickets are missing.

This ensures:

• No confusion about which draft to use
• Clean state for next workflow
• Each ticket has its own ticket-draft.md as context

Step 6: Confirm with User

After creating tickets, summarize:

✅ Created N tickets from draft.md

| ID | Title | Priority | Dependencies |
|----|-------|----------|--------------|
| TICKET-1 | [title] | 1 | - |
| TICKET-2 | [title] | 2 | TICKET-1 |

📁 Structure created:
.speclet/tickets/
├── index.json
├── TICKET-1/
│   ├── ticket.json
│   └── ticket-draft.md
├── TICKET-2/
│   ├── ticket.json
│   └── ticket-draft.md

🗑️ Deleted: .speclet/draft.md

**Next steps:**
1. Start new session
2. Pick a ticket: "Use speclet-draft for TICKET-1"
3. Complete full cycle: draft → spec → loop
4. Come back for next ticket

Workflow Integration

PHASE 1: Analysis (this session)
────────────────────────────────
speclet-draft (general analysis)
     │
     ▼
.speclet/draft.md
     │
     ▼
speclet-ticket (this skill)
     │
     ├── Creates .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket.json
     ├── Creates .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket-draft.md
     ├── Creates .speclet/tickets/index.json
     ├── Verifies ALL tickets created successfully
     ├── Deletes .speclet/draft.md (only after verification)
     └── END of session

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

PHASE 2: Per-ticket work (new session)
──────────────────────────────────────
User: "speclet-draft for TICKET-1"
     │
     ├── Reads .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/ticket.json (validates specletVersion)
     ├── Reads .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/ticket-draft.md
     ├── Asks clarifying questions
     └── Creates .speclet/draft.md (refined)
     │
     ▼
speclet-spec → .speclet/spec.json
     │
     ▼
speclet-loop → implements
     │
     ▼
On completion:
├── Move draft.md → tickets/TICKET-1/draft.md
├── Move spec.json → tickets/TICKET-1/spec.json
├── Update ticket.json status to "done"
└── Ready for next ticket

Post-Completion Artifact Preservation

After completing a ticket with speclet-loop, preserve artifacts:

# Move refined draft (keeps ticket-draft.md as original context)
mv .speclet/draft.md .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/draft.md

# Move spec
mv .speclet/spec.json .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/spec.json

# Update ticket status
# Edit .speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/ticket.json: "status": "done"

Final structure for completed ticket:

.speclet/tickets/TICKET-1/
├── ticket.json        ← Metadata (status: done)
├── ticket-draft.md    ← Original context (from speclet-ticket)
├── draft.md           ← Refined draft (from speclet-draft for TICKET-1)
└── spec.json          ← Implementation spec (from speclet-spec)

Rules

• One friction = one ticket — Maximum atomicity
• specletVersion required — All tickets must have "specletVersion": "1.0"
• ticket-draft.md in each folder — Copy of general draft for context
• Delete root draft after tickets — Clean state for next workflow
• Dependencies are declarative — Field exists but no automated blocking
• Preliminary criteria only — Real criteria come from speclet-draft
• Status tracking — Update index.json when ticket status changes
• sourceContext = original source — Point to real origin, not speclet artifacts

Output

• Ticket folders: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/
• Ticket metadata: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket.json
• Ticket context: .speclet/tickets/TICKET-N/ticket-draft.md
• Central index: .speclet/tickets/index.json
• Root draft: DELETED (only after all tickets verified)

When complete:

"Tickets created in .speclet/tickets/. Root draft deleted. Start new session and use: speclet-draft for TICKET-1"