Paths: File paths (shared/, references/, ../ln-*) are relative to skills repo root. If not found at CWD, locate this SKILL.md directory and go up one level for repo root.

Inputs

Resolution: Per shared/references/input_resolution_pattern.md — Story Resolution Chain. Status filter: To Review

Test Planning Orchestrator

Coordinates the complete test planning pipeline for a Story by delegating to specialized workers.

Purpose & Scope

• Orchestrate test planning: research → manual testing → automated test planning
• Delegate to workers: ln-521-test-researcher, ln-522-manual-tester, ln-523-auto-test-planner
• No direct work — only coordination and delegation via Skill tool
• Called by ln-500-story-quality-gate after regression tests pass

When to Use

This skill should be used when:

• Invoked by ln-500-story-quality-gate after quality checks pass
• All implementation tasks in Story are Done
• Need complete test planning (research + manual + auto)

Prerequisites:

• All implementation Tasks in Story status = Done
• Regression tests passed (ln-514)
• Code quality checked (ln-511)

Pipeline Overview

ln-520-test-planner (Orchestrator)
    │
    ├─→ ln-521-test-researcher
    │     └─→ Posts "## Test Research: {Feature}" comment
    │
    ├─→ ln-522-manual-tester
    │     └─→ Creates tests/manual/ scripts + "## Manual Testing Results" comment
    │
    └─→ ln-523-auto-test-planner
          └─→ Creates test task in Linear via ln-301/ln-302

Workflow

Phase 0: Resolve Inputs

MANDATORY READ: Load shared/references/input_resolution_pattern.md

1. Resolve storyId (per input_resolution_pattern.md):
   • IF args provided → use args
   • ELSE IF git branch matches feature/{id}-* → extract id
   • ELSE IF kanban has exactly 1 Story in [To Review] → suggest
   • ELSE → AskUserQuestion: show Stories from kanban filtered by [To Review]

Phase 1: Discovery

1. Auto-discover Team ID from docs/tasks/kanban_board.md
2. Validate Story ID

Phase 2: Research Delegation

1. Check if research exists:

   • Search Linear comments for "## Test Research:" header
   • If found → skip to Phase 3

2. If no research:

   • Use Skill tool to invoke ln-521-test-researcher
   • Pass: Story ID
   • Wait for completion
   • Verify research comment created

Phase 3: Manual Testing Delegation

1. Check if manual testing done:

   • Search Linear comments for "## Manual Testing Results" header
   • If found with all AC passed → skip to Phase 4

2. If manual testing needed:

   • Use Skill tool to invoke ln-522-manual-tester
   • Pass: Story ID
   • Wait for completion
   • Verify results comment created

3. If any AC failed:

   • Stop pipeline
   • Report to ln-500: "Manual testing failed, Story needs fixes"

Phase 4: Auto Test Planning Delegation

1. Invoke auto test planner:

   • Use Skill tool to invoke ln-523-auto-test-planner
   • Pass: Story ID
   • Wait for completion

2. Verify results:

   • Test task created in Linear (or updated if existed)
   • Return task URL to ln-500

Phase 5: Report to Caller

1. Return summary to ln-500:
   • Research: completed / skipped (existed)
   • Manual testing: passed / failed
   • Test task: created / updated + URL

Worker Invocation (MANDATORY)

CRITICAL: All delegations use Task tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose" for context isolation.

Prompt template:

Task(description: "[Phase N] test planning via ln-52X",
     prompt: "Execute ln-52X-{worker}. Read skill from ln-52X-{worker}/SKILL.md. Story: {storyId}",
     subagent_type: "general-purpose")

Anti-Patterns:

• ❌ Direct Skill tool invocation without Task wrapper
• ❌ Running web searches directly (delegate to ln-521)
• ❌ Creating bash test scripts directly (delegate to ln-522)
• ❌ Creating test tasks directly (delegate to ln-523)
• ❌ Skipping any phase without justification

Critical Rules

• No direct work: Orchestrator only delegates, never executes tasks itself
• Sequential execution: 521 → 522 → 523 (each depends on previous)
• Fail-fast: If manual testing fails, stop pipeline and report
• Skip detection: Check for existing comments before invoking workers
• Single responsibility: Each worker does one thing well

Definition of Done

• Story ID validated
• Research phase: ln-521 invoked OR existing comment found
• Manual testing phase: ln-522 invoked OR existing results found
• Auto test planning phase: ln-523 invoked
• Test task created/updated in Linear
• Summary returned to ln-500-story-quality-gate

Output: Summary with phase results + test task URL

Reference Files

• Workers: ../ln-521-test-researcher/SKILL.md, ../ln-522-manual-tester/SKILL.md, ../ln-523-auto-test-planner/SKILL.md
• Caller: ../ln-500-story-quality-gate/SKILL.md
• Risk-based testing: ../shared/references/risk_based_testing_guide.md

Version: 4.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-15