planning-with-files MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

Automatic creation of task_plan.md, findings.md, progress.md at start of complex work
PreToolUse hook nudges Claude to re-read the plan before major decisions
Persistent failure log so the agent stops repeating the same mistakes
Recovers prior session state when context fills up or resumes
Won 3/3 blind A/B comparisons vs an unskilled baseline

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

planning-with-files-skill.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "planning-with-files-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
        "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "planning-with-files-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
        "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "planning-with-files-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
        "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "planning-with-files-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
        "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "planning-with-files-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
        "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "planning-with-files-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files",
          "~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add planning-with-files-skill -- git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use planning-with-files

Run a multi-day refactor without losing the thread

👤 Engineers doing migrations or large refactors with Claude Code ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: You're breaking apart a monolith, migrating a framework, or doing anything that takes more than one session.

Prerequisites

Skill cloned to ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files — git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files

Flow

Kick off the work with the skill explicitly

We're migrating the auth module from JWT to session cookies. Use the planning-with-files skill to map this out before you start.✓ Copied

→ Claude writes task_plan.md with phases before touching code
Let Claude run; pause and resume across days

Pick up where we left off — read progress.md and continue.✓ Copied

→ Claude re-reads the plan and knows exactly which phase is next
Review findings.md for surprises

Summarize findings.md — anything that changed the original plan?✓ Copied

→ List of discoveries that would otherwise be lost

Outcome: A refactor that survives context resets with an audit trail you can actually review.

Pitfalls

Skill invoked for trivial one-line edits, adding overhead — Tell Claude 'skip planning-with-files, this is a one-shot fix'

Combine with: filesystem · git

Conduct a research investigation with a durable findings doc

👤 Anyone using Claude for multi-source research ⏱ ~45 min beginner

When to use: You'll be asking Claude to gather information from many sources and synthesize.

Flow

Start with a research question

Research how modern rate-limiters handle burst traffic. Use planning-with-files — I want findings.md to build up over the session.✓ Copied

→ Claude writes findings.md incrementally as it searches
Ask for a synthesis at the end

Now synthesize findings.md into a 1-page brief.✓ Copied

→ Brief grounded in the durable notes, not hallucinated

Outcome: A findings doc you can re-use and a brief backed by it.

Pitfalls

findings.md balloons with noise — Instruct Claude to trim to signal-only at phase boundaries

Combine with: firecrawl · fetch

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

planning-with-files-skill + filesystem

Skill writes the markdown files; filesystem MCP lets Claude also edit code in the same session

Use planning-with-files to plan, then apply the fixes to the repo via filesystem.✓ Copied

planning-with-files-skill + git

Commit progress.md and findings.md at phase boundaries so you have a durable trail across machines

End of phase — commit the 3 planning files with a message summarizing what's done.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
create_plan	task description	Beginning of any task with 3+ steps	0 — local file write
log_finding	discovery text	Each time research turns up something worth remembering	0
update_progress	step completed	After each significant tool call or phase	0
resume_session	none	Start of any follow-up session in same working directory	0

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: None
Tokens per call: Modest — the 3 files consume tokens on re-reads, usually under 2k each
Monetary: Free — skill is pure prompts and hook scripts
Tip: Let Claude trim progress.md periodically so it doesn't grow unbounded across long projects.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: No credentials — skill is pure prompts and local file operations

Data egress: None — all state stays on your disk in the working directory

The 3 files are written to your working directory — add them to .gitignore if you don't want them committed.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Claude ignores the skill and doesn't create task_plan.md

Reference it by name in your prompt: 'use the planning-with-files skill'. Confirm the clone landed in ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files.

Verify: ls ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/SKILL.md

Hooks not firing between tool calls

Check SKILL.md's frontmatter is intact; reinstall if the clone was partial.

Verify: head ~/.claude/skills/planning-with-files/SKILL.md

The 3 files get committed to git accidentally

Add task_plan.md, findings.md, progress.md to .gitignore.

Verify: git check-ignore task_plan.md

Alternatives

planning-with-files vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
skillforge	You want a skill to create other skills, not just planning	Different goal — skillforge builds skills; planning-with-files runs tasks
Native TodoWrite tool	Lightweight in-context todos are enough and you don't need cross-session persistence	Free but evaporates when context resets

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

🔍 Browse all 400+ MCP servers and Skills