build-unplanned

build-unplanned is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from etr/groundwork. It costs 30 tokens per session (2,147 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A workflow for building a software feature from a description when no task plan exists. It uses worktree isolation and TDD, meaning tests are written to guide the implementation.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to build ad-hoc features such as user login, including task planning, implementation, and checking that the result works.
Why use it?
It gives an unplanned feature a repeatable path from planning through coding and validation while keeping changes isolated.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Part of the groundwork plugin — 41 skills, 4 hooks shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/etr/groundwork/build-unplanned
Any agent
npx skills add etr/groundwork --skill build-unplanned
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/etr/groundwork

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install groundwork, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 41 skills, 4 hooks.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for build-unplanned

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/etr/groundwork/build-unplanned.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/etr/groundwork/build-unplanned)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/etr/groundwork/build-unplanned"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/etr/groundwork/build-unplanned.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 30 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,147 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00030 $0.02147
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.01073
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00429
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00215

Measured 3d ago against content hash 26ddc3985142, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

build-unplanned scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/build-unplanned/SKILL.md · 239 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 239 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Build Unplanned Feature

Thin orchestrator for ad-hoc feature development without existing task definitions. Delegates to plan-task (blurb mode), implement-task, and validate.

Token Discipline

This skill orchestrates long multi-agent workflows. Every turn re-reads the full context window, so unnecessary turns are expensive.

  1. No narration turns. Do not output text-only turns like "Let me understand your feature" or "Now I'll dispatch implementation." Combine text with a tool call in the same turn, or skip the text entirely.
  2. Batch tool calls. When multiple tool calls are independent, issue them all in one turn.
  3. No waiting updates. Do not output "Waiting for results..." turns. Wait silently until results arrive.
  4. Keep context lean. Do not read file contents you won't use directly. Pass file paths to subagents and let them read in their own context windows.

Pre-flight: Model Recommendation

Your current effort level is {{effort_level}}.

Skip this step silently if effort is high, xhigh, or max (the scale is low < medium < high < xhigh < max, so xhigh and max are already above high) AND you are Sonnet or Opus. If effort is low or medium (i.e. below high), you MUST show the recommendation prompt — regardless of model. If you are not Sonnet or Opus, you MUST show the recommendation prompt — regardless of effort level.

Otherwise → use AskUserQuestion:

{
  "questions": [{
    "question": "Feature development benefits from consistent multi-domain reasoning.\n\nRecommended: Sonnet or Opus at high effort.\n\nTo switch: cancel, run `/effort high` (and `/model sonnet` if on Haiku), then re-invoke.",
    "header": "Effort check",
    "options": [
      { "label": "Continue anyway" },
      { "label": "Cancel — I'll switch first" }
    ],
    "multiSelect": false
  }]
}

If the user selects "Cancel — I'll switch first": output the switching commands and stop. Do not proceed with the skill.

Read the full file on GitHub · 239 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 239 lines · 30 tokens per session scan A 26ddc3985142

Subscribe to this mod's changes

build-unplanned is a skill published in the GitHub repository etr/groundwork (42 stars, last pushed 22d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 30 tokens to every session and 2,147 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.