codexkit-backlog-refiner

A framework for turning rough product backlog items into clear user stories with acceptance criteria, estimates, and dependency notes. A backlog is the list of work a product team may do.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to refine backlog items, split large features into smaller stories, write Given/When/Then acceptance criteria, estimate story points, and flag dependencies.
Why use it?
It exposes vague, oversized, or blocked work before sprint planning, while leaving prioritization to the Product Owner.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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/hoavdc/codexkit/codexkit-backlog-refiner
Any agent
npx skills add hoavdc/CodexKit --skill codexkit-backlog-refiner
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hoavdc/CodexKit

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 68 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 932 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 $0.00068 $0.00932
Opus 5 $0.00034 $0.00466
Sonnet 5 $0.00014 $0.00186
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00093

Measured 2d ago against content hash d04b01ebcf7d, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

codexkit-backlog-refiner 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 2d 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/codexkit-backlog-refiner/SKILL.md · 101 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 101 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Backlog Refiner

Purpose

Transform raw backlog items into sprint-ready User Stories that meet INVEST criteria, with clear Acceptance Criteria and reliable estimates.

When to use

  • mid-sprint refinement sessions (preparing items for the next sprint)
  • when backlog items are vague, oversized, or lack acceptance criteria
  • when the team needs help decomposing epics into estimable stories
  • when onboarding a new Product Owner who needs story-writing structure

When not to use

  • prioritizing backlog order (Product Owner responsibility)
  • strategic roadmap discussions or feature discovery
  • items already refined and ready for sprint planning

Inputs

  • raw backlog items (titles, rough descriptions, business context)
  • product goal or current product increment theme
  • team's story point calibration reference (what does 1 point mean?)
  • known technical constraints or dependencies
  • Definition of Done for the product

Procedure

  1. Review each item against INVEST checklist:
    • I — Independent: not blocked by other stories
    • N — Negotiable: details can be discussed with PO
    • V — Valuable: delivers clear value to user or business
    • E — Estimable: team can estimate the effort
    • S — Small: completable within one sprint
    • T — Testable: has verifiable acceptance criteria
  2. Write User Story using 3C template:
    • Card: "As a [persona], I want [action] so that [benefit]"
    • Conversation: context, questions for clarification
    • Confirmation: Acceptance Criteria in Given/When/Then
  3. Estimate effort using Planning Poker reference scale:
    • 1 pt ≈ 4h | 2 pt ≈ 1 day | 3 pt ≈ 1.5 days | 5 pt ≈ 3 days
    • 8 pt = needs breakdown | 13+ pt = Epic, must split
  4. Flag items that are too large — recommend split strategies.
  5. Identify dependencies on other teams, services, or external parties.
  6. Document risks or unknowns that could block the story.

Output

  • refined User Stories with INVEST checklist scores
  • Acceptance Criteria (3–5 per story, Given/When/Then format)
  • Story Point estimates with rationale
  • split recommendations for oversized items
  • dependency and risk flags

Read the full file on GitHub · 101 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

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. 2d ago First seen · 101 lines · 68 tokens per session scan A d04b01ebcf7d

Subscribe to this mod's changes

codexkit-backlog-refiner is a skill published in the GitHub repository hoavdc/CodexKit (21 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 68 tokens to every session and 932 once invoked, about $0.0003 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.