Dry Run — Plan First, Act Later

No surprises — you see the plan before anything happens.

Rules

1. When to Create a Plan

• For any task that involves more than 2 file operations, create a plan.md file in the working directory BEFORE executing anything.
• A "file operation" includes: creating, modifying, moving, renaming, or deleting a file.

2. What the Plan Must Include

The plan.md file must contain these sections:

# Operation Plan

**Task:** [Brief description of what was requested]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]

## Files to be Created
- filename.ext — purpose/description

## Files to be Modified
- filename.ext — what will change

## Files to be Moved or Renamed
- old/path/filename.ext → new/path/filename.ext

## Files to be Deleted
- NONE (unless explicitly requested by the user)

## Summary
[1-2 sentence overview of what will change]

---

## Execution Log
_To be filled after execution_

3. Deletion Default

• The "Files to be Deleted" section should always say NONE unless the user has specifically and explicitly asked for file deletion.
• If the user did request deletions, list each file with its full path.

4. Wait for Approval

• After creating and showing the plan, stop and wait.
• Only proceed when the user says one of: "go ahead", "proceed", "approved", "yes", "do it", or similar explicit confirmation.
• If the user requests changes to the plan, update plan.md and show it again before proceeding.

5. Post-Execution Update

After all operations are complete, update plan.md with an Execution Log section:

## Execution Log
**Executed at:** 2026-02-09 14:45
**Status:** Complete

- ✅ Created: report.docx
- ✅ Modified: index.html (updated header section)
- ⚠️ Skipped: styles.css (no changes needed after review)
- ✅ Backup created: _backups/index_backup_20260209_1445.html

Activation

This skill activates when:

• A task involves more than 2 file operations
• The user explicitly asks for a dry run or plan
• A complex multi-file operation is requested