Planning with Files

Work like Manus — the AI agent company Meta just acquired for $2 billion.

A Claude Code skill that transforms your workflow to use persistent markdown files for planning, progress tracking, and knowledge storage — the exact pattern that made Manus worth billions.

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Why This Skill?

On December 29, 2025, Meta acquired Manus for $2 billion. In just 8 months, Manus went from launch to $100M+ revenue. Their secret? Context engineering.

This skill implements Manus's core workflow pattern:

"Markdown is my 'working memory' on disk. Since I process information iteratively and my active context has limits, Markdown files serve as scratch pads for notes, checkpoints for progress, building blocks for final deliverables." — Manus AI

The Problem

Claude Code (and most AI agents) suffer from:

• Volatile memory — TodoWrite tool disappears on context reset
• Goal drift — After 50+ tool calls, original goals get forgotten
• Hidden errors — Failures aren't tracked, so the same mistakes repeat
• Context stuffing — Everything crammed into context instead of stored

The Solution: 3-File Pattern

For every complex task, create THREE files:

task_plan.md      → Track phases and progress
notes.md          → Store research and findings
[deliverable].md  → Final output

The Loop

1. Create task_plan.md with goal and phases
2. Research → save to notes.md → update task_plan.md
3. Read notes.md → create deliverable → update task_plan.md
4. Deliver final output

Key insight: By reading task_plan.md before each decision, goals stay in the attention window. This is how Manus handles ~50 tool calls without losing track.

Installation

Option 1: Clone directly (Recommended)

# Navigate to your Claude Code skills directory
cd ~/.claude/skills  # or your custom skills path

# Clone this skill
git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git

Option 2: Manual installation

1. Download or copy the planning-with-files folder
2. Place it in your Claude Code skills directory:
   • macOS/Linux: ~/.claude/skills/
   • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\

Verify Installation

In Claude Code, the skill will automatically activate when you:

• Start complex tasks
• Mention "planning", "organize", or "track progress"
• Ask for structured work

Usage

Once installed, Claude will automatically:

1. Create task_plan.md before starting complex tasks
2. Update progress with checkboxes after each phase
3. Store findings in notes.md instead of stuffing context
4. Log errors for future reference
5. Re-read plan before major decisions

Example

You: "Research the benefits of TypeScript and write a summary"

Claude creates:

# Task Plan: TypeScript Benefits Research

## Goal
Create a research summary on TypeScript benefits.

## Phases
- [x] Phase 1: Create plan ✓
- [ ] Phase 2: Research and gather sources (CURRENT)
- [ ] Phase 3: Synthesize findings
- [ ] Phase 4: Deliver summary

## Status
**Currently in Phase 2** - Searching for sources

Then continues through each phase, updating the file as it goes.

The Manus Principles

This skill implements these key context engineering principles:

Principle	Implementation
Filesystem as memory	Store in files, not context
Attention manipulation	Re-read plan before decisions
Error persistence	Log failures in plan file
Goal tracking	Checkboxes show progress
Append-only context	Never modify history

File Structure

planning-with-files/
├── SKILL.md        # Core instructions (what Claude reads)
├── reference.md    # Manus principles deep dive
├── examples.md     # Real usage examples
└── README.md       # This file

When to Use

Use this pattern for:

• Multi-step tasks (3+ steps)
• Research tasks
• Building/creating projects
• Tasks spanning many tool calls
• Anything requiring organization

Skip for:

• Simple questions
• Single-file edits
• Quick lookups

Acknowledgments

• Manus AI — For pioneering context engineering patterns that made this possible
• Anthropic — For Claude Code and the Agent Skills framework
• Based on Context Engineering for AI Agents

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License — feel free to use, modify, and distribute.

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Author: Ahmad Othman Ammar Adi