AI-Powered Planning

Let AI Do the Planning

One of Mission Control’s most valuable features is AI-powered planning — the ability to take a high-level task description and automatically expand it into a structured plan of actionable subtasks.

Why Planning Matters

AI coding agents work best on focused, concrete tasks. A vague instruction like “implement user authentication” leaves too much room for interpretation, leading to inconsistent results or missed requirements.

AI planning solves this by acting as an intermediate step: you describe what you want at a high level, and the planner translates that into specific, scoped tasks that agents can execute reliably.

How It Works

When you create a task and click Plan with AI, Mission Control sends your task description to a planning model with a structured prompt. The planner responds with a breakdown that includes:

• A list of concrete subtasks in recommended execution order
• Dependencies between subtasks (which must complete before others can start)
• A brief rationale for each subtask explaining what it accomplishes and why it’s needed
• Estimated complexity indicators to help with agent selection

The planning output appears in the task’s detail view, where you can review and edit it before dispatching.

Writing Good Planning Prompts

The quality of the plan depends heavily on the quality of your input. Good planning prompts:

• State the goal clearly — “Add OAuth 2.0 login with GitHub” is better than “improve login”
• Include relevant context — mention the framework, existing patterns, and any constraints
• Specify the scope — tell the planner what’s in and out of bounds for this work
• Reference prior work — if related tasks have already been completed, mention them so the planner doesn’t duplicate them

Editing the Plan

AI planning is a starting point, not a final answer. After reviewing the generated plan:

• Remove subtasks that aren’t necessary
• Reorder subtasks if the suggested sequence doesn’t fit your workflow
• Add subtasks the planner missed
• Refine subtask descriptions with additional context

Once you’re satisfied with the plan, dispatch each subtask to the appropriate agent — either manually or by queuing them all at once.