Agent skill · product strategy · mattpocock
to-tickets
Break a plan, spec, or the current conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges, published to the configured tracker (edges as text in one file per ticket locally, or native blocking links on a real tracker).
Why this skill is useful
Adds a structured process for breaking down work into tickets with defined dependencies, which the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 207,363 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
To Tickets Break a plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tickets: tracer-bullet vertical slices, each declaring the tickets that block it. The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you. If not, tell the user to run /setup-matt-pocock-skills. Process 1. Gather context Work from whatever is already in the conversation context. If the user passes a reference (a spec path, an issue number or URL) as an argument, fetch it and read its full body and comments. 2. Explore the codebase (optional) If you have not already explored the codebase, do so to understand the current state of the code. Ticket titles and descriptions should use the project's domain glossary vocabulary, and respect ADRs in the area you're touching. Look for opportunities to prefactor the code to make the implementation easier. "Make the change easy, then make the easy change." 3. Draft vertical slices Break the work into tracer bullet tickets. <vertical-slice-rules> Each slice cuts a narrow but COMPLETE path through every layer (schema, API, UI, tests): vertical, NOT a horizontal slice of one layer A completed slice is demoable or verifiable on its own Each slice is sized to fit in a single fresh context window Any prefactoring should be done first </vertical-slice-rules> Give each ticket its blocking edges: the other tickets that must complete before it can start. A ticket with no blockers can start immediately. Wide refactors are the exception to vertical slicing. A wide refactor is one mechanical change (rename a column, retype a shared symbol) whose blast radius fans across the whole codebase, so a single edit breaks thousands of call sites at once and no vertical slice can land green. Don't force it into a tracer bullet; sequence it as expand–contract. First expand: add the new form beside the old so nothing breaks. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills mattpocock/to-tickets