Planning mode / Specs for development workflow

[poborin]

Feature Request: Planning Mode / Specs for Development Workflow

Summary

Add a planning mode or specs feature to Zed that allows developers to create structured, atomic, trackable tasks for development projects. This would integrate a systematic planning workflow directly into the editor, similar to features being adopted by other major AI-powered code editors.

Background

Currently, I manually create plan markdown files with atomic trackable tasks and implement them one by one. This workflow significantly improves my development organization and progress tracking, but having it integrated into Zed would streamline the process and provide better tooling support.

Reference Implementations in Other Editors

Several major AI-powered code editors have already implemented similar planning/specs features:

Windsurf Planning Mode

Link: https://docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/planning-mode

• Native interface for long-term AI collaboration with persistent planning files
• Generates local markdown files that AI refers back to throughout the project
• AI seeks approval before implementing steps and updates plans automatically
• Plans stored locally in ~/.codeium/windsurf/brain directory (not version controlled)
• Specialized planning agent iterates on long-term plans while selected model takes short-term actions

Amazon Kiro Specs

Link: https://kiro.dev/docs/specs/index

• Three-phase workflow: Requirements → Design → Implementation
• Structured artifacts that formalize development process for complex features
• Break down requirements into user stories with acceptance criteria
• Build design docs with sequence diagrams and architecture plans
• Track implementation progress across discrete tasks
• Designed for collaboration between product and engineering teams

Cursor Planning Agent

Link: https://docs.cursor.com/agent/planning

• AI agent automatically creates structured to-do lists for complex tasks
• Tasks can have dependencies on other tasks
• Real-time updates as work progresses with automatic completion marking
• To-dos visible in chat interface and Slack integration
• Message queuing system allows follow-up instructions while agent works
• Tasks broken down with clear visibility and progress tracking

Proposed Feature

A planning mode/specs system that would allow developers to:

1. Create structured development plans with atomic, trackable tasks
2. Break down complex features into manageable components
3. Track progress on individual tasks within the editor
4. Integrate with AI assistance for task generation and refinement
5. Link tasks to code changes for better traceability
6. Export/import plans in standard formats (markdown, etc.)

Benefits

• Improved development workflow - systematic approach to feature development
• Better project organization - clear breakdown of work items
• Enhanced collaboration - shared understanding of project scope and progress
• AI integration opportunities - leverage AI for task generation and suggestions
• Competitive positioning - align with industry trends in AI-powered development tools

Use Cases

• Planning new features before implementation
• Breaking down complex refactoring tasks
• Project management for solo developers
• Team collaboration on development roadmaps
• Documentation of development decisions and progress

Implementation Considerations

• Integration with existing Zed panels and workflow
• File format compatibility (markdown, JSON, etc.)
• AI assistant integration for plan generation
• Task status tracking and visualization
• Git integration for linking tasks to commits

This feature would significantly enhance Zed's value proposition as a modern development environment and align it with the planning capabilities being adopted across the industry.

[codepilotsf]

Yes, please!!!

[tinuva]

As an interim work-around, there is a spec based mcp server project: https://github.com/Pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp

Currently testing it inside zed and it works quite good so far actually. Just waiting to generate one last document before moving on testing the tasks. The spec so far, for me seems better than what I got in Kiro. What is nice about the mcp approach, it is re-usable between different tools that supports mcp servers.

[sclaren]

Hi. Can you tell me how you can use it in zed? I configured it as manual MCP Server and after confirming the setting the mcp server is started and used by zed.

When i reopen zed, i get a timeout when the context server tries to start.

{
{
/// The name of your MCP server
"spec-workflow": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pimzino/spec-workflow-mcp@latest", ".", "--AutoStartDashboard"]
}
}
}

I have to go to the context server setting, click edit and confirm without any change to get it to work.

Thanks!

[nanne-rl]

On top a planning mode, I would love to have the ability to easily comment on the plan. Especially by having an inline comment mode.

[quantizor]

This, and being able to easily submit follow-up comments. At the moment with Claude Code you have to do Opt-Cmd-Z to keep planning before you can submit a revision instruction to the plan which is confusing because the prompt box is left interactive. It looks like you can submit a prompt but then nothing happens and your prompt disappears.

[alexec]

Reading up on this, planning mode is actually at least two sequential chat conversations as planning costs a lot of tokens.

1. Writing a plan
2. Implementing the plan

My take is that Zed is a great editor for humans, as it is crazy fast, unlike these jittery slow VsCode forks. Not having to wait 300ms for a UI update is what makes it fast. It seems that Zed's AI story is to delegate the work to agents via ACP.

[alexec]

Copilot.

# install it
npm install -g @github/copilot

Follow these instructions to add Copilot as an ACP: https://zed.dev/docs/ai/external-agents#add-more-agents

The command you need is copilot --acp.

Now you have planning.

[saleh-mir]

This would be a great addition. Cursor's planning mode is the only reason I cannot switch from it to any other tool.

[plagasul]

I also would love this, I am actually using Antigravity and the implementation plan process described in the link is a deal maker for me, including dropping comments on the plan and let the agent review and update it. I understand that Zed is for humans, and agentic support, but planning is an integral part of making the agent do its job as you want it imo. Would love to see this happening (I prefer Zed to AG). Are there other feature requests that are similar to this, to group them? this one's kind of old!

https://antigravity.google/docs/implementation-plan i