When to Apply This Skill
- A stakeholder or QA team needs a human-readable summary of the testing strategy
- A sprint or feature requires formal test documentation before work begins
- A compliance or audit process requires evidence of test planning
- A developer wants a Markdown test plan committed alongside their test file
Atomic Skills to Load First
Read these files before executing any step:
../unit-test-authoring-test-plans/SKILL.md— Full 10-section test plan structure, BDD/Gherkin scenario format, coverage target tables, entry/exit criteria, approval tables, and output format guidance for both Markdown and.docx../unit-test-analyzing-code-coverage/SKILL.md— Used to populate the Coverage Targets section (Section 6) with accurate current vs target metrics and gap commentary
Execution Steps
Read references/index.md before executing any step.
Step 1 — Gather Inputs
Collect as many of the following as are available:
- Generated test suite (for populating the test cases table in Section 5)
- Coverage report or gap analysis (for Section 6 — Coverage Targets)
- Requirements, user stories, or PRD (for scope, objectives, and BDD scenarios)
- Preferred output format: md (default) or docx
Step 2 — Author the Test Plan
Follow the full 10-section structure from ../unit-test-authoring-test-plans/SKILL.md:
- Cover Page / Header
- Scope (in scope, out of scope, target environments)
- Test Objectives (measurable goals)
- Test Strategy (framework, coverage tool, execution method, BDD flag)
- Test Cases Summary Table (ID, name, category, priority, status)
- Coverage Targets (current vs target per coverage type)
- Dependencies and Risks
- Entry and Exit Criteria
- Defect Management
- Approvals
Include BDD / Gherkin scenarios in Section 4 when requirements or user stories are provided as input.
Step 3 — Format Output
- md format: emit directly as Markdown, ready to commit to the repository
- docx format: apply the docx skill to convert the Markdown into a professionally formatted Word document with heading styles and page numbers
Output Deliverables
test_plan_<feature_or_module>.md <- always produced
test_plan_<feature_or_module>.docx <- produced only when --format docx is requested