A blacksmith doesn't hand raw iron to a customer. They smelt it, hammer it, temper it — and then they watch, because a blade that isn't maintained will dull.
Plan Forge is a full-lifecycle AI development shop. Raw ideas are smelted through the Crucible into structured plans. Plans are forged into working code through a 7-step hardened pipeline. Shipped code is guarded by LiveGuard — drift, secrets, dependencies, incidents, all watched in real time. And every finding is learned back into the shop's memory, so the next run starts smarter than the last.
Smelt the idea. Forge the code. Guard the build. Learn from every run.
Website · Shop Tour · Manual · Documentation · FAQ · Extensions · Spec Kit Interop
69 MCP Tools · 45+ CLI Commands · 14 Agents · 15 Skills · 9 Presets · 7 Adapters · 3285 Tests · v2.80.0
Plan Forge is one shop with four stations. Each one handles a distinct part of the software lifecycle — and they all share one memory.
| Station | Verb | What happens here | Start with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🪨 Smelt | Smelt the idea | Rough idea → Crucible interview → tempered plan with scope contract and validation gates. | Crucible · Tempering design notes |
| 🔨 Forge | Forge the code | Hardened plan → DAG-scheduled execution → quorum consensus → shipped code. The classic 7-step pipeline. | Your First Plan · AI Plan Hardening Runbook |
| 🛡️ Guard | Guard the build | Shipped code → drift scoring, secret scan, dep watch, regression guard, incident capture, remote alerts. | What is LiveGuard? · LiveGuard Tools |
| 🧠 Learn | Learn from every run | Findings → OpenBrain memory → Health DNA → self-tuned escalation, cost, and quorum thresholds. | Memory Architecture · Bug Registry + Testbed |
And the control room that ties them together: the live dashboard at localhost:3100/dashboard with 25 tabs, session replay, WebSocket event hub, cost reports, OTLP traces, and a remote bridge for Telegram / Slack / Discord / OpenClaw.
| You are... | Start with |
|---|---|
| Evaluating Plan Forge | Read the Shop Tour → Skim capabilities |
| A developer using VS Code + Copilot | Run Quick Start → Read COPILOT-VSCODE-GUIDE.md |
| An AI agent setting up a project | Read AGENT-SETUP.md (your entry point) |
| Already shipping and want the watch layer | Jump to LiveGuard — runs standalone on any codebase |
| Just browsing | Keep reading — or visit planforge.software |
Verified: 38+ phases self-built, 3285 self-tests, 69 MCP tools, zero manual rollbacks. See docs/capabilities.md.
Same app, same model (Claude Opus 4.6), same time (~7 min). Only difference: Run A had Plan Forge.
| Metric | Plan Forge | Vibe Coding |
|---|---|---|
| Tests | 60 | 13 |
| Interfaces | 6 | 0 |
| DTOs | 9 | 0 |
| Quality Score | 99/100 | 44/100 |
The four stations form a closed loop: Smelt intake → Forge builds → Guard watches → Learn captures findings into memory → next Smelt starts smarter. Inside the Forge, a deterministic slice executor runs the plan; a reflective inner loop — retries with reflexion context, trajectory capture, auto-skill promotion, and postmortems — turns every slice into a research step that teaches the next one. Together, the ten opt-in inner-loop subsystems compose into a self-deterministic agent loop that keeps execution reproducible while the loop's context improves each pass.
For architecture diagrams, the 7-step pipeline mermaid, the LiveGuard cycle, and the self-improving feedback loops, see the Shop Tour and the interactive manual.
- VS Code with GitHub Copilot (free, Pro, or Enterprise)
- Git installed
git clone https://github.com/srnichols/plan-forge.git my-project-plans
cd my-project-plans# Windows (PowerShell)
.\setup.ps1 -Preset dotnet # or: typescript, python, java, go, swift, rust, php, azure-iac
# Mac / Linux
./setup.sh --preset dotnetSetup copies all framework files, installs MCP dependencies, and generates config. Zero manual steps.
- Open VS Code → Copilot Chat → Agent Mode
- Describe your feature → the pipeline guides you through 7 steps
- LiveGuard watches automatically after you ship
See docs/CLI-GUIDE.md for all presets, flags, and multi-agent options.
| Preset | Stack | Preset | Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
dotnet |
.NET / C# / ASP.NET Core | swift |
Swift / SwiftUI / Vapor |
typescript |
TypeScript / React / Node | rust |
Rust / Axum / Tokio |
python |
Python / FastAPI / Django | php |
PHP / Laravel / Symfony |
java |
Java / Spring Boot | azure-iac |
Bicep / Terraform / azd |
go |
Go / Chi / Gin |
One setup command, every tool: setup.ps1 -Agent all
GitHub Copilot (primary) · Claude Code · Cursor · Codex CLI · Gemini CLI · Windsurf · Generic
pforge-mcp/server.mjs exposes core, LiveGuard, Watcher, Crucible, Tempering, Bug Registry, Testbed, and Forge-Master operations. Live dashboard at localhost:3100/dashboard. REST API for external integrations.
Key tools: forge_run_plan · forge_liveguard_run · forge_analyze · forge_master_ask · forge_capabilities · forge_smith · forge_cost_report
| Feature | How to Enable | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Quorum mode | Automatic (complexity ≥ 6) | 3 models analyze in parallel, reviewer synthesizes. Works OAuth-only via the Copilot CLI — no API keys required. Add XAI_API_KEY to mix in a Grok leg. Self-tuning threshold. |
| Audit Loop | pforge audit-loop or .forge.json#audit |
Closed-loop drain: content-audit scanner → triage → fix. Default off; opt-in via audit.mode: "auto" or "always". |
| Auto-escalation | Built-in | Model fails → auto-promotes. Chain reorders by success rate. |
| Cost tracking | Built-in | Per-slice tokens, 23-model pricing, --estimate with historical calibration. |
| OpenBrain memory | Configure MCP endpoint | 13 tools auto-capture findings. 4 prompts search before acting. |
| Extensions | pforge ext add <name> |
HIPAA, SaaS multi-tenancy, etc. |
| CI validation | srnichols/plan-forge-validate@v1 |
GitHub Action for plan quality gates. |
| Notifications | Configure in .forge.json |
Slack, Discord, Telegram, webhooks via bridge. |
| Spec Kit bridge | Auto-detected | Import specs + constitution from Spec Kit projects. |
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| docs/COPILOT-VSCODE-GUIDE.md | VS Code + Copilot walkthrough |
| docs/CLI-GUIDE.md | pforge CLI reference |
| docs/capabilities.md | Full feature reference — all 69 tools, 14 agents, 15 skills |
| CUSTOMIZATION.md | Adapt guardrails for your project |
| planforge.software/manual/ | Interactive web manual (24 chapters + 6 appendices) |
| planforge.software/faq.html | FAQ |
| AGENT-SETUP.md | AI agent entry point |
| CONTRIBUTING.md · docs/RELEASE-CHECKLIST.md | Maintainer guide · release & distribution-sync checklist |
git commit -m "<type>(<scope>): <description>" # feat, fix, refactor, test, docs, choreSee .github/instructions/git-workflow.instructions.md for conventions.
See CONTRIBUTING.md. For extensions: extensions/PUBLISHING.md. For skills: docs/SKILL-BLUEPRINT.md.
MIT — use these guardrails in your projects, teams, and tools.