description: Create story mapping showing all stories within the epic, their dependencies, and parallelization opportunities.

The user input to you can be provided directly by the agent or as a command argument - you MUST consider it before proceeding with the prompt (if not empty).

User input:

$ARGUMENTS

Create a comprehensive story breakdown that maps all user stories within the epic, showing dependencies, parallelization opportunities, and suggested implementation order. This is NOT about concrete development tasks - it's about story organization and sequencing.

•
Load epic implementation context:
- •Epic specification (epic.md)
- •Technical specification (epic-tech-spec.md) - required (includes embedded research)
- •Epic codebase scan (epic-codebase-scan.md) - if exists, for brownfield code analysis
- •Project constraints from PRD
- •If tech spec missing: ERROR "Run /epic-plan first"
Brownfield Adaptation: If epic-codebase-scan.md exists, use it to identify existing code that needs refactoring or enhancement as part of story breakdown.

Note: Research is now embedded in epic-tech-spec.md - no separate research.md file to load.
•
Story extraction and analysis:
- •Extract all user stories from epic.md
- •Map to technical implementation from tech spec
- •Identify story dependencies
- •Determine parallelization opportunities
•
Story breakdown approach:

User Stories
- •Extract all user stories from epic.md
- •Map to technical approach from tech spec
- •Include acceptance criteria
- •Identify dependencies between stories
Technical Stories
- •Infrastructure setup stories
- •Integration stories
- •Migration stories
- •Configuration stories
Quality Stories
- •Testing stories
- •Documentation stories
- •Performance validation stories
- •Security review stories
•
Generate epic breakdown:

CRITICAL: Load and follow the template exactly:
code
```
.speck/templates/epic/breakdown-template.md
```
Write output to: [EPIC_DIR]/epic-breakdown.md
•
Create story directories with parallel spec drafting:

Subagent Parallelization - Spawn speck-scribe for each story spec:
code
```
├── [Parallel] speck-scribe: Draft S001 spec-draft.md from epic-tech-spec.md
├── [Parallel] speck-scribe: Draft S002 spec-draft.md from epic-tech-spec.md
├── [Parallel] speck-scribe: Draft S003 spec-draft.md from epic-tech-spec.md
└── [Wait] → Create all story directories with drafted specs
```
Each speck-scribe receives:
- •Story requirements from epic-breakdown.md
- •Technical context from epic-tech-spec.md
- •Template from .speck/templates/story/story-template.md
- •Dependencies from epic-breakdown.md (for YAML frontmatter)
Speedup: Nx (where N = number of stories)

IMPORTANT: Drafts are saved as spec-draft.md (NOT spec.md). This ensures the orchestrator won't treat them as fully specified stories. The /story-specify command will upgrade spec-draft.md → spec.md.

CRITICAL: Include dependencies in YAML frontmatter:
yaml
```
---
depends_on: [S004]  # From "Depends on" in epic-breakdown.md
blocks: [S006]      # From Inter-Story Dependencies table
---
```
The orchestrator reads depends_on from spec-draft.md/spec.md to determine which stories are blocked. This is the primary source of dependency truth.

Create story directories:
code
```
[EPIC_DIR]/
└── stories/
    ├── S001-technical-setup/
    │   └── spec-draft.md (with depends_on: [] in frontmatter)
    ├── S005-story-name/
    │   └── spec-draft.md (with depends_on: [S004] in frontmatter)
    └── .../
```
•
Save as [EPIC_DIR]/epic-breakdown.md

•

Output summary:

code

✅ Epic Story Breakdown Complete!

Epic: [Name]
Total Stories: [X]

Phase Breakdown:
- Phase 1: [Y] stories (setup)
- Phase 2: [Z] stories (core)
- Phase 3: [A] stories (integration)  
- Phase 4: [B] stories (quality)

Parallel Opportunities: [Count]
Critical Path Length: [Duration]

Story Directories Created: [Count]
Draft Specs Created: [Count] (as spec-draft.md)

Next Steps:
1. Review story breakdown with team
2. Run /story-specify on Phase 1 stories to upgrade drafts to full specs
3. Stories marked [P] can be specified/implemented in parallel
4. Or run /epic-analyze for validation first

Note: Draft specs (spec-draft.md) need /story-specify to become
proper specs (spec.md) before the orchestrator will process them.

Note: This breakdown organizes stories for planning and coordination. Each story will generate its own concrete implementation tasks via /story-tasks. Draft specs provide a starting point but require /story-specify to validate and refine them.