---
title: OpenPlanr overview
description: What OpenPlanr is, how its plan, design, build, review, and operate loop works, and where to start in Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor.
url: https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started
updated: 2026-10-06
related:
  - https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/install.md
  - https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/agent-setup.md
  - https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/first-spec.md
---

# OpenPlanr overview

OpenPlanr is the shared delivery loop for product teams and their AI agents. You plan, design, build, review, and operate from durable context in your repository, with 25+ skills for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, plus the deterministic `openplanr` CLI.

## What it is

- **Skills, not a second model.** Every skill runs inside the coding agent you already use. Skills and the openplanr CLI add no model calls or telemetry; the optional design engine calls OpenAI only when you select its OpenAI provider and supply your own key.
- **Plans are files.** Specifications, user stories, tasks, and provenance live under `.planr/` in your repository, reviewed and versioned like code. See [Plans are files](https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/plans-are-files.md).
- **A deterministic CLI.** `openplanr` stores and validates planning files, renders diagrams and reports, installs the skills into each agent, diagnoses installations, and syncs with GitHub Issues and Linear.
- **Open source under MIT.** One repository, published as 3 npm packages: `openplanr` (the CLI and host packages), `planr-pipeline` (the delivery pipeline), and `@openplanr/protocol` (schemas and registries).

OpenPlanr is not a hosted project tracker and does not replace your issue tracker. It closes the loop: your agent reads the plan before it changes code, and what it ships flows back as evidence for the next review.

## How it works

Reasoning stays in your agent. The CLI never calls a model; it validates what the agent wrote, renders it, and keeps trackers in step.

Every step is a skill your agent selects from its description, or one you invoke by name:

| Stage | What you get | Guide |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Plan | A spec with measurable acceptance criteria, then user stories and tasks with exact file scope | [Plan a feature](https://openplanr.dev/docs/guides/plan.md) |
| Design | One design direction in a review studio, and a design spec that Plan reads | [Design before you build](https://openplanr.dev/docs/guides/design.md) |
| Build | One task at a time, verified and small enough to review as one pull request | [Build one task at a time](https://openplanr.dev/docs/guides/build.md) |
| Review | A plan review before building, browser QA after it, and a readiness check before merge | [Review before it lands](https://openplanr.dev/docs/guides/review.md) |
| Operate | Delivery status from the plan, and leadership reviews that end in decisions | [Track delivery and run operating reviews](https://openplanr.dev/docs/guides/operate.md) |

Plan and ship stay separate steps that you invoke. The agent never chains them on its own.

## Start here

1. [Install and set up OpenPlanr](https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/install.md): the CLI, the skills for your agent, and the planning folder in your project. To let your agent do it for you, see [Set up from your agent](https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/agent-setup.md).
2. [Write your first spec](https://openplanr.dev/docs/get-started/first-spec.md).
3. Read the page for your agent: [Claude Code](https://openplanr.dev/docs/hosts/claude-code.md), [Codex](https://openplanr.dev/docs/hosts/codex.md), or [Cursor](https://openplanr.dev/docs/hosts/cursor.md).
4. Copy a prompt from the [prompt library](https://openplanr.dev/docs/prompts.md), starting with the ones marked Start here.