Output Meta Pre Flight

Requirements Gathering Strategy

Smart Defaults Application

When information is not explicitly provided, apply these defaults:

• Retry Policies: 3 attempts with exponential backoff (1s initial, 10s max)
• OpenAI Models: Use gpt-5 unless specified otherwise
• Error Handling: ApplicationFailure patterns with appropriate error types
• Performance: Optimize for clarity and maintainability over raw speed
• Timeouts: 30 seconds for activities, 5 minutes for workflows

Critical Information Requirements

Only stop to ask for clarification on:

• Ambiguous input/output structures that cannot be inferred from context
• Specific API keys or services not commonly used in the project
• Non-standard error handling or recovery requirements
• Complex orchestration patterns requiring specific sequencing
• External dependencies not already in the project

Template Processing Rules

• Use exact templates as provided in each step
• Replace all template variables with actual values:
  • `` - The workflow being planned
  • `` - Root project directory path
  • `` - User-provided requirements
  • `` - Current date in YYYY-MM-DD format
  • `` - Current Output SDK version

Quality Gates

Before proceeding past pre-flight:

1. Confirm all required context is available
2. Verify understanding of the workflow's purpose
3. Check for existing similar workflows to use as patterns
4. Ensure Output SDK conventions are understood
5. Validate that necessary subagents are available

Plan Creation Rules

• All complex tasks should be tracked in a workflow plan file
• These files should be created at .outputai/plans directory.
• If .outputai/plans directory does not exist, create it.
• Ensure the plan folder is named with the date, then the workflow name, then the task name. e.g. 2025_12_16_simple_sum_workflow_creation_plan/PLAN.md
• Track the implementation progress of any plan in a TASK file in the plan folder. e.g. 2025_12_16_simple_sum_workflow_creation_plan/TASK.md
• Use markdown todo list to track the progress of the plan. e.g