diff --git a/.claude/skills/sprint-plan/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/sprint-plan/SKILL.md
index ec0618a48..dd7cd060d 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/sprint-plan/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/sprint-plan/SKILL.md
@@ -47,10 +47,40 @@ project state. Only generate briefings for teams that have tickets in the sprint
 | `audio` | `audio` | Inigo (sound design) | Soundscapes, ambient layers, diegetic cues, audio propagation |
 | `visual` | `visual` | Araminta (art direction) | Art assets, sprites, visual consistency, style guides |
 | `ci` | `ci` | Justine (build/deploy) | Build pipelines, CI/CD, tooling, packaging |
+| `planning` | `planning` | Purpose-assembled (see below) | Design discussions, decision resolution, workshop-style tickets |
 
 When writing briefings, name the assigned agents in the **Agents** line of each
 file so the team knows who to spawn.
 
+### Planning Team Tickets
+
+Some tickets need **design discussion** before implementation can begin — tagged
+"NEEDS DESIGN DISCUSSION" or blocking multiple downstream tickets with open
+questions. These run on the `planning` branch as structured discussions with
+the user and a purpose-assembled agent panel.
+
+**When to create a planning ticket:**
+- Ticket description says "NEEDS DESIGN" or "NEEDS DESIGN DISCUSSION"
+- Ticket blocks 2+ downstream tickets across different teams
+- Open Q-NNN items that block sprint candidates
+- Architectural decisions that need multi-domain input before implementation
+
+**Planning briefing format** (differs from implementation briefings):
+- **Agents line**: List agents by domain relevance, not fixed team roster.
+  Pick from: Gestalt (systems), Miri (worldbuilding), Araminta (visual/spatial),
+  Tyre (technical), Paula (narrative), Ozzie (player experience), Gore (themes),
+  Nigel (replayability). Typically 4-6 domain agents, plus Qatux (documenter —
+  records decisions, updates domain files) and SI (project manager — creates
+  follow-up tickets, updates sprint assignments).
+- **Discussion rounds**: Structure the conversation into 2-3 rounds
+  (inventory → proposals → convergence)
+- **Context section**: List all existing design docs, decisions, and related
+  tickets that participants must read before the discussion
+- **Output specification**: What the discussion must produce — typically a
+  D-record in `decisions/`, possibly a design doc in `docs/design/`
+- **Decision questions**: Specific questions the discussion must answer,
+  not open-ended exploration
+
 ## Workflow
 
 ### 1. Run sprint prepare