Generate Tracking

Discovery is your call; everything after it is the script's.

Identify the epic files. The gate inventory already surfaced them — typically epics.md, epic-*.md, or a sharded epics/ folder in {planning_artifacts}, but trust content over filename. If both a whole document and a sharded version exist, ask which is current rather than guessing.
Run the script, passing every epic file:
```
uv run {skill-root}/scripts/sprint_plan.py generate \
  --epic-file <path> [--epic-file <path> ...] \
  --status-file {implementation_artifacts}/sprint-status.yaml \
  --stories-dir {implementation_artifacts} \
  --project "{project_name}" --date "{date}"
```
{date} must be MM-DD-YYYY HH:MM — the format the staleness check parses. The script owns parsing (## Epic N: / ### Story N.M: Title → kebab-case keys; fenced code blocks ignored), ordering (epic, its stories, its retrospective), merging with any existing file (preserve advanced statuses, never downgrade; legacy v6 values like drafted/contexted are normalized to their modern meaning, never reset; action_items, custom keys, and user comments carried through; project_key/tracking_system/story_location kept from the existing file unless overridden by flag), story-file detection (a story file on disk floors its status at ready-for-dev), atomic writes, and post-write validation. It prints a JSON report. Add --dry-run to preview — the report's in_sync, new_entries, dropped_orphans, illegal, and legacy_mapped fields answer "is tracking in sync?" without writing.
Read the JSON report and act on it — this is where judgment re-enters:
- warnings about unparsed Epic/Story-like headings mean the epic file deviates from the standard format. Show the user, fix the headings together (or accept the omission), and rerun.
- dropped_orphans are entries that existed in the old status file but match nothing in the epics — usually renames. Each carries its old status; reconcile with the user, then transplant by rerunning with --set <new-key>=<old-status>.
- If the epics defeat the parser entirely (a format the regexes can't see), fall back to building the file yourself against sprint-status-template.yaml, and tell the user the deterministic path didn't apply.

Report

Present the result from the script's JSON in {communication_language}: file path, epic/story counts, status breakdown, anything upgraded from disk. Suggest next steps — review the file, bmad-build to start the first story, rerun this skill anytime to refresh after epics change.