# User Story

Create user stories with Mike Cohn format and Gherkin acceptance criteria.

- Repository: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills (7825 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-16
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill user-story -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill user-story -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill user-story -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill user-story -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills`

## Description

Create user stories with Mike Cohn format and Gherkin acceptance criteria. Use when turning user needs into development-ready work with clear outcomes and testable conditions.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

## Purpose
Create clear, concise user stories that combine Mike Cohn's user story format with Gherkin-style acceptance criteria. Use this to translate user needs into actionable development work that focuses on outcomes, ensures shared understanding between product and engineering, and provides testable success criteria.

This is not a feature spec, it's a conversation starter that captures *who* benefits, *what* they're trying to do, *why* it matters, and *how* you'll know it works.

## Input

**Works best with:** The feature or user need the story captures.
**Also useful:** The user role, the outcome they want, and edge cases the acceptance criteria must cover.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself, text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line, counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

**Arriving empty-handed? That works too.** The skill asks who the user is and what they're trying to accomplish before drafting story and Gherkin criteria.

**Example invocation:** `Write user stories for password reset via SMS for our banking app, include the lockout edge case.`

## Key Concepts

### The Mike Cohn + Gherkin Format
A user story combines:

**Use Case (Mike Cohn format):**
- **As a** [user persona/role]
- **I want to** [action to achieve outcome]
- **so that** [desired outcome]

**Acceptance Criteria (Gherkin format):**
- **Scenario:** [Brief description of the scenario]
- **Given:** [Initial context or preconditions]
- **and Given:** [Additional preconditions]
- **When:** [Event that triggers the action]
- **Then:** [Expected outcome]

The rest: https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills/blob/HEAD/skills/user-story/SKILL.md