Specification Authoring

Use this skill to create or update durable specifications. Requirements define observable behavior. System designs define the technical path that satisfies requirements.

The canonical rules are in docs/specs/guide/. Read these files before you write an artifact:

• Always read structure-and-ownership.md.
• Read requirements.md for requirement work.
• Read system-design.md for system-design work.
• Read traceability-and-lifecycle.md for IDs, statuses, references, or migration work.

Use the templates in docs/specs/templates/.

Artifact routing

Route the request before you write:

Do not create a generic spec.md file.

When routing to docs/specs/product/, read docs/specs/product/README.md before editing. Treat its Product document index as the local index: read every linked product document and any co-located INDEX.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or other instruction file when present. Product files provide cross-system context, not feature requirements; preserve proposed and open-question language instead of promoting it to an active contract without confirmation.

Workflow

1. Locate the owning system

Read docs/specs/README.md and the likely system README.md. If the system has not migrated, run this command to locate the legacy source:

python3 scripts/list-docs.py specs --kind legacy --format paths

Search the catalog, requirements, and designs for the capability name and its main nouns:

python3 scripts/list-docs.py specs --text <capability-term> --format paths

Update an existing capability when it owns the same actor, lifecycle, and contract.

Choose the system that owns the source of truth and durable contract. Do not choose an owner from the code directories that change. Record one sentence in the working notes that states why the selected system owns the capability.

User visibility does not make a capability UI-owned. Keep provider state, task state, permissions, persistence, and recovery with their owning systems. Put desktop, mobile, accessibility, and visible failure outcomes in that owner's requirement. Create a UI requirement only for an independent and reusable presentation contract.

The same system owns the requirement and its design. Other systems link to that source. They do not copy it or claim its requirement IDs in design frontmatter.

If no system owns the behavior, define the new system boundary before you write requirements. A new system needs a README.md based on the system template.

2. Confirm intent

Run the /interview-me assumption check, reusing answers from earlier phases. Resolve material choices before writing the affected contract. Preserve settled terminology and decision rationale in the owning artifacts through that skill. Do not hide an unresolved choice in a draft.

3. Write requirements

Create or update:

docs/specs/<system>/requirements/<capability>.md

Each requirement document must contain:

• Valid frontmatter.
• One or more stable REQ-* IDs.
• At least one AC-* acceptance criterion for each requirement.
• Observable behavior and explicit exclusions.

Use user stories only when they clarify a natural actor and outcome. Do not put files, functions, database queries, or implementation sequences in a requirement.

Keep one cohesive vertical outcome together. Do not create separate backend and UI requirements for the same feature. Split only when actors, lifecycles, or contracts are independent.

4. Write system design

Create or update this file when the change needs a technical design:

docs/specs/<system>/system-design/<capability>.md

The design must list the applicable REQ-* IDs in frontmatter. It can use an explicit empty list for internal infrastructure with no independent product requirement.

Describe stable components, models, contracts, flow, failure behavior, persistence, security, and observability when they apply. Link to global ADRs. Do not copy requirement or ADR text.

Cover all runtime boundaries that implement the owned outcome. A provider-owned design can include backend services, storage, projections, frontend components, responsive behavior, and tests. Do not create a parallel UI design for those same requirements.

5. Update the system boundary

Update the system README.md only when the system boundary, migration record, or related-system links change. State the system boundary and link adjacent systems when ownership can be confused. Do not add a requirement or system-design list.

Before and after adding required links, run wc -c <system>/README.md. Near the 12 KiB system-index limit, keep every required link but use concise labels or other non-semantic compression; never add a size exception. Rerun the specification linter after the index update. Also search the README for count or list summaries, update them when the authoritative pair count changes, and verify that each stated count matches the indexed requirement/design pairs.

During migration, name the new source as authoritative. Replace the old source with a link or archive it. Do not leave two editable sources of truth.

If a migration branch merges or rebases a moving base, re-inventory the migration root after the update. Review files newly added by the base, migrate them or explicitly record them as unmigrated additions before marking the migration complete, then rerun the full specification lint.

6. Validate

Review the artifacts before you run the linter:

• One system owns each requirement and its design.
• No adjacent system contains a copied requirement or UI-only duplicate.
• Requirements contain observable behavior, not storage, control flow, or file details.
• Every acceptance criterion states a testable behavior. No criterion delegates its meaning to migrated source detail.
• Selection, restoration, and recovery criteria state candidate eligibility, invalid or ambiguous fallback behavior, and forbidden side effects.
• Designs map requirement IDs without copying requirement text.
• Each design identifier that names existing code matches the current source. Use rg to confirm exact symbols before the artifact is complete.
• New files do not copy the legacy Migrated source detail wrapper.
• New artifacts appear in the catalog command output for the owning system.
• Before adding prose to an existing specification, check its current byte count against the applicable limit in structure-and-ownership.md; keep enough headroom for the edit or split the document at a contract boundary.

Run:

python3 scripts/list-docs.py validate
python3 scripts/lint-spec-files.test.py
python3 scripts/lint-spec-files.py --all
git diff --check -- docs/specs docs/decisions

If a file reaches its size limit, split it by capability, lifecycle, or contract boundary. Do not add a size exception for a new document.

An existing legacy_size_exceptions value is a frozen ratchet. When a legacy file grows, reduce or split the content and lower the exception to the resulting exact byte size; never raise the ceiling merely to silence lint.

Design-package behavior

When this skill runs inside /spec-driven-development or /fix, continue to the system design, plan, and work orders. Stop after requirements only when the user explicitly requests a requirements review or a material question blocks safe design.

For a standalone specification request, report the changed paths, requirement IDs, design references, validation results, and open questions. Then return control to the user.