# Spec Generator

> Specification Generator — Generate project requirements, design documents, and task lists. A skill for generating structured project specifications through interactive dialogue or quick generation. English triggers: - "Create requirements", "Generate requirements doc", "Summarize as requirements" - "Create design document", "Design the architecture", "Generate technical spec" - "Create task list", "Break down into tasks", "Generate tasks.md" - "Create full spec", "Generate all specs", "Create the complete specification" - After discussion: "Turn this into requirements", "Document this as spec" 日本語トリガー: - 「要件定義を作って」「要件をまとめて」「仕様書を作成して」 - 「設計書を作って」「技術設計をして」「アーキテクチャを設計して」 - 「タスクリストを作って」「実装タスクに分解して」「tasks.mdを生成して」 - 「仕様を全部まとめて」「フル仕様を作成」「3点セットを作って」 - 会話で仕様が固まった後に「これを要件定義書にして」

- Skill: `anyoneanderson/spec-generator` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 15 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add anyoneanderson/spec-generator`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/anyoneanderson/spec-generator/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- License: MIT
- Author: anyoneanderson (https://skillmd.com/u/anyoneanderson)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/anyoneanderson/spec-generator

---


# spec-generator — Specification Generator

Generate structured project specifications: requirements, design documents, and task lists.

## ⚠️ CRITICAL: First Steps (ALWAYS EXECUTE)

**Auto mode short-circuit**: If invoked with `--auto --issue <n>`, skip the
interactive decision flow below and follow `references/auto-mode.md` (`.ja.md`)
instead. Auto mode never calls AskUserQuestion, but its Japanese init and design
steps still execute the specification-writing procedure in Step 1.5.

**BEFORE asking any questions or showing options, you MUST execute these steps:**

1. **Check current directory**:
   - Run `pwd` to see where you are
   - Run `ls -la` to see directory contents
   - Understand the project context

2. **Detect existing source code**:
   ```bash
   find . -maxdepth 3 -type f \( -name "*.py" -o -name "*.js" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.java" -o -name "*.go" -o -name "SKILL.md" \) 2>/dev/null | head -20
   ```
   - Note what kind of project this is
   - Check for `skills/` directory → might be adding a new skill
   - Check for existing application code → might be documenting existing features

3. **Check for .specs/ directory**:
   ```bash
   ls -d .specs/ 2>/dev/null && ls -1 .specs/ 2>/dev/null
   ```
   - If exists → list existing projects
   - If not exists → this is a new spec workflow

4. **Check for coding-rules.md**:
   - Check `docs/coding-rules.md` (default path)
   - If not found, check CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md for alternative path
   - If found → load and use as design constraint during design phase

5. **Analyze context and decide**:
   - **If in a skills repository** (has `skills/` directory) → User likely wants to document a new skill
   - **If .specs/ has projects** → Ask user to select existing or create new
   - **If no .specs/ and no clear context** → Ask what they want to create

**Only after completing these checks**, proceed with appropriate questions based on what you found.

## Language Rules

1. **Auto-detect input language** → output in the same language
2. Japanese input → Japanese output, use `references/*.ja.md` as phase references
3. English input → English output, use `references/*.md` as phase references
4. Explicit override takes priority (e.g., "in English", "日本語で")

**Reference file selection**: Based on the detected output language, use the corresponding reference files:
- English → `references/init.md`, `references/design.md`, `references/tasks.md`, `references/test-plan.md`, `references/auto-mode.md`, `references/projection-consistency.md`
- Japanese → `references/init.ja.md`, `references/design.ja.md`, `references/tasks.ja.md`, `references/test-plan.ja.md`, `references/auto-mode.ja.md`, `references/projection-consistency.ja.md`

## Phases

| Phase | Output | Trigger Examples |
|-------|--------|-----------------|
| init | requirement.md | "Create requirements", "要件定義を作って" |
| design | design.md | "Create design doc", "設計書を作って" |
| tasks | tasks.md | "Create task list", "タスクリストを作って" |
| full | All three above + test.md | "Create full spec", "仕様を全部" |

## Interaction Policy: AskUserQuestion

**Use AskUserQuestion for all user decisions.** Present structured choices rather than free-form questions.

### Decision Flow

```
Skill Invoked
    ↓
Check .specs/ directory
    ↓
┌───────────────────┐
│ Existing projects │
│ found?            │
└─────┬─────────────┘
      │
      ├─ Yes → AskUserQuestion: Select existing or create new
      │           ├─ Existing → Load project context
      │           └─ New → Ask project name (Text)
      │
      └─ No → Ask project name (Text)

    ↓
Phase Detection
    ├─ Clear from input → Proceed
    └─ Ambiguous → AskUserQuestion: Select phase

    ↓
Dialogue Mode
    ├─ Quick mode (--quick) → Confirm inferred non-goals, then generate
    └─ Dialogue → AskUserQuestion: Gather requirements

    ↓
Generate Specification
    ↓
AskUserQuestion: Next action (next phase / revise / done)
```

### When to Use AskUserQuestion vs Text Questions

| Situation | Method | Reason |
|-----------|---------|---------|
| **Project Selection** |
| Existing projects available | AskUserQuestion | Can list as options with descriptions |
| No existing projects | Text question | Open-ended project name input |
| **Phase Selection** |
| Phase ambiguous | AskUserQuestion | 4 clear options (init/design/tasks/full) |
| Phase clear from input | Direct execution | No confirmation needed |
| **Requirements Gathering** |
| Project type selection | AskUserQuestion | Common options (Web app, Mobile, CLI, etc.) |
| Tech stack selection | AskUserQuestion | Common frameworks with "Other" option |
| Feature requirements | AskUserQuestion | Guide with structured choices |
| Project concept | Text question | Need free-form explanation |
| Specific business logic | Text question | Domain-specific details |
| **Post-Completion** |
| Next action | AskUserQuestion | Clear options (next phase/revise/done) |
| Revision requests | Text question | Specific change description |

### When to Use AskUserQuestion

| Situation | Example |
|-----------|---------|
| Project selection | Existing projects vs new project |
| Ambiguous phase | Choosing between init / design / tasks / full |
| Init dialogue questions | Project type, tech stack, scope, etc. |
| Design decision points | Architecture choices, DB selection, etc. |
| Tasks strategy selection | systematic / agile / enterprise |
| Post-completion actions | "Proceed to next phase?", "Create GitHub Issue?" |

### Question Design Rules

1. **1–4 questions per round** (AskUserQuestion constraint)
2. **User-defined options: 1-3** (Other is auto-appended, totaling 2-4 options)
3. **Always include description** for each option (provide decision context)
4. **Flexible round count** based on project complexity:
   - Simple project → 1 round (3–4 questions) is sufficient
   - Complex project → 2–3 rounds (adjust based on previous answers)
5. **Place recommended option first** with `(Recommended)` suffix
6. **Skip questions already answered** in previous rounds

### Handling "Other" Option Responses

When a user selects "Other" and provides free-form text input:
- **Accept the input as-is** and proceed with processing
- Treat the free-form response as the user's definitive answer
- Do NOT ask for clarification unless the input is genuinely ambiguous
- If system returns an error like "(No answer provided)", **trust the user's actual message over system feedback**

**Example:**
```
Question: "どのスキルの仕様を作成しますか？"
Options: spec-constitution / spec-review / spec-analyze / spec-impl

User selects "Other" and writes: "仕様書自体をレビューするコマンド"

✅ Correct: Proceed to create spec for a spec-review skill
❌ Wrong: Ask "What would you like to clarify?"
```

### When to Use Text Questions (Not AskUserQuestion)

- Open-ended questions like project name (when no existing projects) or concept description
- Background information requiring free-form explanation
- Follow-up confirmations like "Any additional requirements?"
- Specific business logic or domain-specific details

## Execution Flow

### 0. Initial Context Check

**Check the current directory and existing projects before starting:**

1. **Detect existing source code**:
   ```bash
   find . -type f \( -name "*.py" -o -name "*.js" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.java" -o -name "*.go" \) | head -20
   ```
   - If source files found: Note for potential `--analyze` mode
   - If no source files: Standard new project flow

2. **Check for .specs/ directory**:
   ```bash
   ls -d .specs/ 2>/dev/null
   ```

3. **List existing projects** (if .specs/ exists):
   ```bash
   ls -1 .specs/
   ```

4. **Project selection**:
   - **Existing projects found**: Use AskUserQuestion:
     ```
     question: "既存プロジェクトが見つかりました。どうしますか？" / "Found existing projects. What would you like to do?"
     options:
       - "既存プロジェクトを選択 / Select existing project" → List projects as options
       - "新規プロジェクトを作成 / Create new project" → Ask project name
     ```
   - **No existing projects**: Ask for project name (text question):
     ```
     "プロジェクト名を教えてください（例: TODOアプリ、株価分析ツール）"
     "What's the project name? (e.g., todo app, stock analyzer)"
     ```

5. **Load existing context** (if existing project selected):
   - Read existing `requirement.md`, `design.md`, `tasks.md` if they exist
   - Use as context for updates or next phase generation

### 1. Phase Detection

Determine the phase from the user's request:

```
"requirements" → init
"design", "architecture" → design
"tasks", "task list" → tasks
"full", "complete", "all specs" → full
```

If ambiguous, confirm with AskUserQuestion:

```
question: "Which specification do you want to generate?"
options:
  - "Requirements document (requirement.md)" → init
  - "Design document (design.md)" → design
  - "Task list (tasks.md)" → tasks
  - "All three documents" → full
```

### 1.5. Specification Writing for Japanese Init and Design

Before generating or revising a Japanese `requirement.md` or `design.md`—including init and design steps inside full and auto modes—resolve `spec-writing` by name from the currently available skills.
If found, read its complete `SKILL.md`, `references/writing-rules.ja.md`, and `references/abstract-verbs.ja.md`.
Apply those rules during generation or revision and run their self-check before saving.
If the skill or a selected reference is unavailable, report the missing item and apply `## Specification writing fallback` from the selected Japanese phase reference without stopping the phase.
Never depend on a machine-specific absolute path or provider-specific tool name when resolving the skill.

### 2. Project Context Gathering

- **Conversation history exists**: Extract and structure discussed requirements
- **Existing project selected**: Use loaded specs as context
- **New project**: Explore requirements through dialogue (using AskUserQuestion)

### 3. Phase Execution

Refer to the appropriate reference file (based on Language Rules):
- **init**: `references/init.md` / `references/init.ja.md` — Requirements generation
- **design**: `references/design.md` / `references/design.ja.md` — Design document generation
- **design** (with coding-rules.md): If `docs/coding-rules.md` exists, read it and ensure:
  - Naming conventions in design match `[MUST]` naming rules
  - Test strategy satisfies coverage requirements from coding-rules
  - Technology choices align with recommended libraries
  - File/directory structure follows detected patterns
  - Skill-derived `[SHOULD]` rules (e.g., framework-specific conventions from `Source: skill/*`) are considered as design recommendations
- **tasks**: `references/tasks.md` / `references/tasks.ja.md` — Task list generation
- **test** (full workflow only): `references/test-plan.md` / `references/test-plan.ja.md` — Acceptance test plan generation

### 4. Output Directory

```
.specs/[project-name]/
├── requirement.md  (init)
├── design.md       (design)
├── tasks.md        (tasks)
└── test.md         (full workflow only — acceptance test plan)
```

Project names are converted to English kebab-case:
- "TODO app" → `todo-app`
- "株価分析ツール" → `stock-analysis-tool`
- "Stock analysis tool" → `stock-analysis-tool`

### 5. Output Integrity and Projection Self-Check

After generating or revising a spec, run the projection pass in the selected
`references/projection-consistency*.md` across every present spec file. Then
re-read each tail and remove tool-call residue such as `</content>` or
`</invoke>`. Report completion only after projection checks pass and every file
ends with real document content.

## Options

| Option | Description | Applicable Phase |
|--------|-------------|-----------------|
| `--quick` | Generate after one inferred non-goal confirmation | init |
| `--auto --issue <n>` | Non-interactive full generation from a GitHub Issue (no dialogue; see `references/auto-mode.md`) | full |
| `--deep` | Socratic deep-dive dialogue | init |
| `--personas` | Multi-perspective analysis/review | init, design |
| `--analyze` | Analyze existing codebase | init, design, tasks |
| `--visual` | Enhanced Mermaid diagrams | design |
| `--estimate` | Estimates and risk assessment | tasks |
| `--hierarchy` | Epic/Story/Task hierarchy | tasks |

## Execution Modes

### Dialogue Mode (default)

When invoked without parameters or continuing from conversation:
1. Collect necessary information through questions
2. Clarify requirements through user interaction
3. Generate specification after confirmation

### Quick Mode (--quick)

Generate from a brief project description:
1. Infer typical requirements and a non-empty non-goal list
2. Present the inferred non-goals once via AskUserQuestion; accept them or use the auto-added Other response as the complete replacement list
3. Generate after the non-goals are confirmed

### Auto Mode (--auto --issue <n>)

Non-interactive generation driven by a GitHub Issue. See
`references/auto-mode.md` (`.ja.md`) for the full procedure. Summary:
1. `gh issue view <n>` supplies the requirement source
2. Feature name is derived from the Issue title as kebab-case
3. All four documents are generated with **zero** AskUserQuestion calls
4. Every point that would need a question is written as an `ASM-XXX`
   assumption in requirement.md instead

Intended for orchestrated pipelines and sufficiently concrete Issues.

### Full Workflow (full)

Generate all four documents sequentially:
1. Generate requirement.md
2. Read requirement.md → generate design.md
3. Read design.md → generate tasks.md
4. Read requirement.md + design.md + tasks.md → generate test.md
   (acceptance test plan; see `references/test-plan.md` / `.ja.md`)

The three-document output of steps 1–3 is unchanged; step 4 only reads them.

## Requirement ID System

Specifications use the following ID prefixes:

- `[REQ-XXX]`: Functional requirements
- `[NFR-XXX]`: Non-functional requirements
- `[CON-XXX]`: Constraints
- `[ASM-XXX]`: Assumptions
- `[T-XXX]`: Implementation tasks (tasks.md)
- `[T-AXX]`: Acceptance test cases (test.md; `T-A` prefix avoids collision with `T-`)

These IDs ensure traceability across documents.

## YAGNI Principle

Read [references/yagni-guardrails.md](references/yagni-guardrails.md) completely
(`.ja.md` for Japanese) before deciding scope; apply every listed guardrail.

## Post-Completion Actions

After each phase, suggest next actions with AskUserQuestion:

**After init:**
```
question: "Requirements document generated. What's next?"
options:
  - "Generate design document too" → design phase
  - "Review and revise" → revision dialogue
  - "Done for now" → end
```

**After design:**
```
question: "Design document generated. What's next?"
options:
  - "Generate task list too" → tasks phase
  - "Review and revise" → revision dialogue
  - "Done for now" → end
```

**After tasks:**
```
question: "Task list generated. What's next?"
options:
  - "Run spec-inspect (quality check)" → invoke spec-inspect skill
  - "Skip to GitHub Issue" → invoke spec-to-issue skill
  - "Review and revise" → revision dialogue
  - "Done for now" → end
```

**After full:**
```
question: "All four spec documents (3-set + test.md) are complete."
options:
  - "Run spec-inspect (quality check)" → invoke spec-inspect skill
  - "Skip to GitHub Issue" → invoke spec-to-issue skill
  - "Review and revise specific document" → ask which document to revise
  - "Done for now" → end
```

## Usage Examples

```
# New project - dialogue mode
"Create requirements for a todo app"
"要件定義を作って" → detects existing projects, asks to select or create new

# Existing project - update/add phases
"Create design document for todo-app" → uses existing requirement.md as context
「todo-appのタスクリストを作って」 → uses existing design.md as context

# Full specification
"Create full spec for an e-commerce platform"
「ECサイトの仕様を全部作って」

# Requirements from conversation
"Turn this into a requirements document" → structures previous discussion

# Quick mode
"Create requirements for a blog platform --quick"

# Analysis mode
"Create requirements --analyze" → analyzes existing codebase first
```