How do I install the Generate Spec skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add https-deeplearning-ai/generate-spec in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Generate Spec safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Generate Spec?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Generate Spec free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Generate Spec?

https-deeplearning-ai (@https-deeplearning-ai) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Generate Spec by https-deeplearning-ai

Name: Generate Spec
Author: https-deeplearning-ai

Generate Spec

Produces spec.md for a course in the spec-build-lab by reading the course's materials and writing a build-ready specification. Use this skill ANY time the user asks to generate, write, produce, build, regenerate, create, or run the spec for a course — including phrasings like "generate the spec", "write spec.md", "produce spec.md", "make a spec from this course", "turn the materials into a spec", "build the spec out of materials/", "regenerate spec.md", "run the spec generation", "I've added the notebooks, please create the spec", or "/generate-spec". Reads every file under materials/notebooks/ and materials/transcripts/ and follows references/spec-generation-guide.md. Writes spec.md in the current working directory. Must run from inside a course folder (courses/<name>/). Do NOT use this skill for editing an existing spec.md or for writing product specs unrelated to a course.

File contents

generate-spec

Turn materials/notebooks/ + materials/transcripts/ into a spec.md that another engineer (or coding agent) can implement end-to-end.

Steps

Verify cwd is a course folder. Confirm all of these exist relative to cwd: materials/notebooks/, materials/transcripts/, builds/, evals/. If any are missing, refuse with: "Run /generate-spec from inside a course folder — cd courses/<name> first." Stop.
Read the guide. Read .claude/skills/generate-spec/references/spec-generation-guide.md relative to $CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR (anchor on the repo root, not cwd).

Follow it fully — it is the prescriptive contract for the spec's content, structure, and quality. Do not restate or summarize its rules here; defer to the guide so the two files can't drift.
Read every material. Glob materials/notebooks/**/* and materials/transcripts/**/*, then read each non-empty file. If both directories are empty (only .gitkeep), refuse with: "No materials found. Add notebooks to materials/notebooks/ and transcripts to materials/transcripts/, then re-run — or optionally run /ingest-course-repo to add the course repo's notebooks and helper.py on top." Stop.
Write spec.md. Produce a self-contained build-ready spec at ./spec.md in cwd (overwrite if it exists — this is regeneration, not editing). What the spec must contain and how it handles learner input are governed entirely by the guide — don't duplicate those rules here. The spec should end with a section telling the builder to conclude with an infra/structure diagram and the phrase "This is the infra/structure diagram of this app" — /extract-build-log uses that phrase as its default closing bookend when slicing the conversation. It's a UX hint, not a system requirement (the slice can also be controlled with --until="<phrase>", and falls back to end-of-transcript if no closing match is found).
Report. Tell the user the path written and that they can review, then run /prepare-build when ready.

Don't

Don't write to builds/, evals/, or materials/.
Don't pull in external knowledge to fill gaps in the materials — faithfulness to the course IS what /eval-materials-vs-build measures later.
Don't stop short of the infra-diagram section — it's the default closing bookend /extract-build-log looks for; omitting it forces the log slice to extend to end-of-transcript.

---name: generate-specdescription: Produces spec.md for a course in the spec-build-lab by reading the course's materials and writing a build-ready specification. Use this skill ANY time the user asks to generate, write, produce, build, regenerate, create, or run the spec for a course — including phrasings like "generate the spec", "write spec.md", "produce spec.md", "make a spec from this course", "turn the materials into a spec", "build the spec out of materials/", "regenerate spec.md", "run the spec generation", "I've added the notebooks, please create the spec", or "/generate-spec". Reads every file under materials/notebooks/ and materials/transcripts/ and follows references/spec-generation-guide.md. Writes spec.md in the current working directory. Must run from inside a course folder (courses/<name>/). Do NOT use this skill for editing an existing spec.md or for writing product specs unrelated to a course.---# generate-specTurn `materials/notebooks/` + `materials/transcripts/` into a `spec.md` thatanother engineer (or coding agent) can implement end-to-end.## Steps1. **Verify cwd is a course folder.** Confirm all of these exist relative to cwd: `materials/notebooks/`, `materials/transcripts/`, `builds/`, `evals/`. If any are missing, refuse with: "Run /generate-spec from inside a course folder — `cd courses/<name>` first." Stop.2. **Read the guide.** Read `.claude/skills/generate-spec/references/spec-generation-guide.md` relative to `$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` (anchor on the repo root, not cwd). Follow it fully — it is the prescriptive contract for the spec's content, structure, and quality. Do not restate or summarize its rules here; defer to the guide so the two files can't drift.3. **Read every material.** Glob `materials/notebooks/**/*` and `materials/transcripts/**/*`, then read each non-empty file. If both directories are empty (only `.gitkeep`), refuse with: "No materials found. Add notebooks to materials/notebooks/ and transcripts to materials/transcripts/, then re-run — or optionally run /ingest-course-repo <course-folder-URL> to add the course repo's notebooks and helper.py on top." Stop.4. **Write spec.md.** Produce a self-contained build-ready spec at `./spec.md` in cwd (overwrite if it exists — this is regeneration, not editing). What the spec must contain and how it handles learner input are governed entirely by the guide — don't duplicate those rules here. The spec should end with a section telling the builder to conclude with an infra/structure diagram and the phrase "This is the infra/structure diagram of this app" — `/extract-build-log` uses that phrase as its default closing bookend when slicing the conversation. It's a UX hint, not a system requirement (the slice can also be controlled with `--until="<phrase>"`, and falls back to end-of-transcript if no closing match is found).5. **Report.** Tell the user the path written and that they can review, then run /prepare-build when ready.## Don't- Don't write to `builds/`, `evals/`, or `materials/`.- Don't pull in external knowledge to fill gaps in the materials — faithfulness to the course IS what /eval-materials-vs-build measures later.- Don't stop short of the infra-diagram section — it's the default closing bookend `/extract-build-log` looks for; omitting it forces the log slice to extend to end-of-transcript.

Frequently asked questions