Openspec Workflow

OpenSpec Workflow

Ship spec-driven apps with OpenSpec for specification and Fabro for implementation.

Architecture

Why this split: OpenSpec defines what to build. Fabro orchestrates how to build it — with dual-model planning, automated verification loops, and retry-on-failure. You bridge the two by creating specs and configuring the Fabro run.

When to Use This Skill

Use OpenSpec when the change affects what the product does:

• New features or capabilities
• Refactors that change behavior
• Breaking changes or migrations
• Anything that modifies or creates specs

Skip OpenSpec, just ship a PR when the change is supplementary:

• Examples, tutorials, sample projects
• Typo fixes, README updates, comment tweaks
• CI/CD config (GitHub Actions, linting)
• Dependency bumps

Prerequisites

• openspec CLI installed (npm install -g @fission-ai/openspec)
• fabro CLI installed
• gh CLI authenticated with repo access
• Git repo with openspec/ directory initialized

Convention: App Directory Structure

Each app lives in its own directory under apps/ and shares its name with the OpenSpec change:

apps/
└── <name>/              # Same name as openspec/changes/<name>
    ├── openspec/        # App's own openspec (copied from parent or initialized)
    ├── fabro/           # App's own fabro workflow
    ├── src/             # Generated source code
    ├── package.json     # (or pyproject.toml, etc.)
    └── ...

The <name> is always kebab-case and must match between openspec/changes/<name> and apps/<name>.

Quick Start

1. openspec new change "<name>"
2. For each artifact: draft → review loop → write
3. Set up app directory and run fabro
4. Commit, push, open PR

Workflow

Step 0. Set up the app directory

# Create the app directory (name matches the OpenSpec change)
NAME="<name>"
mkdir -p ../apps/$NAME
cd ../apps/$NAME

# Initialize git repo
git init

# Initialize openspec in the app
openspec init --tools claude --force

# Copy OpenSpec and Fabro skills into the skills Directory
cp -r ../../fabro-repo/skills/fabro-create-workflow .claude/skills
cp -r ../../openclaw-skills/skills/bobbyradford/openspec-workflow .claude/skills

Step 1: Create the Change

openspec new change "<kebab-case-name>"
openspec status --change "<name>"

Step 2: Artifact Loop

For each artifact in order (typically: proposal → design → specs → tasks):

openspec instructions <artifact-id> --change "<name>"

Read the template and dependencies. Draft the artifact content.

Then decide: review or skip?

• Skip review if the artifact is genuinely trivial (one-liner, obvious config, mechanical rename). Log: Skipped review — trivial: <reason>.
• Send to review for anything with real design decisions, trade-offs, or ambiguity.

Spawn reviewers as subagents with the repo path so they can explore the codebase independently — read files, grep for patterns, verify "no code changes" claims. Don't just paste the artifact; give them the tools to challenge it. See references/review-loop.md for the full protocol and prompt template.

After writing the artifact, confirm progress:

openspec status --change "<name>"

Continue to the next artifact until all 4 are complete (proposal, design, specs, tasks).

Step 3: Implement via Fabro

Once all OpenSpec artifacts are complete, set up the app directory and run Fabro to build it.

# Copy the openspec change artifacts into the app's openspec
cp -r ../../openspec/changes/$NAME openspec/changes/
cp -r ../../openspec/specs/* openspec/specs/ 2>/dev/null || true

3b. Set up the Fabro workflow

# Copy the generic-build workflow into the app
cp -r ../../fabro/workflows/generic-build fabro/workflows/generic-build

# Create a run config for this app
cat > fabro/workflows/generic-build/runs/$NAME.toml << 'EOF'
version = 1
graph = "../workflow.fabro"

[vars]
app_dir = "."
spec_dir = "openspec"
workflow_dir = ".workflow"
EOF

3c. Validate and run

# Validate the workflow parses correctly
fabro validate fabro/workflows/generic-build/runs/$NAME.toml

# Preflight check (dry run)
fabro run fabro/workflows/generic-build/runs/$NAME.toml --preflight

# Run the full build pipeline with auto-approve
fabro run fabro/workflows/generic-build/runs/$NAME.toml --auto-approve

Fabro will:

1. Bootstrap — verify toolchain (bun/tsc/python/etc.)
2. Plan — two models independently create implementation plans, then synthesize
3. Implement — write all code per the OpenSpec specs
4. Review — code review against specs
5. Verify — install deps → lint → test → typecheck → build → structure check (with retry loops)
6. Format — auto-format code
7. Polish — final UI/UX pass

For trivial changes (pure doc edits, one-line fixes), you may implement directly instead of running Fabro. Log: Implemented directly — trivial: <reason>.

Step 4: Ship

Before committing, verify the change name matches the actual directory:

# Get the exact change directory name
CHANGE=$(ls openspec/changes/ | grep -v archive | head -1)
echo "Change name: $CHANGE"

Use this exact name everywhere — commit message AND PR body:

git add -A
git commit -m "<type>(scope): <description> (#<issue>)

OpenSpec change: $CHANGE"
git push origin <branch>
gh pr create --repo <owner/repo> --base main --head <branch> \
  --title "<type>: <description>" \
  --body "Closes #<issue>

OpenSpec change: $CHANGE"

Critical: The OpenSpec change: <name> in the PR body must exactly match the directory name under openspec/changes/. The auto-archive GitHub Action uses this to locate the change. A mismatch means the archive silently skips. Always verify with ls openspec/changes/ before writing the PR body.

Step 5: Address PR Review Comments

After opening the PR, code review agents may leave comments. Monitor and respond:

# Check for review comments
gh pr view <number> --repo <owner/repo> --json reviews,comments
gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<number>/comments

For each review comment:

1. Evaluate — Is it significant? Does it catch a real bug, missing edge case, or design issue?
2. If significant: Fix it in the worktree, commit, push. The PR updates automatically.

   # Fix, then:
   git add -A && git commit -m "fix: address review — <what changed>"
   git push origin <branch>
   

3. If not significant: Reply inline with your justification.

   gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<number>/comments/<comment-id>/replies \
     -f body="<your justification>"
   

Apply the same judgment rules as the artifact review loop: accept valid concerns, reject with reasoning, partially accept where appropriate. Don't blindly apply every suggestion — you're the decision-maker.

Step 6: Document & Report

Post the workflow log to the GitHub issue:

gh issue comment <number> --repo <owner/repo> --body '<workflow log>'

Include: each artifact's draft, review challenges, revisions, skip decisions with reasoning, and final implementation notes.

Always end by linking the user to the issue and PR:

• Issue: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/issues/<number>
• PR: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/pull/<number>

Artifact Guidelines

proposal.md

• Why (1-2 sentences), What Changes (bullet list), Capabilities (new + modified specs), Impact
• List every spec that will be created or modified in Capabilities — this drives the specs artifact

design.md

• Context, Goals / Non-Goals, Decisions (with alternatives considered), Risks / Trade-offs
• Skip for trivial changes (pure doc fixes, one-line config changes)

specs/<capability>/spec.md

• Delta format: ## ADDED Requirements, ## MODIFIED Requirements, ## REMOVED Requirements
• Every requirement needs ### Requirement: <name> + at least one #### Scenario:
• MODIFIED must include the full updated requirement text (not just the diff)
• Use existing spec names from openspec/specs/ for modified capabilities

tasks.md

• Numbered groups with checkboxes: - [ ] 1.1 Task description
• Small enough to complete in one session
• Ordered by dependency

GitHub Action: Auto-Archive on Merge

For repos that want automatic spec sync and archiving, add this workflow. See references/archive-action.md for the complete GitHub Action YAML.

The action:

1. Triggers on PR merge
2. Extracts change name from OpenSpec change: <name> in PR body
3. Runs openspec archive --yes on a new branch
4. Opens a PR with the archive and spec sync changes
5. Deletes the original merged branch