Specture

Specture System

Specture is a spec-driven development system. Durable design records live in SPEC.md files under the specs/ tree. Disposable agent handoffs live in optional PLAN.md files beside or beneath specs.

Use the CLI for deterministic file creation, querying, and validation. Use this skill for workflow decisions and file edits.

Start Here

• Designing or refining a spec: read references/design-workflow.md.
• Splitting an existing spec into parent and child specs: read references/split-workflow.md.
• Implementing a spec: read references/implementation-workflow.md before changing code, and include any relevant PLAN.md as execution context.
• Validating spec or plan edits: read references/validation-workflow.md.
• Bootstrapping or migrating a specs tree: read references/migration-workflow.md.
• Creating or editing a SPEC.md: read references/spec-format.md.
• Creating or editing a PLAN.md: read references/plan-format.md.
• Configuring tracked spec files: read references/specs-gitignore-format.md.

Core Rules

• Use specture list to find specs; do not manually scan the specs tree when the CLI can answer the question.
• Use specture list --assignee "Name" to find specs assigned to a person. Pass comma-separated complete names to query several assignees; matching is case-insensitive.
• Read the relevant SPEC.md before implementation work.
• Before implementing any spec, read references/implementation-workflow.md; do not treat a PLAN.md alone as sufficient workflow guidance.
• During implementation, commit each focused, verified chunk before starting the next chunk.
• Do not batch multiple planned PR chunks into one uncommitted working tree unless the user explicitly asks.
• Keep implementation progress out of SPEC.md; use PLAN.md for execution handoffs and task breakdowns.
• Add only design content the user explicitly discussed or confirmed; do not invent missing goals, requirements, or decisions.
• When the user asks to split an existing spec, established content from that spec may be redistributed into child specs without reconfirmation; follow references/split-workflow.md.
• Never infer child boundaries when splitting a spec; discuss the proposed children with the user and get explicit confirmation before creating them.
• Parent specs contain a simple description, goals, and linked child-spec index; design decisions belong in child specs.
• Do not edit spec design decisions or descriptions without explicit user permission.
• Use plain-language markdown headings; do not number headings.
• Cross-spec mentions must use inline repo-root-relative markdown links to the target SPEC.md.
• Run specture validate after spec migrations or edits to SPEC.md/PLAN.md files.

CLI Quick Reference

specture list
specture list -p 1.4
specture list -p 1.4 -d 1
specture list -d all
specture list --status draft,approved
specture list --assignee "Alice Example"
specture list --assignee "Alice Example,Bob Builder"
specture list -f json
specture validate
specture validate --spec 11
specture new --title "Feature name"
specture new --title "Child feature" --parent 11

• specture list -p/--parent scopes output to a parent spec's children.
• specture list -d/--depth controls recursion depth. The default is all (full tree). Use -d 1 for immediate children only, or -d 0 / -d all for unlimited depth.
• specture list --assignee matches complete assignee names case-insensitively after trimming whitespace; it does not perform partial-name matching. Combine it with --status all when completed assignments must be included.
• Text output shows ASSIGNEE only when at least one displayed spec is assigned. JSON output always includes an assignee string, using "" for unassigned specs.
• specture new --parent creates the next child spec under a parent. It does not have a short -p flag.

When you need to discover Specture behavior or available flags, run specture help or command-specific --help first. Do not fall back to raw shell directory listing such as ls specs/ until the CLI cannot answer the question.