# Specgate

> Use when the working repository is SpecGate-governed, or when the user mentions SpecGate, the specgate CLI, or a SpecGate artifact, gate, Context Pack, work reference, or delivery state.

- Skill: `thanhtung2693/specgate` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add thanhtung2693/specgate`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/thanhtung2693/specgate/raw
- Safety review: WARNING
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: thanhtung2693 (https://skillmd.com/u/thanhtung2693)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/thanhtung2693/specgate

---


# Using SpecGate

## Bootstrap-only install

Use only when a root-only skills.sh install lacks `specgate-project-setup`.
Check `command -v specgate` (PowerShell: `Get-Command specgate`). If absent,
explain skills.sh installs instructions only. On macOS, Linux, or WSL2, show
this and await approval:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thanhtung2693/specgate/main/scripts/install-cli.sh | sh
```

Native Windows: use `https://github.com/thanhtung2693/specgate/releases/latest`;
never invent PowerShell. Record `specgate --version`.

Trust only a `thanhtung2693/specgate` lock for
`plugins/skills/specgate/SKILL.md` in project `skills-lock.json` or global
`~/.agents/.skill-lock.json`. Show matching removal and await approval:

```bash
npx skills remove specgate -y
npx skills remove specgate -g -y
```

Never edit skills.sh files or locks. Ask IDE and scope, then preview, install,
and verify:

```bash
specgate plugins install --agent <codex|claude|cursor> [--project-local] --dry-run --no-input
specgate plugins install --agent <codex|claude|cursor> [--project-local] --no-input
specgate plugins doctor --agent <codex|claude|cursor> [--project-local] --json
```

On native plugin ownership, stop; never uninstall or disable it without
separate approval. Require IDE restart before `specgate-project-setup`.

## Route one phase

For lifecycle work, choose exactly one phase before acting:

- `specgate-project-setup` — configure project or plugins.
- `specgate-work-preparation` — request/spec to approved work.
- `specgate-work-delivery` — implement, resume, review, or rework approved work.

For a read-only work or lifecycle-status question with a work reference, start
with the authoritative read:

```bash
specgate change status "$WORK_REF" --json
```

Without a work reference, discover it once:

```bash
specgate work list --phase ready --json
```

Choose one `next_actor=implementing_agent` row. Ready may await a human.
None or several: ask the human.

For other concept or troubleshooting questions, use the smallest relevant CLI
read. Do not force a phase or mutate records.

Before the first mode-dependent operation, run `specgate doctor --json`. Read
`data.mode`; never infer the mode from Docker, URLs, or browser availability.
Report an unsuccessful doctor result instead of guessing.
Reuse that mode in this session until configuration, workspace, or repository
changes, or a command reports a mode/setup error.

## Operating contract

- The `specgate` CLI is the only product-state read and write surface. Never inspect
  or edit SpecGate SQLite, Postgres, object storage, deployment volumes, or
  `.specgate/local` directly. Repository source reads remain allowed.
- Drafts and repository reads stay ephemeral until a CLI write persists them.
- The originating authoring framework owns durable source documents: their
  paths, names, lifecycle, and Git policy. SpecGate snapshots them in place. It
  does not move, copy, rename, delete, commit, or change ignore rules for them.
- A readiness pass is not human approval. Approval, acceptance, and requested
  changes remain human decisions. Run a decision command only after the human
  explicitly chooses and authorizes that exact decision; never infer one.
- An approved Context Pack outranks chat history, tracker prose, and stale
  repository documentation. Never silently expand its scope.
- Follow exact IDs and versions; `artifact coverage <artifact-id>` is exact-version evidence.
- Follow `change status.data` (or Local `work resume.data.status`) fields
  `next_actor` and `next_command`. When the next actor
  is human, stop and hand off that command verbatim.
- Local mode has no UI URL and never calls `specgate open`. In Full mode, use
  only the URL returned by `specgate open ... --print --json`; never construct
  one.

For command syntax, run `specgate <command> --help` rather than reconstructing
flags from memory.