Reverse Engineer

Reverse Engineering to SDD Specification Guide

Language: English | 繁體中文

Version: 1.2.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-25 Applicability: Claude Code Skills

Core Standard: This skill implements Reverse Engineering Standards. For comprehensive methodology documentation accessible by any AI tool, refer to the core standard.

Purpose

This skill guides you through reverse engineering existing code into SDD (Spec-Driven Development) specification documents, with strict adherence to Anti-Hallucination standards.

Quick Reference

Reverse Engineering Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Reverse Engineering Workflow                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  1️⃣  Code Analysis (AI Automated)                              │
│      ├─ Scan code structure, APIs, data models                 │
│      ├─ Parse existing tests for acceptance criteria           │
│      └─ Generate draft spec (with uncertainty labels)          │
│                                                                 │
│  2️⃣  Human Input (Required)                                    │
│      ├─ Write Motivation (why this feature exists)             │
│      ├─ Add Risk Assessment                                    │
│      └─ Verify dependencies and business context               │
│                                                                 │
│  3️⃣  Review & Confirm                                          │
│      ├─ Discuss with stakeholders                              │
│      └─ Confirm [Confirmed] / [Inferred] / [Unknown] labels    │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What Can vs Cannot Be Extracted

Core Principles

1. Anti-Hallucination Compliance

CRITICAL: This skill MUST strictly follow Anti-Hallucination Standards.

Certainty Labels (from Unified Tag System)

This skill uses Certainty Tags for analyzing existing code. See Anti-Hallucination Standards for the complete tag reference.

Source Attribution

Every extracted item MUST include source attribution:

## API Design

### User Authentication
[Confirmed] POST /api/auth/login endpoint accepts email and password
- [Source: Code] src/controllers/AuthController.ts:25-45
- [Source: Code] src/routes/auth.ts:8

### Session Management
[Inferred] Sessions expire after 24 hours based on JWT expiry configuration
- [Source: Code] src/config/auth.ts:12 - TOKEN_EXPIRY=86400
- [Source: Knowledge] Standard JWT expiry interpretation (⚠️ Verify intent)

2. Progressive Disclosure

Start with high-level architecture, then drill down:

1. System Overview: Entry points, main components
2. Component Details: Individual modules, their responsibilities
3. Implementation Specifics: Algorithms, data flows

3. Test-to-Requirement Mapping

Extract acceptance criteria from tests:

// Test file: src/tests/auth.test.ts
describe('Authentication', () => {
  it('should return 401 for invalid credentials', () => {...});
  it('should issue JWT token on successful login', () => {...});
  it('should refresh token before expiry', () => {...});
});

Becomes:

## Acceptance Criteria
[Inferred] From test analysis (src/tests/auth.test.ts):
- [ ] Return 401 status code for invalid credentials
- [ ] Issue JWT token on successful login
- [ ] Support token refresh before expiry

Workflow Stages

Stage 1: Code Scanning

Input: File path or directory Output: Code structure analysis

Actions:

1. Identify entry points (main functions, API routes, event handlers)
2. Map module dependencies
3. Extract type definitions and interfaces
4. List configuration sources

Stage 2: Test Analysis

Input: Test files Output: Acceptance criteria candidates

Actions:

1. Parse test case names
2. Extract Given-When-Then patterns (if BDD-style)
3. Identify boundary conditions
4. Note coverage gaps

Stage 3: Gap Identification

Input: Code + test analysis Output: List of unknowns requiring human input

Required Human Input:

• Motivation: Why was this feature built?
• User Story: Who uses this and for what purpose?
• Risks: What could go wrong?
• Trade-offs: Why this approach over alternatives?
• Out of Scope: What was explicitly excluded?

Stage 4: Spec Generation

Input: All analysis results Output: Draft specification document

Template: Use reverse-spec-template.md

Stage 5: Human Review

Input: Draft specification Output: Validated specification

Review Checklist:

• All [Confirmed] items verified accurate
• All [Inferred] items validated or corrected
• All [Unknown] items filled in by human
• Source citations checked
• Business context added

Examples

Example 1: API Endpoint Extraction

Input Code (src/controllers/UserController.ts):

export class UserController {
  @Get('/users/:id')
  @Authorize('admin', 'user')
  async getUser(@Param('id') id: string): Promise<User> {
    return this.userService.findById(id);
  }
}

Extracted Specification:

## API Endpoints

### GET /users/:id
[Confirmed] Retrieves a user by ID
- [Source: Code] src/controllers/UserController.ts:3-7

**Authorization**: [Confirmed] Requires 'admin' or 'user' role
- [Source: Code] @Authorize decorator at line 4

**Parameters**:
- `id` (path, required): User identifier [Confirmed]

**Response**: [Confirmed] Returns User object
- [Source: Code] Return type at line 5

**Error Handling**: [Unknown] Error responses not evident from code

Example 2: Test-to-Criteria Extraction

Input Test (src/tests/cart.test.ts):

describe('Shopping Cart', () => {
  it('should add item to empty cart', () => {...});
  it('should increment quantity for duplicate items', () => {...});
  it('should not exceed maximum quantity of 99', () => {...});
  it('should calculate total with tax', () => {...});
});

Extracted Acceptance Criteria:

## Acceptance Criteria

[Inferred] From test analysis (src/tests/cart.test.ts):
- [ ] Can add item to empty cart (line 2)
- [ ] Increments quantity for duplicate items (line 3)
- [ ] Maximum quantity limit: 99 items (line 4)
- [ ] Total calculation includes tax (line 5)

[Unknown] Tax calculation rules not specified in tests
[Need Confirmation] What happens when cart exceeds 99 items? (reject or cap?)

Integration with Other Skills

With /spec (Spec-Driven Development)

1. Generate reverse-engineered spec using /reverse-spec
2. Review and fill in [Unknown] sections
3. Use /spec review to validate completeness
4. Proceed with normal SDD workflow for enhancements

With /tdd (Test-Driven Development)

1. Extract existing test patterns
2. Identify test coverage gaps
3. Use /tdd to add missing tests
4. Update spec with new acceptance criteria

With /bdd (Behavior-Driven Development)

1. Convert extracted acceptance criteria to Gherkin format
2. Use /bdd to formalize scenarios
3. Validate scenarios with stakeholders

Complete Reverse Engineering Pipeline

The reverse engineering skill supports a complete SDD → BDD → TDD pipeline:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Complete Reverse Engineering Pipeline                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                         │
│   Code + Tests                                                          │
│        │                                                                │
│        ▼                                                                │
│   /reverse-spec                                                         │
│        │                                                                │
│        └─→ Generate SPEC-XXX with Acceptance Criteria                   │
│                │                                                        │
│                ▼                                                        │
│   /reverse-bdd                                                          │
│        │                                                                │
│        ├─→ AC → Gherkin scenario conversion                             │
│        ├─→ Auto-transform bullet points to Given-When-Then              │
│        └─→ Generate .feature files                                      │
│                │                                                        │
│                ▼                                                        │
│   /reverse-tdd                                                          │
│        │                                                                │
│        ├─→ Analyze existing unit tests                                  │
│        └─→ Generate coverage report with gaps                           │
│                                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Pipeline Commands

Usage Example

# Step 1: Reverse engineer code to SDD specification
/reverse-spec src/auth/

# Step 2: Transform acceptance criteria to BDD scenarios
/reverse-bdd specs/SPEC-AUTH.md

# Step 3: Analyze test coverage against BDD scenarios
/reverse-tdd features/auth.feature

Detailed Guides

• BDD Extraction Workflow - Detailed guide for AC → Gherkin transformation
• TDD Analysis Workflow - Detailed guide for BDD → TDD coverage analysis

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

❌ Don't Do This

1. Fabricating Motivation

   • Wrong: "This feature was built to improve user experience"
   • Right: "[Unknown] Motivation requires human input"

2. Assuming Requirements

   • Wrong: "The system requires SSO support"
   • Right: "[Need Confirmation] SSO configuration found in code - is this a requirement?"

3. Speculating About Unread Code

   • Wrong: "The PaymentService handles Stripe integration"
   • Right: "[Unknown] PaymentService functionality - need to read src/services/PaymentService.ts"

4. Presenting Options Without Uncertainty

   • Wrong: "The code uses Redis for caching"
   • Right: "[Confirmed] Redis client configured in src/config/cache.ts:5"

Best Practices

Do's

• ✅ Read all relevant files before making claims
• ✅ Tag every statement with certainty level
• ✅ Include source citations with file:line
• ✅ Clearly list what needs human input
• ✅ Preserve original code comments as context

Don'ts

• ❌ Assume motivation or business context
• ❌ Present inferences as confirmed facts
• ❌ Skip source attribution
• ❌ Generate specs for unread code
• ❌ Fill in [Unknown] sections without human input

Configuration Detection

This skill auto-detects project configuration:

1. Check for existing specs/ directory
2. Check for SDD tooling (OpenSpec, Spec Kit)
3. Detect test framework for acceptance criteria extraction
4. Identify code patterns (MVC, DDD, etc.)

Related Standards

• Reverse Engineering Standards - Core methodology standard (primary reference)
• Spec-Driven Development - Output format and review process
• Anti-Hallucination Guidelines - Evidence-based analysis requirements
• Code Review Checklist - Review guidelines

Version History

License

This skill is released under CC BY 4.0.

Source: universal-dev-standards