spec-driven-develop

English | 中文

Spec-Driven Develop

One Markdown file. Any coding agent. Full pre-development automation.

Spec-Driven Develop is a platform-agnostic AI agent skill that automates the pre-development workflow for large-scale complex tasks. It is not a framework, not a runtime, not a package manager — it is a single SKILL.md file that teaches any AI coding agent a structured methodology.

The core mechanism is dead simple: your agent reads a Markdown file containing structured instructions, then follows them. No SDK, no API integration, no platform-specific hooks. If your coding agent can read Markdown — and they all can — it works.

When you tell your agent something like "rewrite this project in Rust" or "migrate to a microservice architecture", it automatically kicks off a standardized preparation pipeline before writing a single line of code:

1. Deep project analysis
2. Task decomposition and planning
3. Progress tracking documentation
4. Task-specific sub-SKILL generation
5. Iterative development with document-driven progress awareness

A master progress file (docs/progress/MASTER.md) serves as the agent's "memory anchor" across conversations, so it never loses track of where things stand — no matter how many sessions it takes.

Why Not Superpowers / oh-my-claude / ...?

The Claude Code ecosystem now has full-blown frameworks with dozens of agents, multi-phase pipelines, and opinionated workflows. They're powerful — but they're also heavy, and they lock you into a single platform.

	Spec-Driven Develop	Superpowers	oh-my-claudecode
What it is	A single SKILL file	Full skills framework + methodology	Multi-agent orchestration system
Core files	1 Markdown file (~200 lines)	Plugin with multiple skills, agents, hooks	Plugin with 32+ specialized agents
Dependencies	None	Requires Claude Code plugin system	Requires Claude Code plugin system
Methodology	Document-driven planning	Enforced TDD (RED-GREEN-REFACTOR)	Team-based multi-agent delegation
Cross-platform	Any agent that reads Markdown	Claude Code (primary)	Claude Code only
Philosophy	Do one thing, do it well	Complete development methodology	Parallel multi-agent orchestration

Spec-Driven Develop takes a fundamentally different approach: instead of wrapping your agent in a framework, it gives the agent a methodology through a plain Markdown file. No hooks, no runtime overhead, no forced workflows. You keep full control.

Lightweight does not mean weak. A well-structured Markdown file can carry a surprisingly sophisticated workflow — project analysis, phased task decomposition, progress tracking, sub-SKILL generation — all without a single line of executable code. The agent reads the instructions and executes them. That's it. The simplicity is the feature.

This makes it especially suited for:

• Teams that already have their own workflow and just need structured planning for big tasks
• Multi-platform users who don't want to be locked into a single agent ecosystem
• Developers who want control, not a black-box pipeline deciding how they should code

Platform Compatibility

The SKILL prompt is written in a generic, platform-neutral way. It gracefully degrades on platforms without certain capabilities — for example, if sub-agents aren't available, it falls back to sequential execution automatically.

Tested platforms with install scripts:

• Claude Code — installed as a plugin (with enhanced agent/command support)
• Codex (OpenAI) — installed as a skill
• Cursor — installed as a global or project-level skill

Any other agent — copy SKILL.md to wherever your agent reads instructions. That's it. The file has no external dependencies and no platform-specific logic. It works with Windsurf, Cline, Aider, Continue, Roo Code, Augment, or any other coding agent that reads Markdown-based skills or system prompts.

Installation

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add zhu1090093659/spec_driven_develop
/plugin install spec-driven-develop@spec-driven-develop

After installation, run /reload-plugins to activate.

Codex CLI

Use the built-in skill installer (inside a Codex session):

$skill-installer install https://github.com/zhu1090093659/spec_driven_develop/tree/main/plugins/spec-driven-develop/skills/spec-driven-develop

Or install via shell:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zhu1090093659/spec_driven_develop/main/scripts/install-codex.sh)

Cursor

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zhu1090093659/spec_driven_develop/main/scripts/install-cursor.sh)

Or clone the repo and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/zhu1090093659/spec_driven_develop.git
bash spec_driven_develop/scripts/install-cursor.sh

Other Agents (Generic)