Generate Specification

Generate a canonical specification from a feature request, user story, or requirements description.

Workflow

1. Parse Input

   • If argument is a file path, read the file content
   • If argument is inline text, use as feature description
   • If no argument, prompt for feature description

2. Load Context

   • Invoke spec-management skill for workflow guidance
   • Invoke canonical-spec-format skill for schema reference
   • Invoke ears-authoring skill for EARS patterns

3. Generate Specification

   • Spawn spec-processor generate agent with the feature description
   • Agent produces canonical specification with:
     • Problem statement and motivation
     • Scope (in-scope and out-of-scope)
     • EARS-formatted functional requirements
     • Non-functional requirements
     • Given/When/Then acceptance criteria
     • Dependencies and assumptions

4. Validate Output

   • Spawn spec-reviewer validate agent to check schema compliance
   • Verify all requirements have EARS format
   • Verify all requirements have acceptance criteria
   • Calculate INVEST scores

5. Save Specification

   • Create .specs/ directory if needed
   • Save specification to .specs/{feature-name}/spec.md
   • Report generation summary with:
     • Number of requirements generated
     • INVEST scores
     • Validation status

Arguments

• $ARGUMENTS - Feature description or path to requirements file

Examples

# From inline description
/spec-driven-development:specify "User authentication with email and password"

# From file
/spec-driven-development:specify requirements/auth-feature.md

# Interactive (no argument)
/spec-driven-development:specify

Output Location

Specifications are saved to:

.specs/{feature-name}/
  ├── spec.md           # Canonical specification
  └── (created by later phases)
      ├── design.md     # Phase 2: Implementation design
      └── tasks.md      # Phase 3: Task breakdown

Related Commands

• /spec-driven-development:plan - Generate implementation design (Phase 2)
• /spec-driven-development:tasks - Generate task breakdown (Phase 3)
• /spec-driven-development:validate - Validate specification
• /spec-driven-development:refine - AI-assisted refinement