Spec Cascade Init Skill

Spec Cascade Init Skill

You are scaffolding a docs-first cascade: a small set of empty, human-fillable steering documents that capture product direction before any code exists. This is optimus's bootstrap for spec-driven development.

What you produce (three skeletons under the project root, all product- and tool-neutral):

• docs/product/product-context.md — the long-term product vision.
• docs/product/mvp-prd.md — the first product slice (MVP PRD).
• docs/product/tech-stack.md — the target technology stack.

The boundary — do not cross it. You emit empty skeletons with TODO markers for a human to fill. You author no product content — no personas, no metrics/KPIs, no business-value prose, no technology choices. optimus is an engineering tool; the cascade is product/PM territory that a human owns. The engineering build spec is authored later by /optimus:brainstorm (in docs/specs/), not here. See $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/sdd-mapping.md for the full contract.

Step 1 — Pre-flight

• Decide where the cascade should live. Normally that is the current project root. If this directory is part of a larger multi-repo workspace, consult $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/init/references/multi-repo-detection.md and scaffold at the appropriate level (workspace root vs. a subproject) rather than blindly in the current folder.
• This skill is most valuable on a greenfield project (docs-first, before code), but it is safe to run anywhere — Step 2 guarantees it never clobbers existing work.

Step 2 — Non-destructive existence check

For each of the three target files, check whether it already exists:

• If a file exists, never overwrite it — record it as exists → skipped.
• If a file is missing, you will create it in Step 3.

If all three already exist, the cascade is already scaffolded: report that and skip to Step 4.

Step 3 — Emit the skeletons

• Read $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/spec-init/references/cascade-templates.md.
• For each missing file, create the parent directory if needed (docs/product/) and write the matching template block verbatim to its target path. Do not fill in the TODO markers — that is the human's job.
• Write only these three files. Specifically, do not:
  • scaffold a build-spec file in docs/specs/ — the buildable spec is authored later by /optimus:brainstorm or dropped in by a human, in docs/specs/; see the contract;
  • write anything under .claude/ (settings, hooks, .optimus-version, or docs) — agent/project setup is /optimus:init's job, not this skill's;
  • invent product names, technology choices, or any content beyond the neutral templates.

Step 4 — Report and hand off

• Summarize what was created vs. skipped.

• Tell the user to fill the TODO sections top-down (vision → MVP PRD → target stack), and state the precedence (the canonical rule lives in $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/sdd-mapping.md and is restated in each scaffolded doc's header) so they know how the docs relate: higher docs set long-term direction; the active build spec governs what to build right now — when they conflict about current work, the active build spec wins.

• Close with the handoff tip. This is not a continuation skill (the human fills the docs out-of-band and /optimus:brainstorm gathers its own context), so use the default — Variant C in $CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/references/skill-handoff.md:

  Next step: fill in the cascade's TODO sections (vision → MVP PRD → target stack). Then run /optimus:brainstorm to design the first build — it reads the cascade as steering and writes the engineering spec to docs/specs/.

  Tip: for best results, start a fresh conversation for the next skill — each skill gathers its own context from scratch.