Spec-Driven Development

ProductivityIntermediate

Instead of coding right away, this skill clarifies requirements through Socratic questioning first, then produces an implementation spec. Building from this spec significantly reduces rework.

Trigger/spec

Frequency1-2x/week

Solo developer who also does planning? Run /spec to systematically go from planning to development in a single session

PM handing off requirements to the dev team? Turn vague requirements into concrete specs

SpecPlanningDev ProcessQuality

How It Works

Run /spec [feature idea] -> start interview

↓

Phase 1: Define 4 areas through questions

scope

Define scope

edge-cases

Identify edge cases

tech-choice

Choose tech approach

acceptance

Define acceptance criteria

↓

Generate implementation spec document

↓

✓ Implementation spec + ready to build in a new session

Skill Code

# Spec-Driven Development Skill
## Trigger: /spec [feature idea]

When invoked:

1. Interview phase (ask questions one at a time):
 - What exactly should this feature do?
 - Who is the primary user?
 - What are the inputs and outputs?
 - What should NOT be included? (scope boundary)
 - What edge cases should we handle?
 - Any existing patterns to follow?

2. Generate spec document:
---
## 📐 Implementation Spec: [Feature]

### Overview
[1-2 sentence summary]

### Scope
**In scope**: [list]
**Out of scope**: [list]

### Technical Approach
- [Architecture decision]
- [Key libraries/patterns]
- [File structure]

### Implementation Steps
1. [Step with file and approach]
2. [Step with file and approach]
3. [Step with file and approach]

### Edge Cases
- [case → expected behavior]

### Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] [testable criterion]
- [ ] [testable criterion]
---

3. Save as SPEC-[feature].md for use in implementation session

Copy and paste into your CLAUDE.md to start using immediately.

How Spec-Driven Development Works

Spec-Driven Dev conducts a structured interview about your feature requirements, transforms answers into a formal specification document with acceptance criteria, then generates implementation code that satisfies each criterion.

When to Use Spec-Driven Development

Bridges the gap between vague feature requests and precise implementation — especially valuable when product requirements are ambiguous and you need to crystallize them into testable specifications before writing code.

Key Strengths

Structured interview extracts precise requirements
Generates testable acceptance criteria automatically
Implementation code traces back to specification
Prevents scope creep by defining boundaries upfront

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