---

name: specs-explorer description: Navigate, search, filter, and query MEW specifications by frontmatter metadata. Use when exploring specs, finding related specs, or understanding spec dependencies.

Specs Explorer

Navigate and query the MEW specification corpus using the specs CLI.

Setup

Run once per session:

Copysource .claude/skills/specs-explorer/init.sh

Then use specs <command> freely.

Quick Reference

Copyspecs help              # Full help
specs list              # All specs
specs count             # Count by directory
specs overview          # Table of all specs with metadata

specs cat statement     # Filter by category
specs status draft      # Filter by status
specs pri essential     # Filter by priority

specs deps <file>       # Show dependencies
specs rdeps <name>      # Reverse dependencies

specs show <file>       # Pretty-print spec summary
specs meta <file>       # Show frontmatter only

specs todo              # Essential + draft (needs work)
specs filter <cat> <st> # Combined filter
specs grep <term>       # Search content

Commands

Listing

Filter by Frontmatter

Categories: literal type expression pattern declaration statement modifier execution

Statuses: draft stable deprecated

Priorities: essential common convenience specialized

Dependencies

Inspect

Combined Queries

Search

Examples

Copy# What statements exist?
specs cat statement

# What's still draft?
specs status draft

# What's essential and needs implementation?
specs todo

# What does MATCH require?
specs deps statements/match.md

# What uses patterns?
specs rdeps pattern

# Draft statements only
specs filter statement draft

# Search for SPAWN
specs grep SPAWN

# Show spec details
specs show statements/match.md

Spec Locations

Copyspecs/
├── architecture.md              # System architecture
├── meta-roadmap.md              # Implementation roadmap
├── spec_template.md             # Template for new specs
├── core/                        # 3 files - 1_LANGUAGE, 2_LAYER0, 3_DSL
├── declarations/                # 7 files - ontology, node, edge, rule, constraint...
├── types/                       # 5 files - any, optional, union, duration, edge_references
├── literals/                    # 2 files - duration, timestamp
├── expressions/                 # 9 files - aggregations, functions, null_handling...
├── patterns/                    # 4 files - node, edge, negative, transitive
├── modifiers/                   # 15 files - required, unique, indexed, cardinality...
└── statements/                  # 18 files - match, spawn, kill, link...

Total: 66 spec files across 9 directories

Frontmatter Schema

Every spec uses this YAML frontmatter:

Copy---
spec: kebab-case-name           # Unique identifier
version: "1.0"                  # Semantic version
status: draft | stable | deprecated
category: literal | type | expression | pattern | declaration | statement | modifier | execution
capability: what-it-enables     # Short description
requires: [dep1, dep2]          # Prerequisites
priority: essential | common | convenience | specialized
---

Document Hierarchy

When specs conflict, higher level wins:

Copy1. specs/core/1_LANGUAGE.md        # Highest authority
2. specs/core/2_LAYER0.md
3. specs/core/3_DSL.md
4. specs/architecture.md
5. specs/declarations/*.md
6. specs/types/*.md
7. specs/expressions/*.md
8. specs/patterns/*.md
9. specs/modifiers/*.md
10. specs/statements/*.md          # Lowest

Workflows

Understand a Feature

Copyspecs find match                    # 1. Find the spec
specs show statements/match.md      # 2. See its metadata
specs deps statements/match.md      # 3. What does it need?
specs rdeps match                   # 4. What depends on it?

Plan Implementation Order

Copyspecs todo                          # Essential specs still draft
specs deps <each-spec>              # Check dependencies
# Implement specs with no unimplemented deps first

Explore by Domain

Copyspecs cat statement                 # All query/mutation commands
specs cat modifier                  # All constraint modifiers
specs cat expression                # All expression features
specs cat pattern                   # All pattern matching

Tips

• Start with core: Read 1_LANGUAGE.md first
• Follow requires: Understand dependencies before the spec
• Check hierarchy: Higher-level spec wins on conflict
• Focus on essential: Implement essential before convenience
• Use specs todo: Shows what needs work