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name: specify description: Brainstorming and requirement specification expert.

Specification Skill

Use this skill to transform vague ideas into concrete spec.md files.

Specification Format

This skill uses a single, comprehensive specification format that includes:

• User Scenarios: Prioritized user journeys (P1, P2, etc.).
• Acceptance Scenarios: BDD-style Given/When/Then tests for each user story.
• Functional Requirements: A formal list of what the system must do.
• Key Entities: A description of data models involved.
• Success Criteria: Measurable outcomes to validate the feature's success.

Story Type Guidance

To provide flexibility in capturing requirements, the specification template supports several story formats. Choose the one that best fits the context of the requirement.

1. Standard User Story

This is the most common format, focused on a user's needs and goals.

• Format: As a [user role], I want to [goal] so that [benefit].
• Use When: You need to describe a feature from the perspective of an end-user who will interact directly with the system.

2. Job Story

This format focuses on the "job to be done" and the context that triggers it, rather than just the user role.

• Format: When [situation], I want to [motivation] so I can [expected outcome].
• Use When: The user's role is less important than the situation they are in. It helps to understand the underlying motivations and expected outcomes.

3. Team Story

This format is for requirements that address the needs of the development team itself.

• Format: We want to [action] so that [reason].
• Use When: The work is not directly for an end-user but is necessary for the team to improve its process, tooling, or infrastructure (e.g., "We want to refactor the database schema so that it is more maintainable").

4. Technical Story

This format is used for technical tasks or non-functional requirements that don't have a direct user-facing benefit.

• Format: [Action] the [result] [by|for|of|to] a(n) [object].
• Use When: You need to describe a purely technical task, such as a backend change, an API integration, or a performance improvement (e.g., "Estimate the closing price of a stock").

Specification Template

This skill uses a single markdown template (spec-template.md) to ensure a consistent, rigorous structure for all specifications.

Protocol: Sequential Questioning

To maintain precision and reduce cognitive load, follow these rules:

1. Identify: Scan the feature request for all ambiguities in the template.
2. Prioritize: Group related ambiguities into logical clusters.
3. The One-Question Rule: Present only ONE group of questions to the user at a time.
4. Iterate: Integrate the user's answer into the draft before moving to the next ambiguity group.

Workflow

1. Use the spec-driver skill to initialize the track.
2. Copy the spec-template.md from the templates/ directory to the specs/<ID>-<name>/spec.md file.
3. Apply Sequential Questioning to fill in all sections of the template.
4. Output the final spec.md in the designated specs/<ID>-<name>/ folder.