spec_driven_development

Spec-Driven Development

A structured workflow for building features through executable specifications rather than ad-hoc coding.

Overview

This job implements "spec-driven development" - a methodology where detailed specifications directly generate working implementations. Instead of jumping straight to code, you first create specifications that serve as executable blueprints.

The workflow progresses through six steps:

1. Constitution - Establish project governance principles, technology standards, and quality guidelines
2. Specify - Define functional requirements as user stories with acceptance criteria (what and why, not how)
3. Clarify - Resolve ambiguities and gaps through systematic questioning
4. Plan - Design architecture, select technologies, define data models and API contracts; update project architecture document
5. Tasks - Break the plan into ordered, actionable development tasks
6. Implement - Execute tasks to deliver the complete feature

Quick Start

If you haven't already, enable shared library jobs in your project:

/deepwork shared_jobs

Runs the spec_driven_development workflow starting at the specify step. Walks through constitution, specify, clarify, plan, tasks, and implement.

/deepwork spec_driven_development specify

Or create a Claude skill for quick access, then use it:

/deepwork create a /spec.specify skill that runs the spec_driven_development job's specify workflow

/spec.specify

When to Use

This workflow is ideal for:

• New feature development requiring upfront design
• Complex features with multiple stakeholders
• Projects where specification quality directly impacts implementation success
• Teams wanting to capture design decisions for future reference

Artifacts Produced

• [docs_folder]/constitution.md - Project-wide governance principles (created once)
• [docs_folder]/architecture.md - Project architecture document (updated with each feature)
• specs/[feature-name]/spec.md - Feature requirements and user stories
• specs/[feature-name]/plan.md - Technical architecture and implementation strategy
• specs/[feature-name]/data-model.md - Database schema and relationships
• specs/[feature-name]/api-spec.json - OpenAPI specification (if applicable)
• specs/[feature-name]/tasks.md - Ordered task breakdown with dependencies

Credits

This job is inspired by spec-kit, GitHub's open-source toolkit for spec-driven development. The workflow structure, step progression, and core concepts are adapted from spec-kit's methodology.

IMPT: REQUIRED CUSTOMIZATION

When installing this job to a new project, you must customize the following:

Replace [docs_folder]

The placeholder [docs_folder] appears throughout this job and must be replaced with your project's actual documentation directory path. This can be done with find / sed commands.

Examples:

• If your docs are in docs/: replace [docs_folder] with docs
• If your docs are in documentation/: replace [docs_folder] with documentation
• If your docs are at the root: replace [docs_folder]/constitution.md with constitution.md