speckit-validate

name	speckit-validate
description	Verify spec-to-task traceability and check that completed tasks produced expected files
compatibility	Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory
metadata	{"author":"github-spec-kit","source":"speckit-utils:commands/validate.md"}

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

Outline

Deterministically verify that the implementation matches the specification by checking task completion, file existence, and requirement traceability.

Step 1: Select feature

If $ARGUMENTS specifies a feature name or number, use that. Otherwise, find the most recently modified feature in specs/.

If no features exist, error: "No features found in specs/. Run /speckit.specify first."

Step 2: Parse tasks

Read tasks.md from the feature directory. Parse each checkbox line:

• Extract task text (after - [x] or - [ ])
• Mark as completed or remaining
• Extract keywords: file paths (auth/login.py), snake_case names (user_auth), CamelCase names (UserAuth), dotted names (config.yaml)

If no tasks.md exists, error: "No tasks.md found. Run /speckit.tasks first."

Step 3: Verify completed task artifacts

For each completed task that references file paths:

1. Search the project directory for the referenced file
2. If found: PASS
3. If not found: WARN ("task says 'Create auth/login.py' but file not found")

Skip verification for:

• Incomplete tasks (not yet implemented)
• Tasks with no file path references (e.g., "Set up CI pipeline")

Step 4: Parse spec requirements

Read spec.md from the feature directory. Extract items from the "Functional Requirements" section (bulleted list items under that heading).

If no requirements section found, skip to Step 6.

Step 5: Trace requirements to tasks

For each requirement, search task descriptions for matching keywords:

• Tokenize the requirement into significant words (skip stop words)
• Check each task's text for overlap (2+ matching keywords = traced)

Report:

• Requirement with matching tasks: PASS ("traced to Task N")
• Requirement with no matching tasks: WARN ("no task found for this requirement")

Step 6: Report

Output a validation report:

Validation Report: 001-auth
============================

Task Completion: 3/5 (60%)
  [x] Task 1: Create auth/login.py      -> auth/login.py FOUND
  [x] Task 2: Add password hashing      -> (no file reference)
  [x] Task 3: Write auth tests          -> tests/test_auth.py FOUND
  [ ] Task 4: Add rate limiting         -> (not yet implemented)
  [ ] Task 5: Update API docs           -> (not yet implemented)

Requirement Traceability: 3/3
  "Users can log in with email"          -> Task 1 (PASS)
  "Passwords are stored securely"        -> Task 2 (PASS)
  "Users can reset password via email"   -> (no matching task - WARN)

Summary: 2 PASS, 1 WARN, 0 FAIL

If $ARGUMENTS includes --strict, treat any WARN as FAIL and report a non-zero exit status.