openspec-change

name	openspec-change
description	Run a product change through this repository's OpenSpec workflow — draft a dated change folder with proposal, design, tasks, and spec deltas written as Requirements with GIVEN/WHEN/THEN scenarios, then pass the strict OpenSpec validation gate. Use when adding or changing product behavior that belongs in the Novel Engine capability specification.

OpenSpec change workflow

openspec/specs/novel-studio/spec.md is the product single source of truth. Behavior changes land as OpenSpec change folders before or alongside the code that implements them.

Drafting a change

1. Create openspec/changes/YYYY-MM-DD-<kebab-slug>/ with today's date and a short imperative slug.
2. Write proposal.md with three sections: ## Why (the problem in product terms), ## What Changes (bullet list of behavior deltas), ## Impact (breaking changes, migrations, affected surfaces).
3. Add design.md only when the change is architectural — options considered and the chosen approach. Skip it for mechanical changes.
4. Write tasks.md as numbered checkbox groups, one group per area of work. Each task is one small verifiable step (a test, a route, a panel), matching the repo's one-task-one-finding discipline.
5. Put spec deltas in specs/<capability>/spec.md inside the change folder, using ## ADDED Requirements / ## MODIFIED Requirements sections. Each ### Requirement: uses RFC-2119 keywords (MUST/SHOULD) and each #### Scenario: follows GIVEN/WHEN/THEN, in the style of the main spec.

Validating and archiving

• Validate with corepack pnpm spec:validate (runs openspec validate --all --strict); it must pass before a change counts as drafted.
• After implementation, when CI is green, archive the change: the deltas are applied into openspec/specs/ and the change folder moves unchanged to openspec/changes/archive/. See the archived 2026-06-13-consolidate-novel-studio-0-3 change for a scale reference.

Boundaries

• The spec describes observable product behavior, not implementation. Persistence and layering details belong in design.md, never in Requirements.
• During a live change, edit the change folder — do not edit openspec/specs/ directly; deltas merge at archive time.