kiss-specify

name	kiss-specify
description	Creates or updates the feature specification from a natural language feature description. Use when starting work on a new feature, creating a spec from a user story or idea, or when the feature description needs to be formalised into a structured specification.
compatibility	Requires kiss project structure with .kiss/ directory
metadata	{"author":"github-kiss","source":"agent-skills/kiss-specify/kiss-specify.md"}

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

You MUST consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

Pre-Execution Checks

Check for extension hooks (before specification):

• Check if .kiss/extensions.yml exists in the project root.

• If it exists, read it and look for entries under the hooks.before_specify key

• If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally

• Filter out hooks where enabled is explicitly false. Treat hooks without an enabled field as enabled by default.

• For each remaining hook, do not attempt to interpret or evaluate hook condition expressions:

  • If the hook has no condition field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
  • If the hook defines a non-empty condition, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation

• For each executable hook, output the following based on its optional flag:

  • Optional hook (optional: true):

    ## Extension Hooks
    
    **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Command: `/{command}`
    Description: {description}
    
    Prompt: {prompt}
    To execute: `/{command}`
    

  • Mandatory hook (optional: false):

    ## Extension Hooks
    
    **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Executing: `/{command}`
    EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
    
    Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline.
    

• If no hooks are registered or .kiss/extensions.yml does not exist, skip silently

Interactive Mode (beginner-friendly questionnaire)

If KISS_AGENT_MODE=interactive (the default) and the natural-language feature description is too sparse to populate every mandatory section of the spec template — for example the user typed only "build me a booking app" and key facts about users, data, devices, or success are missing — pause before step 5 of the Outline and walk the user through the questionnaire below.

Audience: assume the user has no technical and no business-domain background. Tone: friendly, plain English, examples over abstractions.

Conversational rules (apply to every question):

• One question at a time. Never present a wall of questions.
• Yes / no first. Phrase questions so yes, no, not sure, or skip is a valid answer.
• Choices, not blank fields. When yes/no isn't enough, offer 2-4 lettered options (A/B/C/D) with one-line everyday descriptions. Always include "Not sure — pick a sensible default".
• Always recommend. State which option you would pick and why in one sentence so the user can reply "yes" / "ok".
• No jargon. Avoid NFR, SLA, RBAC, PII, GDPR, throughput, idempotent, eventual consistency. Translate to everyday words with concrete examples ("Should each user only see their own things?" not "Is this multi-tenant?").
• Treat not sure / skip as a default-trigger. Apply a sensible default, write it into the spec marked "(default applied — confirm later)", and log an RDEBT- entry.
• Confirm progress visibly. After each batch, summarise what you captured in 2-3 plain bullets and ask "Did I get that right? (yes / change X)" before moving on.

Question batches (run in order, skip a batch if already answered):

1. Goal — problem in one sentence; how it's done today (by hand, spreadsheet, another tool); what success looks like in everyday terms.
2. Users — who uses it (A) just me, B) my team, C) customers / public, D) other); will users sign in?; do different users see different things?; rough headcount (A) <10, B) 10-100, C) 100-1,000, D) >1,000, E) not sure).
3. What it does — main flow in plain words, step by step; creates / saves anything?; searches / looks things up?; shares with others?; deletes / undoes?; sends messages (email / SMS / push)?
4. Data — collects personal info (names, emails, phone, address, payments)?; special rules (medical, financial, children, EU users)?; deleted data: A) gone forever, B) kept for a while, C) not sure.
5. Devices and access — A) phone, B) computer, C) tablet, D) all; needs offline?; needs multiple languages?
6. Speed and scale — speed feel: A) instant, B) within a couple of seconds, C) a few seconds, D) longer is fine; many users at once? (rough peak).
7. When things go wrong — error handling: A) friendly error, try again, B) save and resume later, C) not sure; concurrent edits: A) last one wins, B) warn them, C) not sure; explicit out-of-scope items.

Mapping answers into the spec template:

Batch	Spec sections it feeds
1	problem statement, Success Criteria
2	User Scenarios (As a X I want Y so that Z), actors
3	Functional Requirements, primary user journey
4	Key Entities, privacy / compliance NFRs, retention assumption
5	NFRs (devices, offline, i18n), Assumptions
6	NFRs (performance, scale), measurable Success Criteria
7	Edge Cases, Out-of-scope, conflict-resolution rules

When KISS_AGENT_MODE=auto (or --auto), skip the questionnaire entirely: apply sensible defaults, document them in the Assumptions section, and let the business-analyst agent log decisions to its decision log.

Outline

The text the user typed after /kiss.specify in the triggering message is the feature description. Assume you always have it available in this conversation even if $ARGUMENTS appears literally below. Do not ask the user to repeat it unless they provided an empty command.

Given that feature description, do this:

1. Generate a concise short name (2-4 words) for the feature:

   • Analyze the feature description and extract the most meaningful keywords
   • Create a 2-4 word short name that captures the essence of the feature
   • Use action-noun format when possible (e.g., "add-user-auth", "fix-payment-bug")
   • Preserve technical terms and acronyms (OAuth2, API, JWT, etc.)
   • Keep it concise but descriptive enough to understand the feature at a glance
   • Examples:
     • "I want to add user authentication" → "user-auth"
     • "Implement OAuth2 integration for the API" → "oauth2-api-integration"
     • "Create a dashboard for analytics" → "analytics-dashboard"
     • "Fix payment processing timeout bug" → "fix-payment-timeout"

2. Branch creation (optional, via hook):

   If a before_specify hook ran successfully in the Pre-Execution Checks above, it will have created/switched to a git branch and output JSON containing BRANCH_NAME and FEATURE_NUM. Note these values for reference, but the branch name does not dictate the spec directory name.

   If the user explicitly provided GIT_BRANCH_NAME, pass it through to the hook so the branch script uses the exact value as the branch name (bypassing all prefix/suffix generation).

3. Create the spec feature directory:

   Specs live under the default specs/ directory unless the user explicitly provides KISS_FEATURE_DIRECTORY.

   Resolution order for KISS_FEATURE_DIRECTORY:

   1. If the user explicitly provided KISS_FEATURE_DIRECTORY (e.g., via environment variable, argument, or configuration), use it as-is
   2. Otherwise, auto-generate it under specs/:
      • Check .kiss/init-options.json for branch_numbering
      • If "timestamp": prefix is YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS (current timestamp)
      • If "sequential" or absent: prefix is NNN (next available 3-digit number after scanning existing directories in specs/)
      • Construct the directory name: <prefix>-<short-name> (e.g., 003-user-auth or 20260319-143022-user-auth)

NOTE: Branch creation is handled by the before_specify hook (git extension). Spec directory and file creation are always handled by this core command.

Quick Guidelines

• Focus on WHAT users need and WHY.
• Avoid HOW to implement (no tech stack, APIs, code structure).
• Written for business stakeholders, not developers.
• DO NOT create any checklists that are embedded in the spec. That will be a separate command.
• In interactive mode, the user may have no technical or domain background — never present jargon, blank fields, or multi-question prompts. Drive the questionnaire above with yes / no / lettered choices / short answers and always recommend a default the user can accept with "yes".

Section Requirements

• Mandatory sections: Must be completed for every feature
• Optional sections: Include only when relevant to the feature
• When a section doesn't apply, remove it entirely (don't leave as "N/A")

For AI Generation

When creating this spec from a user prompt:

1. Make informed guesses: Use context, industry standards, and common patterns to fill gaps
2. Document assumptions: Record reasonable defaults in the Assumptions section
3. Limit clarifications: Maximum 3 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers - use only for critical decisions that:
   • Significantly impact feature scope or user experience
   • Have multiple reasonable interpretations with different implications
   • Lack any reasonable default
4. Prioritize clarifications: scope > security/privacy > user experience > technical details
5. Think like a tester: Every vague requirement should fail the "testable and unambiguous" checklist item
6. Common areas needing clarification (only if no reasonable default exists):
   • Feature scope and boundaries (include/exclude specific use cases)
   • User types and permissions (if multiple conflicting interpretations possible)
   • Security/compliance requirements (when legally/financially significant)

Examples of reasonable defaults (don't ask about these):

• Data retention: Industry-standard practices for the domain
• Performance targets: Standard web/mobile app expectations unless specified
• Error handling: User-friendly messages with appropriate fallbacks
• Authentication method: Standard session-based or OAuth2 for web apps
• Integration patterns: Use project-appropriate patterns (REST/GraphQL for web services, function calls for libraries, CLI args for tools, etc.)

Success Criteria Guidelines

Success criteria must be:

1. Measurable: Include specific metrics (time, percentage, count, rate)
2. Technology-agnostic: No mention of frameworks, languages, databases, or tools
3. User-focused: Describe outcomes from user/business perspective, not system internals
4. Verifiable: Can be tested/validated without knowing implementation details

Good examples:

• "Users can complete checkout in under 3 minutes"
• "System supports 10,000 concurrent users"
• "95% of searches return results in under 1 second"
• "Task completion rate improves by 40%"

Bad examples (implementation-focused):

• "API response time is under 200ms" (too technical, use "Users see results instantly")
• "Database can handle 1000 TPS" (implementation detail, use user-facing metric)
• "React components render efficiently" (framework-specific)
• "Redis cache hit rate above 80%" (technology-specific)

Inputs

• Feature Description ({context.current.feature}): current.feature.
  • If set: Use the provided feature description as the specification subject.
  • If null: Ask the user to describe the feature they want to specify.
  • If not provided: Ask the user to provide a feature description; do not proceed without one.

Outputs

• Specification ({context.paths.specs}/{context.current.feature}/spec.md): paths.specs}/current.feature}/spec.md.

  • Behavior: Create the spec file at this path. If the file exists and confirm_before_write is true, ask the user.
  • Overwrite guarded by {context.preferences.confirm_before_write}.

• Specification Quality Checklist ({context.paths.specs}/{context.current.feature}/checklists/requirements.md): paths.specs}/current.feature}/checklists/requirements.md.

  • Behavior: Create the checklist file. Overwrite if exists.
  • Overwrite guarded by {context.preferences.confirm_before_write}.

Context Update

After this skill completes successfully, update .kiss/context.yml:

• Set current.spec to the path of the created specification file
• Set current.feature to the feature slug
• Leave all other current.* fields unchanged
• Do not modify paths.or preferences.

Handoffs

• Build Technical Plan: run /kiss-plan to continue the workflow.
• Clarify Spec Requirements: run /kiss-clarify-specs to continue the workflow.