generate-tech-spec

name	generate-tech-spec
description	Generates a technical specification for a payment connector in two phases: (1) discover and verify the connector's official API documentation links, (2) feed those links into the grace techspec CLI to produce a structured spec. Each phase can be delegated to a subagent. Use before implementing a new connector with the new-connector skill.
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	Requires internet access for doc discovery. Grace CLI (Python 3.10+ with uv) optional — falls back to Claude-native generation if grace/.env is missing.
metadata	{"author":"parallal","version":"2.0","domain":"payment-connectors"}

Generate Tech Spec

Produces a structured technical specification for a payment connector through two independent phases, each suitable for subagent delegation:

1. Links Discovery -- find, verify, and score the connector's backend API docs
2. Tech Spec Generation -- feed verified URLs into grace techspec (or Claude-native fallback) to produce the spec

The generated tech spec is the required input for the new-connector, add-connector-flow, and add-payment-method skills.

Prerequisites

• Internet access for web search and URL fetching
• For Grace CLI path (optional): Python 3.10+ with uv, Grace CLI configured (cd grace && uv sync && source .venv/bin/activate), and API key in grace/.env (copy from grace/.env.example)
• For Claude-native path: No additional dependencies -- used automatically when grace/.env is missing

Output

grace/rulesbook/codegen/references/specs/{connector_name}.md

---

Phase 1: Links Discovery (Subagent)

Purpose: Find and verify official backend API documentation URLs for the connector.

Can be delegated to a subagent. The full subagent prompt is in references/links-discovery.md. Give the subagent the connector name and payment method/flow.

What the links subagent does

1. Discovers documentation URLs from scratch using web search:

   • Tries common developer portal patterns: developer.{connector}.com, docs.{connector}.com, {connector}.readme.io
   • Searches for payment-method-specific pages (e.g., /payment-methods/apple-pay)
   • Tries alternative naming (e.g., "ach" for bank debit, "digital-wallets" for Apple Pay)

2. Categorizes each URL as one of:

   • api_reference -- endpoint details, request/response schemas
   • payment_method_guide -- payment-method-specific integration guide
   • authentication_guide -- API key setup, headers, HMAC
   • webhooks_guide -- event types, payload format, signature verification
   • testing_guide -- sandbox credentials, test card numbers
   • error_reference -- error codes, decline codes

3. Filters for backend only -- excludes frontend SDKs, hosted pages, mobile docs. Includes only server-to-server / API-only / REST endpoint documentation.

4. Verifies each URL by fetching it and scoring against a 10-point checklist:

   #	Element	What to look for
   1	API Endpoint	POST URL for creating payments
   2	Authentication	Method + required headers
   3	Request Schema	JSON body with fields documented
   4	Response Schema (Success)	Success/pending/declined structure
   5	Response Schema (Error)	Error response structure
   6	Payment Method Params	Method-specific fields
   7	Idempotency	Idempotency-Key or unique reference
   8	Webhooks	Events, payload, signature verification
   9	Error Codes	Enumerated codes with meanings
   10	curl Example	Explicit curl or enough info to construct one

   Score >= 7: valid -- sufficient docs. Score 4-6: problematic -- gaps exist. Score < 4: insufficient -- not enough for integration.

5. Saves verified links to data/integration-source-links.json:

   {
     "ConnectorName": [
       "https://docs.connector.com/api/payments",
       "https://docs.connector.com/webhooks"
     ]
   }
   

How to invoke the links subagent

Subagent prompt:
  "Read and follow the workflow in .skills/generate-tech-spec/references/links-discovery.md

  Variables:
    CONNECTOR_NAME: {ConnectorName}  (exact casing)
    PAYMENT_METHOD: {Flow}           (e.g., Card, Apple Pay, Bank Debit)"

Manual alternative (no subagent)

If you already have the connector's API doc URLs, skip this phase. Write them directly:

# Create a URLs file (one URL per line)
cat > {connector_name}.txt << 'EOF'
https://docs.connector.com/api/payments
https://docs.connector.com/api/refunds
https://docs.connector.com/webhooks
EOF

Or save them to data/integration-source-links.json for the tech spec phase to pick up.

---

Phase 2: Tech Spec Generation (Subagent)

Purpose: Generate a structured technical specification from the discovered URLs.

Environment Check

Before delegating Phase 2, verify that grace/.env exists and contains real API keys (not placeholder values). The two critical keys are AI_API_KEY and FIRECRAWL_API_KEY:

if [ -f grace/.env ] \
   && grep -q '^AI_API_KEY=' grace/.env \
   && ! grep -q '^AI_API_KEY=your_' grace/.env \
   && grep -q '^FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=' grace/.env \
   && ! grep -q '^FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=your_' grace/.env; then
  echo "GRACE_ENV_READY"
else
  echo "GRACE_ENV_MISSING"
fi

• If GRACE_ENV_READY --> Use Path A: Grace CLI (standard path)
• If GRACE_ENV_MISSING --> Use Path B: Claude-Native (alternative path)

This catches: missing .env, empty .env, or .env with default placeholder values.

---

Path A: Grace CLI Tech Spec (when grace/.env exists)

Can be delegated to a subagent. The full subagent prompt is in references/techspec-generation.md. Give the subagent the connector name and flow.

What the Grace CLI subagent does

1. Extracts URLs from data/integration-source-links.json for the connector
2. Creates a URL file ({connector_name}.txt) with one URL per line
3. Runs grace techspec:

   cd grace
   source .venv/bin/activate
   cat ../{connector_name}.txt | grace techspec {ConnectorName} -e
   

4. Verifies the spec was generated at grace/rulesbook/codegen/references/specs/

How to invoke the Grace CLI subagent

Subagent prompt:
  "Read and follow the workflow in .skills/generate-tech-spec/references/techspec-generation.md

  Variables:
    CONNECTOR: {ConnectorName}  (exact casing for grace techspec command)
    FLOW: {Flow}                (e.g., Card, BankDebit)"

Grace techspec CLI reference

grace techspec <ConnectorName> [options]

Options:
  -u <path>    Path to file containing URLs to scrape
  -f <path>    Path to folder with local docs (PDF, HTML)
  -e           Enable enhanced mode (Claude Agent SDK enhancement)
  -m           Enable mock server generation for testing
  -v           Verbose output
  -o <dir>     Output directory for generated specs

Input methods:
  Pipe URLs:     cat urls.txt | grace techspec ConnectorName -e
  Local folder:  grace techspec ConnectorName -f /path/to/docs -v
  URL file:      grace techspec ConnectorName -u urls.txt -e

Critical rules:

• Working directory MUST be grace/ when running the command
• Virtual environment MUST be activated first (source .venv/bin/activate)
• The -e flag is recommended for enhanced extraction
• The command can take up to 20 minutes -- do not interrupt

---

Path B: Claude-Native Tech Spec (when grace/.env is missing)

Can be delegated to a subagent. The full subagent prompt is in references/techspec-generation-native.md. Give the subagent the connector name and flow.

What the Claude-native subagent does

1. Reads URLs from data/integration-source-links.json for the connector
2. Scrapes each URL one by one using WebFetch, saving scraped content to markdown files at grace/rulesbook/codegen/references/{connector}/source_{N}.md
3. Generates the tech spec by synthesizing all scraped content into the standard format and writing to grace/rulesbook/codegen/references/specs/{ConnectorName}.md
4. Enhances the spec by re-reading each source file and enriching missing details (equivalent to grace's enhance step)
5. Runs field/sequence analysis identifying API call sequences, field dependencies, and UNDECIDED fields (equivalent to grace's analysis step)
6. Verifies the output file exists and contains all required sections

How to invoke the Claude-native subagent

Subagent prompt:
  "Read and follow the workflow in .skills/generate-tech-spec/references/techspec-generation-native.md

  Variables:
    CONNECTOR: {ConnectorName}  (exact casing)
    FLOW: {Flow}                (e.g., Card, BankDebit)"

Limitations vs Grace CLI

• Scraping uses WebFetch which may not handle JavaScript-rendered pages as well as Firecrawl
• Processing is sequential (one URL at a time) rather than parallel
• No mock server generation (the -m flag equivalent is not supported)

---

Verification

After both phases complete, verify:

1. Tech spec file exists:

   find grace/rulesbook/codegen/references -iname "*{connector}*" | head -10
   

2. Tech spec contains all required sections (Overview, Auth, Endpoints, Status Mappings)

3. Each endpoint has: HTTP method, URL path, request schema, response schema, status values

---

What to Do Next

After the tech spec is ready, use the appropriate skill:

• Full connector from scratch: use new-connector skill
• Add specific flows: use add-connector-flow skill
• Add payment methods: use add-payment-method skill

Reference Files

File	Purpose
references/links-discovery.md	Full subagent prompt for Phase 1 (link finding + verification)
references/techspec-generation.md	Full subagent prompt for Phase 2 Path A (grace techspec execution)
references/techspec-generation-native.md	Full subagent prompt for Phase 2 Path B (Claude-native, no grace CLI)