| name | spec-kitty.analyze |
| description | Cross-artifact consistency and quality analysis |
| user-invocable | true |
User Input
The content of the user's message that invoked this skill (everything after the skill invocation token, e.g. after /spec-kitty.<command> or $spec-kitty.<command>) is the User Input referenced elsewhere in these instructions.
You MUST consider this user input before proceeding (if not empty).
Goal
Identify inconsistencies, duplications, ambiguities, and underspecified items across the three core artifacts (spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md) before implementation. This command MUST run only after /tasks has successfully produced a complete tasks.md.
Operating Constraints
STRICTLY READ-ONLY: Do not modify any files. Output a structured analysis report. Offer an optional remediation plan (user must explicitly approve before any follow-up editing commands would be invoked manually).
Charter Authority: The project charter (/charter/charter.md) is non-negotiable within this analysis scope. Charter conflicts are automatically CRITICAL and require adjustment of the spec, plan, or tasks—not dilution, reinterpretation, or silent ignoring of the principle. If a principle itself needs to change, that must occur in a separate, explicit charter update outside /analyze.
Execution Steps
1. Initialize Analysis Context
Run spec-kitty agent mission check-prerequisites --json --include-tasks --mission <mission-slug> once from repo root and parse JSON for feature_dir, available_docs, target_branch, and base_branch. Derive absolute paths:
- SPEC = feature_dir/spec.md
- PLAN = feature_dir/plan.md
- TASKS = feature_dir/tasks.md
Abort with an error message if any required file is missing (instruct the user to run missing prerequisite command).
2. Load Artifacts (Progressive Disclosure)
Load only the minimal necessary context from each artifact:
From spec.md:
- Overview/Context
- Functional Requirements
- Non-Functional Requirements
- User Stories
- Edge Cases (if present)
From plan.md:
- Architecture/stack choices
- Data Model references
- Phases
- Technical constraints
From tasks.md:
- Task IDs
- Descriptions
- Phase grouping
- Parallel markers [P]
- Referenced file paths
From charter:
- Load
/charter/charter.md for principle validation
3. Build Semantic Models
Create internal representations (do not include raw artifacts in output):
- Requirements inventory: Each functional + non-functional requirement with a stable key (derive slug based on imperative phrase; e.g., "User can upload file" →
user-can-upload-file)
- User story/action inventory: Discrete user actions with acceptance criteria
- Task coverage mapping: Map each task to one or more requirements or stories (inference by keyword / explicit reference patterns like IDs or key phrases)
- Charter rule set: Extract principle names and MUST/SHOULD normative statements
4. Detection Passes (Token-Efficient Analysis)
Focus on high-signal findings. Limit to 50 findings total; aggregate remainder in overflow summary.
A. Duplication Detection
- Identify near-duplicate requirements
- Mark lower-quality phrasing for consolidation
B. Ambiguity Detection
- Flag vague adjectives (fast, scalable, secure, intuitive, robust) lacking measurable criteria
- Flag unresolved placeholders (TODO, TKTK, ???,
<placeholder>, etc.)
C. Underspecification
- Requirements with verbs but missing object or measurable outcome
- User stories missing acceptance criteria alignment
- Tasks referencing files or components not defined in spec/plan
D. Charter Alignment
- Any requirement or plan element conflicting with a MUST principle
- Missing mandated sections or quality gates from charter
E. Coverage Gaps
- Requirements with zero associated tasks
- Tasks with no mapped requirement/story
- Non-functional requirements not reflected in tasks (e.g., performance, security)
F. Inconsistency
- Terminology drift (same concept named differently across files)
- Data entities referenced in plan but absent in spec (or vice versa)
- Task ordering contradictions (e.g., integration tasks before foundational setup tasks without dependency note)
- Conflicting requirements (e.g., one requires Next.js while other specifies Vue)
5. Severity Assignment
Use this heuristic to prioritize findings:
- CRITICAL: Violates charter MUST, missing core spec artifact, or requirement with zero coverage that blocks baseline functionality
- HIGH: Duplicate or conflicting requirement, ambiguous security/performance attribute, untestable acceptance criterion
- MEDIUM: Terminology drift, missing non-functional task coverage, underspecified edge case
- LOW: Style/wording improvements, minor redundancy not affecting execution order
6. Produce Compact Analysis Report
Output a Markdown report (no file writes) with the following structure:
Specification Analysis Report
| ID | Category | Severity | Location(s) | Summary | Recommendation |
|---|
| A1 | Duplication | HIGH | spec.md:L120-134 | Two similar requirements ... | Merge phrasing; keep clearer version |
(Add one row per finding; generate stable IDs prefixed by category initial.)
Coverage Summary Table:
| Requirement Key | Has Task? | Task IDs | Notes |
|---|
Charter Alignment Issues: (if any)
Unmapped Tasks: (if any)
Metrics:
- Total Requirements
- Total Tasks
- Coverage % (requirements with >=1 task)
- Ambiguity Count
- Duplication Count
- Critical Issues Count
7. Provide Next Actions
At end of report, output a concise Next Actions block:
- If CRITICAL issues exist: Recommend resolving before
/implement
- If only LOW/MEDIUM: User may proceed, but provide improvement suggestions
- Provide explicit command suggestions: e.g., "Run /spec-kitty.specify with refinement", "Run /plan to adjust architecture", "Manually edit tasks.md to add coverage for 'performance-metrics'"
8. Offer Remediation
Ask the user: "Would you like me to suggest concrete remediation edits for the top N issues?" (Do NOT apply them automatically.)
Operating Principles
Context Efficiency
- Minimal high-signal tokens: Focus on actionable findings, not exhaustive documentation
- Progressive disclosure: Load artifacts incrementally; don't dump all content into analysis
- Token-efficient output: Limit findings table to 50 rows; summarize overflow
- Deterministic results: Rerunning without changes should produce consistent IDs and counts
Analysis Guidelines
- NEVER modify files (this is read-only analysis)
- NEVER hallucinate missing sections (if absent, report them accurately)
- Prioritize charter violations (these are always CRITICAL)
- Use examples over exhaustive rules (cite specific instances, not generic patterns)
- Report zero issues gracefully (emit success report with coverage statistics)
Context
(User's invocation context is provided in the User Input section above.)
