speq-mission

name	speq-mission
description	Create specs/mission.md via interactive interview. Detects brownfield vs greenfield.

Mission Creator

You are creating a project mission file (specs/mission.md) through an interactive interview.

Golden Rule: NEVER assume. ALL content MUST come from user answers or code exploration.

Required Skills

Invoke before starting:

• /speq-code-tools — Codebase exploration
• /speq-ext-research — Tech stack research
• /speq-cli — Spec structure
• /speq-writing-guardrails — Prose style for artifacts and GitHub text

Workflow

0. Load Project Hook

Check for .speq/mission-hook.md in the repo root.

• Present: read it. Announce "Loaded project hook: .speq/mission-hook.md". Its content is authoritative — it may add, change, or override any part of this skill's workflow below when the two conflict.
• Absent: continue normally, no mention.

1. Project Detection

Determine project type:

Cargo.toml, package.json, go.mod, etc. exists?
├─ Yes → Brownfield (existing code)
└─ No  → Greenfield (new project)

specs/ or similar directory exists?
├─ Yes → Has existing specs (read them)
└─ No  → No specs yet

2. Brownfield Exploration

For existing projects, gather context BEFORE interviewing:

2.1 Detect Tech Stack

File	Indicates
Cargo.toml	Rust project → read dependencies
package.json	Node.js → read dependencies, scripts
go.mod	Go project → read dependencies
pyproject.toml / requirements.txt	Python → read dependencies
pom.xml / build.gradle	Java/Kotlin

Important: This is an exemplary list. Project may use other languages or frameworks. Project may use several technologies.

2.2 Detect Commands

Look for existing scripts:

# package.json scripts
# Makefile targets
# Cargo.toml aliases
# pyproject.toml scripts

2.3 Explore Structure

# List top-level directories
ls -la

# Find main source directories
find . -type d -name "src" -o -name "lib" -o -name "app" | head -20

2.4 Read Existing Docs

Check for existing documentation:

• README.md
• docs/
• Existing specs/ if any

3. Research Phase

For technologies discovered or mentioned:

• Context7 MCP — Query library documentation for correct API usage
• WebSearch — Research best practices, alternatives, common patterns

Use research to inform interview questions and validate user choices.

4. Clarifying Interview

Conduct a Socratic interview via AskUserQuestion for EVERY section. Never fill in content without asking. Each question should reveal assumptions, surface contradictions, or narrow scope.

4.1 Identity & Purpose

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the project name?
- In one sentence, what does this system do and why does it exist?
- What problem does this solve?
- Who experiences this problem?
- Why do existing solutions fall short?

For brownfield:

Present discovered information, then ask:
- "I found [X]. Is this accurate? What would you add/change?"
- "The README says [Y]. Is this still the current purpose?"

4.2 Target Users

Questions:
- Who are the primary users of this system?
- What are they trying to achieve?
- What is their typical workflow?

For brownfield: "Based on the code, it seems targeted at [X]. Is this correct?"

4.3 Core Capabilities

Apply User Story Mapping (Patton) — identify activities, then decompose into capabilities:

Questions:
- What are the 3-5 core capabilities this system provides?
- (Describe what it does, not how)

For brownfield: "I found these main modules: [X, Y, Z]. What capabilities do they represent?"

4.4 Out of Scope

Questions:
- What does this project explicitly NOT do?
- What features might users expect but won't be supported?

4.5 Domain Glossary

Questions:
- Are there domain-specific terms users should understand?
- Any terms used differently than their common meaning?

For brownfield: "I noticed these terms in the code: [X, Y]. What do they mean in this context?"

4.6 Tech Stack

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What language/runtime?
- What framework (if any)?
- What database (if any)?
- What testing framework?

Use Context7 to research mentioned technologies.

For brownfield:

Present discovered stack:
- "I found: Rust with tokio, clap for CLI, no database. Correct?"
- "Testing appears to use cargo test. Any additional test frameworks?"

4.7 Commands

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the build command?
- What is the test command?
- What is the lint/format command?
- What is the coverage command?

For brownfield:

Present discovered commands:
- "Found in package.json: npm run build, npm test. Are these correct?"
- "No coverage command found. What should it be?"

4.8 Project Structure

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the planned directory structure?
- What is the purpose of each main directory?

For brownfield:

Present discovered structure and ask for clarification on purpose.

4.9 Architecture

Questions:
- What is the high-level architecture pattern? (layered, hexagonal, event-driven, etc.)
- What are the key components and their responsibilities?
- How does data flow through the system?

4.10 Constraints

Questions:
- Technical constraints? (browser-only, offline-first, etc.)
- Business constraints? (GDPR, multi-tenant, etc.)
- Performance constraints? (response time, memory limits, etc.)

4.11 External Dependencies

Questions:
- What external services/APIs does this depend on?
- What happens if each dependency is unavailable?

5. Generate Mission

After collecting ALL information:

1. Create specs/ directory if needed
2. Generate specs/mission.md using references/mission-template.md as structure
3. Fill with ACTUAL collected information (no placeholders)
4. Present to user for review

6. Review & Iterate

Present the generated mission.md and ask:
- "Does this accurately capture your project?"
- "Anything to add, change, or remove?"

Iterate until user approves.

Interview Guidelines

Question Batching

Group questions into MECE partitions (max 3-4 per AskUserQuestion call) — each group covers one dimension without overlap:

Phase	Questions to Group
Identity	Name, summary, problem
Users	Personas, goals, workflows
Capabilities	Core features, out of scope
Technical	Stack, commands, structure
Constraints	Technical, business, performance

Adaptive Depth

Project Complexity	Interview Depth
Simple CLI tool	Minimal (skip architecture, external deps)
Web application	Standard (all sections)
Distributed system	Deep (detailed architecture, failure modes)

Never Assume

Wrong	Right
"I'll use Jest for testing"	"What testing framework do you want?"
"Architecture is MVC"	"What architecture pattern fits best?"
"Coverage target is 80%"	"What coverage target do you want?"