specify

name	specify
description	Generate a specification document and task list for a feature, bugfix, improvement, spike, or chore. Automatically detects the scenario type, analyzes existing codebase patterns, and produces an actionable spec (order.md) with a task checklist (todo.md). Use before starting implementation.
effort	max
argument-hint	<feature-description>
disable-model-invocation	true

Specify

Generate a specification for $ARGUMENTS.

Phase 1: Scenario Detection

Analyze the user's request and classify into one of 5 scenarios:

1. New Feature — keywords: "new", "add", "create", "build", "introduce" → Use refs/template-new-feature.md

2. Improvement — keywords: "improve", "optimize", "enhance", "update", "refine" → Use refs/template-improvement.md

3. Bugfix — keywords: "bug", "error", "fix", "broken", "crash", "failing" → Use refs/template-bugfix.md

4. Spike (Technical Investigation) — keywords: "investigate", "PoC", "spike", "research", "evaluate" → Use refs/template-spike.md — Also triggered by explicit prefix: /specify spike: ...

5. Chore (Technical Work) — keywords: "refactor", "migrate", "dependency", "chore", "upgrade", "infrastructure" → Use refs/template-chore.md — Also triggered by explicit prefix: /specify chore: ...

Ambiguity handling: If the request matches keywords from multiple scenarios (e.g., "fix and improve"), STOP immediately. Output a message asking the user to choose between the top 2 matching scenarios. Do not proceed to Phase 2 until the user replies.

No match: If no keywords match any scenario, ask the user which scenario best fits their request.

Phase 2: Codebase Analysis

Before writing the specification, thoroughly analyze the existing codebase:

a. Project Environment Detection

• Language & Framework: detect from package manager and build configuration files
• Project conventions: read CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md if present
• Architecture docs: search for docs/ or documentation/ directories

b. Related Code Investigation

• Search for files and symbols related to the feature using Grep and Glob
• If a symbolic analysis MCP is available, use it for deeper code navigation (find symbol, find references, etc.)
• Identify similar implementation patterns already in the codebase
• Check database schema/migration files if the feature involves data
• Check API routing files if the feature involves endpoints

c. External Documentation

• If a documentation MCP is available, search for related specifications
• If a library documentation MCP is available and new libraries are involved, query latest documentation
• Check any docs/ directory in the project for existing documentation

Phase 3: Specification Generation

Using the scenario-appropriate template from refs/, generate the specification:

• Fill in all applicable sections based on codebase analysis
• Follow existing implementation patterns discovered in Phase 2
• Only write implementable content — do not guess or speculate
• Include concrete file paths based on the project's actual structure
• Reference similar existing implementations as examples

Phase 4: Task List Generation

Create a todo.md with actionable implementation tasks:

• Tasks should be ordered by implementation dependency (what needs to be built first)
• Each task should be specific enough to implement independently
• Include test tasks alongside implementation tasks
• Use - [ ] checkbox format

Output

Create two files:

1. order.md — Specification and implementation guide
2. todo.md — Task checklist in - [ ] format

Derive {feature-name} as a concise kebab-case identifier from $ARGUMENTS (e.g., "user authentication flow" → user-auth-flow). Default output directory is specs/{feature-name}/. If the user specifies a different directory, use that instead.

Rules

• Follow existing codebase patterns in the specification
• Only include implementable, verified content
• Do not guess or speculate about implementation details
• Always create both order.md and todo.md
• Reference actual file paths from the project

Next Steps (optional)

• /implement {feature-name} to start implementation