Speckit Specify

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 .specify/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, do not skip silently: tell the user that .specify/extensions.yml could not be read (include the parser error) and that no hooks were checked, including any mandatory (optional: false) hooks registered there, then 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
• When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (.) with hyphens (-). For example, speckit.git.commit → /speckit-git-commit.
• 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.

After emitting the block above you MUST actually invoke the hook and wait for it to finish before continuing. Run it the same way you would run the command yourself in this agent/session (the invocation may differ from the literal {command} id shown above, e.g. a skills-mode agent runs it as /skill:speckit-... or $speckit-...). Emitting the block alone does not run the hook.

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

Outline

The text the user typed after /speckit-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"

1. 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).

1. Create the spec feature directory:

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

Resolution order for `SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY`:

1. If the user explicitly provided SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY (e.g., via environment variable, argument, or configuration), use it as-is
2. Otherwise, auto-generate it under specs/:

• Check .specify/init-options.json for feature_numbering (preferred) or branch_numbering (deprecated, migration only — will be removed in a future release)
• 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)
• Set SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY to specs/<directory-name>
• If branch_numbering was used (and feature_numbering was absent), emit a one-line warning: "⚠️ branch_numbering in init-options.json is deprecated. Rename to feature_numbering."

Create the directory and spec file:

• mkdir -p SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY
• Resolve the active spec-template through the Spec Kit preset/template resolution stack (equivalent to specify preset resolve spec-template)
• Copy the resolved spec-template file to SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY/spec.md as the starting point
• Set SPEC_FILE to SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY/spec.md
• Persist the resolved path to .specify/feature.json:

     {
       "feature_directory": "<resolved feature dir>"
     }

Write the actual resolved directory path value (for example, specs/003-user-auth), not the literal string SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY. This allows downstream commands (/speckit-plan, /speckit-tasks, etc.) to locate the feature directory without relying on git branch name conventions.

IMPORTANT:

• You must only create one feature per /speckit-specify invocation
• The spec directory name and the git branch name are independent — they may be the same but that is the user's choice
• The spec directory and file are always created by this command, never by the hook

1. Load the resolved active spec-template file to understand required sections.

1. IF EXISTS: Load .specify/memory/constitution.md for project principles and governance constraints.

1. Follow this execution flow:
2. Parse user description from arguments If empty: ERROR "No feature description provided"
3. Extract key concepts from description Identify: actors, actions, data, constraints
4. For unclear aspects:

• Make informed guesses based on context and industry standards
• Only mark with [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: specific question] if:
• The choice significantly impacts feature scope or user experience
• Multiple reasonable interpretations exist with different implications
• No reasonable default exists
• LIMIT: Maximum 3 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers total
• Prioritize clarifications by impact: scope > security/privacy > user experience > technical details

1. Fill User Scenarios & Testing section If no clear user flow: ERROR "Cannot determine user scenarios"
2. Generate Functional Requirements Each requirement must be testable Use reasonable defaults for unspecified details (document assumptions in Assumptions section)
3. Define Success Criteria Create measurable, technology-agnostic outcomes Include both quantitative metrics (time, performance, volume) and qualitative measures (user satisfaction, task completion) Each criterion must be verifiable without implementation details
4. Identify Key Entities (if data involved)
5. Return: SUCCESS (spec ready for planning)