Spec-Driven Development

Spec-driven development creates and maintains natural language specifications as an integral, versioned component of software projects. Specs capture functional requirements and link to the tests that verify them, creating a traceable chain from requirements to implementation.

How it works

1. Gather requirements — Interview stakeholders to clarify ambiguous areas before writing code
2. Write specs — Create .spec.md files that document requirements and link to tests
3. Get approval — Stakeholder confirms specs capture the intended requirements
4. Implement — Build against approved specs
5. Review — Verify all requirements are satisfied, update specs with discoveries
6. Verify — Ensure specs, code, and tests stay synchronized over time

Reference documentation

• Spec Format — File structure, frontmatter, targets, and [@test] link syntax
• Spec Styleguide — Best practices for writing clear, maintainable specs