openspec

What This Skill Does

OpenSpec is a powerful framework for spec-driven development, designed to bring rigor and structure to AI-assisted coding tasks. By utilizing the OpenSpec CLI, the agent creates a repeatable pipeline for development: proposal, specification, architectural design, and task-based implementation. Instead of jumping straight into code, OpenSpec enforces a discipline that ensures requirements are clearly defined, edge cases are covered, and technical debt is minimized. It acts as an orchestrator for the development lifecycle, allowing the AI to maintain state across complex projects by tracking artifact progress and verifying implementations before final archiving. It provides a standardized interface for teams to collaborate with AI agents on features, refactors, and migrations.

Installation

To install this skill, run the following command in your terminal: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/jcorrego/openspec

Additionally, ensure the OpenSpec CLI is installed globally on your machine to support the backend operations: npm install -g @fission-ai/openspec@latest

Use Cases

• Feature Planning: Break down high-level feature requests into actionable technical tasks.
• Complex Refactoring: Design architectural changes and verify the logic before executing destructive code changes.
• System Migrations: Use structured spec-driven flows to manage data or logic migrations, ensuring every step is planned and validated.
• Team Alignment: Generate documented specifications that provide a shared context for both human developers and the OpenClaw agent.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenSpec, I need to add a new authentication flow to our project. Please start a new change named 'auth-v2' using the standard schema."
2. "Review the current implementation status for 'refactor-user-db' and generate the next steps based on the tasks.md file."
3. "Validate the completion of my migration task and prepare the files for archiving once everything passes."

Tips & Limitations

• Always Check Schemas: Use openspec schemas --json to ensure you are using the best schema for your task (e.g., TDD vs. rapid-prototyping).
• Granularity: Keep tasks in tasks.md small. Smaller tasks lead to higher accuracy and lower chance of hallucination or logic errors during code execution.
• Validation is Key: Do not skip the openspec validate step; it is designed to catch missing requirements or broken design coherence before you merge changes back into the main branch.
• Context Awareness: The skill relies on accurate file structure; ensure you are operating within the root directory of an OpenSpec-initialized project.