Spec Driven Development

Structures feature work for AI coding agents into gated phases — research, spec, plan, tasks, implement, validate — each producing a short reviewable artifact that constrains the next. Use when requirements are informal or drift-prone, when the same prompt produces different implementations across sessions, or when a feature touches auth, database schema, or API contracts. Keywords: spec-driven development, SDD, spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md, constitution.md, acceptance criteria, drift detection.

9 starsSoftware Development

Install

skills CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more)

npx skills add mariano-aguero/spec-driven-development-skill --skill spec-driven-development

Manual install

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mariano-aguero/spec-driven-development-skill.git /tmp/spec-driven-development-skill
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/spec-driven-development-skill/. ~/.claude/skills/spec-driven-development

Personal skills live in ~/.claude/skills. Use .claude/skills in a project folder to share a skill with your team.

From the SKILL.md

# Spec-Driven Development

## Overview

SDD makes **specifications the source of truth** — code serves specs, not the other way
around. Instead of prompting an AI with vague descriptions and hoping for the right output,
you define precise specifications first, then let AI generate code strictly constrained by
them.

Without a spec, AI makes thousands of micro-decisions silently. With a spec, those decisions
are made by you — explicitly, before any code is written, which is what turns a pivot into a
systematic regeneration rather than a manual rewrite.

## Quick Start

1. `/sdd:init` — create `constitution.md` (once per project, before any feature spec)
2. `/sdd:research [description]` — map how the existing code works, cited `file:line` (skip on greenfield)
3. Surface and correct the AI's implicit assumptions *before* any AC is written
4. `/sdd:specify [description]` — generate `spec.md` with MoSCoW-prioritized ACs
5. Follow the gates: Clarify → Plan → Tasks → Implement → Validate, with human approval at each

Step-by-step detail: `references/workflow-phases.md`.

## When to Use

Symptoms that signal SDD is needed:

- AI ignores constraints or generates code that doesn't match requirements
- Same prompt produces different implementations across sessions
- Requirements are complex with multiple stakeholders or cross-cutting concerns
- Team needs shared technical understanding before writing code
- Feature touches auth, data model, API contracts, or database schema

Read the full skill on GitHub

Details

Skill name: spec-driven-development
Repository: mariano-aguero/spec-driven-development-skill
License: MIT
Repo updated: 6 August 2026

FAQ

What does the Spec Driven Development skill do?

How do I install the Spec Driven Development skill?

skills CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more): npx skills add mariano-aguero/spec-driven-development-skill --skill spec-driven-development. Skills go in ~/.claude/skills (personal) or .claude/skills (project), and Claude loads them automatically when a task matches the description.

Is Spec Driven Development popular?

It lives in mariano-aguero/spec-driven-development-skill, which has 9 GitHub stars and 0 forks.

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