Spec Builder

Transform vague ideas into concrete, actionable spec documents through structured interviews.

Workflow

Phase 1: Gather Initial Context

First, prompt for the idea:

What's the idea you'd like to turn into a spec?
Describe it however it exists in your head right now - it can be vague.

Then ask background questions to calibrate the interview depth:

AskUserQuestion:
1. "What's your background?"
   - Technical (developer/engineer)
   - Semi-technical (PM, designer, technical founder)
   - Non-technical (business, creative, general user)

2. "What's the goal for this spec?"
   - MVP/prototype to test the idea
   - Full product spec for development
   - Pitch document for stakeholders
   - Personal reference to clarify my thinking

Phase 2: Deep Interview

Conduct the interview using AskUserQuestion with batched questions (2-4 related questions per batch).

Rules:

Never assume - if something is ambiguous, ask
Provide sensible default options for every question
Add "(Recommended)" to the best default option
Anticipate needs the user hasn't considered
Adapt question depth based on user's technical level

Question calibration by user background:

Topic	Technical User	Non-Technical User
Architecture	"REST vs GraphQL vs tRPC?"	Skip - decide yourself
Data storage	"SQL vs NoSQL? Which DB?"	"Does it need to remember data between sessions?"
UI framework	"React, Vue, or Svelte?"	Skip - decide yourself
Hosting	"Serverless, containers, or VMs?"	Skip - decide yourself
Auth	"OAuth, magic links, or password?"	"How should users log in?" (plain language options)
Scale	"Expected concurrent users?"	"How many people might use this at once?"

Interview domains to cover (adapt based on product type):

For software products:

Core functionality (what does it do?)
User types and permissions
Key user flows (step by step)
Data model (what entities exist?)
UI/UX preferences (style, layout, interactions)
Integrations (external services, APIs)
Edge cases and error handling
Security and privacy requirements
Platform (web, mobile, desktop, CLI)

For physical products:

Core functionality
Materials and form factor
User interaction (how do you use it?)
Manufacturing considerations
Safety requirements
Packaging and delivery

For all products:

Success criteria (how do we know it works?)
Constraints (budget, timeline, must-haves)
Anti-goals (what it explicitly should NOT do)

Example batched question:

AskUserQuestion (batch):
1. "Who are the main users of this product?"
   - Single user type (just me / general public)
   - Two distinct roles (e.g., admin + regular user)
   - Multiple user types (need to define each)

2. "Do users need accounts?"
   - No accounts needed (Recommended for MVP)
   - Simple accounts (email/password)
   - Social login (Google, GitHub, etc.)
   - Enterprise SSO

Phase 3: Draft Review

After covering core questions (~10-15 batches), present a draft outline:

Here's the spec outline based on our conversation so far:

## [Product Name] - Spec Outline

**Overview:** [1-2 sentences]

**Core Features:**
1. [Feature A]
2. [Feature B]
...

**User Types:** [list]

**Key Flows:** [list main workflows]

**Technical Approach:** [high-level decisions]

**Open Questions:** [things still unclear]

---

Does this capture your vision? What's missing or wrong?

Then use AskUserQuestion to get feedback:

1. "How does this outline look?"
   - Looks good, continue with details
   - Missing something important (I'll explain)
   - Some parts are wrong (I'll clarify)
   - Let's pivot direction

Phase 4: Deep Dive

Based on feedback, ask detailed follow-up questions on:

Unclear areas from the outline
Edge cases and error states
Specific UI/UX details
Technical constraints
Anything marked as "Open Questions"

Continue until confident all ambiguity is resolved.

Phase 5: Write Spec

Write the final spec to

spec-<product-name>.md

in the current directory.

Spec format principles:

Detailed enough for an AI coding agent to implement
Skimmable for human review (use headers, bullets, tables)
No vague language - every requirement must be concrete
Include explicit anti-goals and out-of-scope items
Write as a standalone document - never mention the interview process or reference "our conversation"

Spec structure (adapt sections based on product type):

markdown

# [Product Name] Spec

## Overview
[2-3 sentences: what it is, who it's for, core value prop]

## Goals & Non-Goals

### Goals
- [Concrete goal 1]
- [Concrete goal 2]

### Non-Goals (explicitly out of scope)
- [What this product will NOT do]

## User Types
[Table or list of user types and their permissions/capabilities]

## Core Features

### Feature 1: [Name]
**Purpose:** [Why this feature exists]
**Behavior:**
- [Specific behavior 1]
- [Specific behavior 2]
**UI:** [Description or wireframe reference]

[Repeat for each feature]

## User Flows

### Flow 1: [Name]
1. User does X
2. System responds with Y
3. User sees Z
...

[Repeat for key flows]

## Data Model
[Tables, entities, relationships - for software]
[Components, materials - for physical products]

## Technical Decisions
[Architecture choices, technologies, integrations]
[Skip for non-technical users or physical products]

## Edge Cases & Error Handling
- When X happens, the system should Y
- If Z fails, show error message: "..."

## Open Questions
[Anything that still needs resolution before building]

## Future Considerations
[Ideas mentioned but explicitly deferred]

Key Principles

Be thorough - Ask many questions. 10-20 batches is normal for a complex product.
Never assume - If two interpretations are possible, ask which one.
Provide defaults - Every question should have reasonable options with a recommended choice.
Adapt depth - Technical users get technical questions; non-technical users get plain language.
Surface unknowns - Ask about things the user probably hasn't considered yet.
Stay concrete - The final spec should have zero vague requirements.

spec-builder

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content