Setup Spec-Kit

Install Spec-Kit into a target repository, enabling the full Specification-Driven Development (SDD) pipeline: specify → clarify → plan → tasks → implement → analyze → checklist → constitution.

When to Use

Bootstrapping a new repo for speckit workflows
Adding SDD to an existing project

Source Forks

Fork	Repo	Notes
fellowship-dev (default)	fellowship-dev/spec-kit	Leaner, fewer tokens, opinionated defaults
upstream	github/spec-kit	Original, more verbose, higher token cost

Default to the fellowship-dev fork. If the user explicitly requests the upstream version, warn that it uses significantly more tokens per invocation due to longer templates and prompts.

Prerequisites

Git available in the target repo
Target repo has a
```
.claude/
```
directory (run
```
setup-harness
```
first if not)

What Gets Installed

target-repo/
├── .specify/
│   ├── scripts/bash/          # create-new-feature.sh, setup-plan.sh, common.sh, etc.
│   ├── templates/             # spec, plan, tasks, checklist, constitution templates
│   └── memory/
│       └── constitution.md    # Project principles (customized or default)
├── .claude/commands/
│   ├── speckit.specify.md     # /speckit.specify <issue-number>
│   ├── speckit.plan.md        # /speckit.plan
│   ├── speckit.tasks.md       # /speckit.tasks
│   ├── speckit.implement.md   # /speckit.implement
│   ├── speckit.clarify.md     # /speckit.clarify
│   ├── speckit.checklist.md   # /speckit.checklist
│   ├── speckit.analyze.md     # /speckit.analyze
│   └── speckit.constitution.md
└── specs/                     # Created per-feature by /speckit.specify

Installation Steps

1. Clone Spec-Kit to a temp directory

bash

# Default: fellowship-dev fork (leaner, recommended)
SPECKIT_SRC=$(mktemp -d)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/fellowship-dev/spec-kit.git "$SPECKIT_SRC"

# Alternative: upstream (more verbose, higher token cost)
# git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git "$SPECKIT_SRC"

2. Create target directories

bash

mkdir -p .specify/scripts/bash .specify/templates .specify/memory
mkdir -p .claude/commands
mkdir -p specs

3. Copy scripts

bash

cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/scripts/bash/*.sh .specify/scripts/bash/
chmod +x .specify/scripts/bash/*.sh

4. Copy templates

bash

cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/spec-template.md .specify/templates/
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/plan-template.md .specify/templates/
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/tasks-template.md .specify/templates/
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/checklist-template.md .specify/templates/
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/constitution-template.md .specify/templates/

5. Copy Claude Code slash commands

bash

cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/specify.md .claude/commands/speckit.specify.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/plan.md .claude/commands/speckit.plan.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/tasks.md .claude/commands/speckit.tasks.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/implement.md .claude/commands/speckit.implement.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/clarify.md .claude/commands/speckit.clarify.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/checklist.md .claude/commands/speckit.checklist.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/analyze.md .claude/commands/speckit.analyze.md
cp "$SPECKIT_SRC"/templates/commands/constitution.md .claude/commands/speckit.constitution.md

6. Initialize constitution

If the project doesn't have a constitution yet:

bash

cp .specify/templates/constitution-template.md .specify/memory/constitution.md

Ask the user if they want to customize it now or use the default. Key decisions:

Test-first vs test-after
Library-first preference
Max complexity per feature
Framework-specific principles

7. Clean up

bash

rm -rf "$SPECKIT_SRC"

8. Ensure required GitHub labels exist

bash

REPO=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q '.nameWithOwner')

gh label create "in-progress" --repo "$REPO" --color "97f157" --description "Issue is actively being worked on" 2>/dev/null || true
gh label create "ready-to-work" --repo "$REPO" --color "f6a80a" --description "PRD complete, ready for implementation" 2>/dev/null || true

9. Verify installation

bash

ls .specify/scripts/bash/*.sh      # Scripts present and executable
ls .specify/templates/*.md         # Templates present
ls .claude/commands/speckit.*.md   # Slash commands present
cat .specify/memory/constitution.md # Constitution initialized
gh label list --repo "$REPO" | grep -E "in-progress|ready-to-work"

Post-Install

Run
```
/speckit.constitution
```
to customize principles for this project
The repo is now ready for
```
/speckit.specify <issue-number>
```
workflows

SDD Philosophy (Terse)

Specs ≤50 lines, bullets only
Plans ≤50 lines, table-driven decisions
Tasks ≤40 lines, checkboxes, no prose
Constitution enforces principles (test-first, library-first, simplicity)
Branch naming:
```
<issue-number>-<short-name>
```

setup-speckit

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Setup Spec-Kit

When to Use

Source Forks

Prerequisites

What Gets Installed

Installation Steps

1. Clone Spec-Kit to a temp directory

2. Create target directories

3. Copy scripts

4. Copy templates

5. Copy Claude Code slash commands

6. Initialize constitution

7. Clean up

8. Ensure required GitHub labels exist

9. Verify installation

Post-Install

SDD Philosophy (Terse)