Specs Review

Audit the health and consistency of a project's spec-driven documentation.

Skill Dependencies

This skill is part of a set of skills designed to work together:

• spec-driven — Core rules and high-level document map
• specs-setup — Initialize specs/ for a new project
• specs-tickets — Create and execute tickets through their lifecycle
• specs-finish-ticket — Review implemented tickets before closure
• specs-review (this skill) — Audit specs health and consistency

If any of these skills are missing from the project, instruct the user to install them before proceeding:

npx skills add b12consulting/skills --skill <missing_skill>

Always load the spec-driven skill first for the core rules. Load the methodology reference when you need detailed lifecycle, document, ADR, or Findings guidance.

Procedure

1. Structural Completeness

Verify all required files exist:

• specs/README.md
• specs/Vision.md
• specs/PRD.md
• specs/Architecture/README.md
• specs/Glossary.md
• specs/Changelog.md
• specs/decisions/ directory
• specs/tickets/ directory

Report any missing files. Suggest running specs-setup if critical files are absent.

If the project is event-driven, API-heavy, multi-package, or persistence-heavy, also check whether optional architecture sub-documents such as specs/Architecture/data-model.md or other topic-specific architecture docs would improve clarity.

2. Document Quality

For each project-level document, check:

Document	Check
Vision.md	Has vision statement, problem statement, target audience, success metrics, and milestones?
PRD.md	Has functional requirements, non-functional requirements, and scope? Are requirements numbered (FR-1, FR-2, ...)?
Architecture/README.md	Has system overview, key components, and tech stack? Links to sub-documents if they exist?
Glossary.md	Has at least a few terms? Are terms used consistently in other documents?
Changelog.md	Is it up to date with recent completed tickets?
README.md	Does the active tickets table match actual ticket statuses? Is the last-updated date recent?

Flag documents that are empty templates or still contain placeholder content.

If these optional architecture documents exist, also check:

Document	Check
Architecture/data-model.md	Are canonical entities, identity rules, relationships, state transitions, and invariants documented clearly?

3. Cross-Reference Consistency

Check that documents reference each other correctly:

• README dashboard vs. reality: Do the Active Tickets and Recently Completed tables match ticket statuses from Spec.md frontmatter?
• Glossary usage: Scan Vision.md, PRD.md, and architecture docs for domain terms. Are they defined in the Glossary?
• Architecture sub-documents: If Architecture/README.md links to sub-documents, do those files exist?

4. Drift Detection

Compare specs against the codebase:

• Does the tech stack in Architecture/README.md match the actual dependencies?
• Do the key components described in architecture docs match the actual project structure?
• Are there functional requirements in PRD.md that do not correspond to any ticket, planned or completed?
• Where architecture docs define long-lived boundary contracts, do those contracts still match the code?
• Where data-model.md exists, do documented identity rules and invariants still match the code and current architecture?

This step requires codebase analysis. Flag potential drift but note that confirmation with the user is needed — apparent drift may be intentional and just not yet documented.

5. Report

Summarize findings in three categories:

Critical — Blocks correct agent behavior:

• missing ground truth documents such as Vision.md, PRD.md, or Architecture/README.md
• tickets with invalid or missing frontmatter in Spec.md
• tickets missing required Plan.md for their lifecycle state
• conflicts between specs and code that could lead to wrong implementation

Warning — Should be addressed soon:

• stale tickets
• unresolved open questions
• README dashboard out of sync
• empty or placeholder documents

Suggestion — Improvements for completeness:

• missing Glossary terms
• tickets without Findings.md that clearly involved durable assumptions, frictions, or follow-up candidates
• architecture that could benefit from sub-documents
• missing data-model.md or other architecture docs for non-trivial boundary contracts or persistence shapes

6. Propose Actions

For each finding, propose a concrete action:

• "Create ADR to document the React-to-Vue migration that happened in ticket 005"
• "Update specs/README.md — tickets 003 and 004 are marked done but still in Active Tickets"
• "Ticket 007 has been in-progress for 3 weeks with no updates — ask the owner for status"
• "Add 'workspace' and 'campaign' to the Glossary — used in PRD but not defined"

Ask the user which actions to take. Execute approved actions immediately.