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

# 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

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

3. Copy scripts

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

4. Copy templates

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

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:

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

rm -rf "$SPECKIT_SRC"

8. Ensure required GitHub labels exist

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

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>