start

Start Feature

Smart entry point for ralph-speckit. Checks constitution, auto-generates feature ID, creates branch, initializes state.

Constitution Check (FIRST)

Before any feature work, constitution must exist.

# Check if constitution exists
if [ ! -f ".specify/memory/constitution.md" ]; then
  echo "CONSTITUTION_MISSING"
else
  echo "CONSTITUTION_EXISTS"
fi

If CONSTITUTION_MISSING:

1. Output: "No constitution found. Run /speckit:constitution first to establish project principles."
2. STOP - do not continue

Parse Arguments

From $ARGUMENTS, extract:

• feature-name: Required, kebab-case name for the feature
• goal: Optional description of what the feature should accomplish

Examples:

• /speckit:start user-auth - Create feature named user-auth
• /speckit:start user-auth Add OAuth2 support - Create with goal

If no feature-name provided:

1. Output: "Usage: /speckit:start [goal]"
2. Output: "Example: /speckit:start user-auth Add OAuth2 support"
3. STOP

Validate feature-name is kebab-case:

• Only lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens
• Must start with letter
• Regex: ^[a-z][a-z0-9-]*$

If invalid:

1. Output: "Invalid feature name. Use kebab-case (e.g., user-auth, api-v2)"
2. STOP

Auto-Generate Feature ID

Scan .specify/specs/ for existing feature directories and find highest ID.

# Find highest existing feature ID
HIGHEST_ID=0
if [ -d ".specify/specs" ]; then
  for dir in .specify/specs/*/; do
    if [ -d "$dir" ]; then
      dirname=$(basename "$dir")
      # Extract numeric prefix (first 3 chars)
      prefix="${dirname:0:3}"
      if [[ "$prefix" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
        num=$((10#$prefix))
        if [ $num -gt $HIGHEST_ID ]; then
          HIGHEST_ID=$num
        fi
      fi
    fi
  done
fi

# Next ID is highest + 1
NEXT_ID=$((HIGHEST_ID + 1))

# Format as 3-digit zero-padded
FEATURE_ID=$(printf "%03d" $NEXT_ID)
echo "FEATURE_ID: $FEATURE_ID"

The feature ID follows format 001, 002, 003, etc.