spec-writer

spec-writer is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from MCKRUZ/claude-code-sdlc. It costs 74 tokens per session (506 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A specification-writing method for turning a backlog story into a build-ready feature document. It defines the goal, scope, testable acceptance checks, risk, delegation limits, and verification plan before implementation begins.

In plain words
What is it for?
Create the next numbered Markdown file in specs/ from the project template. Write observable acceptance checks, assign a risk tier, identify allowed files and a canonical code pattern, describe how the work will be delegated and tested, and add evaluation details for AI-powered features.
Why use it?
Vague feature requests let different developers or agents make different assumptions. Clear checks and risk rules reduce rework and establish what must be true before the work is accepted.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Part of the claude-code-sdlc plugin — 9 skills, 28 commands, 20 agents shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/mckruz/claude-code-sdlc/spec-writer
Any agent
npx skills add MCKRUZ/claude-code-sdlc --skill spec-writer
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MCKRUZ/claude-code-sdlc

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install claude-code-sdlc, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 9 skills, 28 commands, 20 agents.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for spec-writer

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mckruz/claude-code-sdlc/spec-writer.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/mckruz/claude-code-sdlc/spec-writer)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mckruz/claude-code-sdlc/spec-writer"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mckruz/claude-code-sdlc/spec-writer.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 74 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 506 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00074 $0.00506
Opus 5 $0.00037 $0.00253
Sonnet 5 $0.00015 $0.00101
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00051

Measured 4d ago against content hash 076ee746cd2e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

spec-writer scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 4d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

harness/skills/spec-writer/SKILL.md · 37 lines

What it actually says

Spec writer

Produce a spec the team can build against without guessing. A spec is ready only when its acceptance checks survive the vague-line test: could two people build different things from this line? If yes, the line is a wish — rewrite it until it's a check.

Procedure

  1. Find the next number. Glob specs/*.md; the new file is specs/NNNN-name.md with NNNN zero-padded and name kebab-case.
  2. Start from spec-template.md. Fill all seven parts: Goal · Why · Scope in/out · Acceptance checks · Risk tier · Delegation plan · Checking plan.
  3. Assign the risk tier from CLAUDE.md's risk taxonomy. When unsure, escalate up — never down. The tier sets the gates and the checking-ladder climb.
  4. Write acceptance checks as observable statements (Given/When/Then where it fits). Each must name what is true and testable, not an intention. Run each past the vague-line test out loud.
  5. Set the delegation bounds: which file globs the agent may touch, which paths are gated, and the one canonical pattern in the codebase to reuse. Grep for that pattern and cite it.
  6. If the deliverable is LLM-powered, add the evals block: golden-set path, threshold, and what the grader checks differently (behavior distribution, not just code).

Done when

  • The file exists at specs/NNNN-name.md, all seven parts filled.
  • Every acceptance check passes the vague-line test.
  • A risk tier is set and the gated paths it touches are listed.
  • No open product decision remains for this story (otherwise it's not Ready — flag it for the decision list with a named owner, don't paper over it).
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 4d ago First seen · 37 lines · 74 tokens per session scan A 076ee746cd2e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

spec-writer is a skill published in the GitHub repository MCKRUZ/claude-code-sdlc (4 stars, last pushed 6d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 74 tokens to every session and 506 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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