break-down-func-spec

A method for splitting an oversized functional specification into smaller specifications, each intended to require no more than 200 lines of code.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it after a specification is judged too complex, or when a large feature needs to be divided into focused implementation tasks.
Why use it?
It makes complex work easier to implement and review by separating mixed behaviors, branches, interfaces, or data transformations.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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/plainlang/plain-forge/break-down-func-spec
Any agent
npx skills add plainlang/plain-forge --skill break-down-func-spec
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/plainlang/plain-forge

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 57 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,170 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 $0.00057 $0.02170
Opus 5 $0.00028 $0.01085
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00434
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00217

Measured 2d ago against content hash 0448c2cda983, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

break-down-func-spec 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 2d 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.

forge/skills/break-down-func-spec/SKILL.md · 207 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 207 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Break Down Functional Spec

Always use the skill load-plain-reference to retrieve the ***plain syntax rules — but only if you haven't done so yet.

When to Use

  • analyze-if-func-spec-too-complex flagged a spec as TOO COMPLEX.
  • A spec is suspected of exceeding the 200 LOC limit and needs to be split preemptively.
  • A spec bundles multiple behaviors, constructs, or concerns that should be separated.

Input

The functional spec to break down, plus the full .plain file it belongs to.

Workflow

  1. Read the full .plain file — definitions, implementation reqs, and all functional specs (including requires modules) to understand context.
  2. Identify the spec to break down — the one flagged as too complex or pointed to by the user.
  3. Analyze why it is too complex — use the indicators from analyze-if-func-spec-too-complex:
    • Multiple distinct behaviors bundled together?
    • Too many new constructs introduced at once?
    • Complex branching logic or conditional paths?
    • Cross-cutting concerns mixed with core functionality?
    • A full UI screen described in one spec?
    • Complex data transformations across multiple entities?
    • Implies one substantial technical component (engine, parser, scheduler, algorithm, state machine, sync mechanism) that must be built in code?
  4. Identify the split boundaries — find the natural seams where the spec can be divided. Each resulting spec must be:
    • Independently meaningful (makes sense on its own with previous specs as context)
    • Self-contained (does not require a later spec to be useful)
    • Within the 200 LOC limit
  5. Draft the replacement specs — write the smaller specs in chronological order. The first replacement spec typically sets up the foundation, and subsequent ones layer behavior on top.
  6. Verify functional completeness — this is critical. The replacement specs taken together must cover 100% of the functionality described in the original spec. Walk through every behavior, condition, and detail in the original and confirm it appears in exactly one of the replacement specs. Nothing may be lost, weakened, or left implicit. If any functionality from the original is missing, add it to the appropriate replacement spec or create an additional one.
  7. Verify each replacement spec — run analyze-if-func-spec-too-complex on each to confirm it fits within the limit.
  8. Check for conflicts — run analyze-func-specs once with the full set of replacement specs plus every existing spec in the file and its requires chain. The batched analyzer reports every conflicting pair (replacement × existing and replacement × replacement) in one call — do not loop over pairs. Resolve each reported pair with resolve-spec-conflict, then re-run analyze-func-specs over the touched set until the verdict is COMPATIBLE.
  9. Replace in the file — remove the original spec and insert the replacement specs in its position, preserving chronological order.
  10. Read the file again to confirm correct placement and syntax.

Read the full file on GitHub · 207 lines

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. 2d ago First seen · 207 lines · 57 tokens per session scan A 0448c2cda983

Subscribe to this mod's changes

break-down-func-spec is a skill published in the GitHub repository plainlang/plain-forge (55 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 57 tokens to every session and 2,170 once invoked, about $0.0003 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 2026-08-30.

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