using-spec-first

using-spec-first is a skill for Claude Code from ronronner02/codepilot-agent. It costs 90 tokens per session (841 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A starting guide for repositories that use a specification-first development process. It helps choose the right next workflow, skill, command, or direct path before substantial work begins.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it before major changes in a spec-first repository or when deciding what to run next.
Why use it?
It prevents work from starting with the wrong process or next step in a specification-first project.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: installed under .claude/. Also seen: mentions Codex.

Good fit Use it before major changes in a spec-first repository or when deciding what to run next.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first
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.

Any agent
npx skills add ronronner02/codepilot-agent --skill using-spec-first
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ronronner02/codepilot-agent

Made for: Claude Code.

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 using-spec-first

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for using-spec-first

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ronronner02/codepilot-agent/using-spec-first.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 90 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 841 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
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 5.1 $0.00090 $0.00841
Opus 5.5 $0.00036 $0.00336
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00018 $0.00168
Haiku 4.5 $0.00009 $0.00084

Measured 1mo ago against content hash 0f65e00250fb, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

using-spec-first 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 1mo 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.

.claude/skills/using-spec-first/SKILL.md · 43 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 43 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Using Spec-First

using-spec-first is a standalone entry governor, not a command-backed workflow. It selects one next entrypoint and yields control; it creates no workflow artifact. It is a semantic map, not a rigid state machine.

Workflow Contract Summary

  • 输入: 当前用户意图、已有 workflow 状态、artifact 类型、失败/环境信号与项目级路由规则。
  • 输出: 恰好一个 public spec-* workflow、standalone skill、terminal command 或 Direct Lane 入口;进入后立即把控制权交给该 owner。
  • 硬出口: 入口选择不授权 mutation、verification claim、runtime maintenance、handoff、knowledge promotion、commit 或 landing;低置信且会改变 route 时最多询问一个问题。
  • 权威: 用户意图与项目 source rules 决定 route;本 skill 只做语义路由,不创建 workflow state 或执行下游工作。
  • 消费者: 当前用户、所有 public workflow、standalone skill 与 host runtime entrypoint。

Fast Paths

  • Continue an active public workflow or bounded worker; do not restart routing.
  • Use the Direct Lane only for current-context explanations, lightweight facts, one-off how-to explanations, command-output explanations, narrow lookups, one user-supplied document, or a single low-risk edit whose target, change, and root cause are already clear.
  • Do not use the Direct Lane when the request includes document review/critique, a failure/error/stack trace, environment/setup/runtime concerns, an explicit workflow name, handoff/context reset, knowledge promotion, or an unresolved build goal, target user, success/acceptance criterion, or mutually exclusive implementation direction. If a Direct Lane task expands to multi-file behavior, architecture, governance, runtime, an unknown root cause, or a sensitive surface, stop and route again.

Route Selection

For every request outside the fast paths, and to validate an explicit public route or answer “what next?”, read Public Route Map. Select exactly one entrypoint; do not automatically chain the flow. Prefer readiness, failure, or review routes when they match; otherwise use immediate intent and artifact type. At low confidence, ask at most one route-changing question.

Read the full file on GitHub · 43 lines

Files

What ships with it

2 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

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. 1mo ago First seen · 43 lines · 90 tokens per session scan A 0f65e00250fb

Subscribe to this mod's changes

using-spec-first is a skill published in the GitHub repository ronronner02/codepilot-agent (0 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 90 tokens to every session and 841 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5.5. 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.