to-spec

to-spec is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal. It costs 30 tokens per session (904 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of to-spec, MIT.

A writing tool that turns the current conversation and understanding of a code project into a structured software specification, then publishes it to the project's issue tracker.

In plain words
What is it for?
Describing the problem, proposing a solution, identifying where to test it, and creating a ready-for-work issue.
Why use it?
It removes the need to repeat a discussion as a separate requirements interview and gives the implementation work a shared written plan.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for Claude Code and Codex: disable-model-invocation in frontmatter, but also agents/openai.yaml present.

Part of the matt-skills-with-to-goal plugin — 40 skills shipped together

Good fit Describing the problem, proposing a solution, identifying where to test it, and creating a ready-for-work issue.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec
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 tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal --skill to-spec
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install matt-skills-with-to-goal, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 40 skills.

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 to-spec

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec/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 to-spec

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal/to-spec.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 30 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 904 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 86% copy Near-identical to another mod 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 $0.00030 $0.00904
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.00452
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00181
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00090

Measured 13d ago against content hash b3ca688a5d51, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

to-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 13d 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.

Origin

This is a copy

86% identical to to-spec — 33 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/engineering/to-spec/SKILL.md · 99 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 99 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

This skill takes the current conversation context and codebase understanding and produces a spec. Do NOT interview the user — just synthesize what you already know.

The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run /setup-matt-pocock-skills if not.

Process

  1. Explore the repo to understand the current state of the codebase, if you haven't already. Use the project's domain glossary vocabulary throughout the spec, and respect any ADRs in the area you're touching.

  2. Sketch out the seams at which you're going to test the feature. Existing seams should be preferred to new ones. Use the highest seam possible. If new seams are needed, propose them at the highest point you can. The fewer seams across the codebase, the better - default to one per spec unless a genuine external boundary forces another.

Check with the user that these seams match their expectations.

  1. Write the spec using the template below, then publish it to the project issue tracker. Apply the ready-for-agent triage label - no need for additional triage.

Problem Statement

The problem that the user is facing, from the user's perspective.

Solution

The solution to the problem, from the user's perspective.

User Stories

A LONG, numbered list of user stories. Each user story should be in the format of:

  1. As an , I want a , so that

This list of user stories should be extremely extensive and cover all aspects of the feature.

Implementation Decisions

A list of implementation decisions that were made. This can include:

  • The modules that will be built/modified
  • The interfaces of those modules that will be modified
  • Technical clarifications from the developer
  • Architectural decisions
  • Schema changes
  • API contracts
  • Specific interactions

Read the full file on GitHub · 99 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file 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. 13d ago First seen · 99 lines · 30 tokens per session scan A b3ca688a5d51

Subscribe to this mod's changes

to-spec is a skill published in the GitHub repository tt-a1i/matt-skills-with-to-goal (160 stars, last pushed 15d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 30 tokens to every session and 904 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 86% identical to to-spec, differing in 33 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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