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speckit-analyze

npx machina-cli add skill h3y6e/speckit-skills/speckit-analyze --openclaw
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SKILL.md
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Speckit Analyze Skill

Goal

Identify inconsistencies, duplications, ambiguities, and underspecified items across the three core artifacts (spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md) before implementation. This command MUST run only after /speckit.tasks has successfully produced a complete tasks.md.

Operating Constraints

STRICTLY READ-ONLY: Do not modify any files. Output a structured analysis report. Offer an optional remediation plan (user must explicitly approve before any follow-up editing commands would be invoked manually).

Constitution Authority: The project constitution (specs/constitution.md) is non-negotiable within this analysis scope. Constitution conflicts are automatically CRITICAL and require adjustment of the spec, plan, or tasks—not dilution, reinterpretation, or silent ignoring of the principle. If a principle itself needs to change, that must occur in a separate, explicit constitution update outside /speckit.analyze.

Execution Steps

1. Initialize Analysis Context

Run scripts/check-prerequisites.sh --json --require-tasks --include-tasks once from repo root and parse JSON for FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS. Derive absolute paths:

  • SPEC = FEATURE_DIR/spec.md
  • PLAN = FEATURE_DIR/plan.md
  • TASKS = FEATURE_DIR/tasks.md

Abort with an error message if any required file is missing (instruct the user to run missing prerequisite command). For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

2. Load Artifacts (Progressive Disclosure)

Load only the minimal necessary context from each artifact:

From spec.md:

  • Overview/Context
  • Functional Requirements
  • Non-Functional Requirements
  • User Stories
  • Edge Cases (if present)

From plan.md:

  • Architecture/stack choices
  • Data Model references
  • Phases
  • Technical constraints

From tasks.md:

  • Task IDs
  • Descriptions
  • Phase grouping
  • Parallel markers [P]
  • Referenced file paths

From constitution:

  • Load specs/constitution.md for principle validation

3. Build Semantic Models

Create internal representations (do not include raw artifacts in output):

  • Requirements inventory: Each functional + non-functional requirement with a stable key (derive slug based on imperative phrase; e.g., "User can upload file" → user-can-upload-file)
  • User story/action inventory: Discrete user actions with acceptance criteria
  • Task coverage mapping: Map each task to one or more requirements or stories (inference by keyword / explicit reference patterns like IDs or key phrases)
  • Constitution rule set: Extract principle names and MUST/SHOULD normative statements

4. Detection Passes (Token-Efficient Analysis)

Focus on high-signal findings. Limit to 50 findings total; aggregate remainder in overflow summary.

A. Duplication Detection

  • Identify near-duplicate requirements
  • Mark lower-quality phrasing for consolidation

B. Ambiguity Detection

  • Flag vague adjectives (fast, scalable, secure, intuitive, robust) lacking measurable criteria
  • Flag unresolved placeholders (TODO, TKTK, ???, <placeholder>, etc.)

C. Underspecification

  • Requirements with verbs but missing object or measurable outcome
  • User stories missing acceptance criteria alignment
  • Tasks referencing files or components not defined in spec/plan

D. Constitution Alignment

  • Any requirement or plan element conflicting with a MUST principle
  • Missing mandated sections or quality gates from constitution

E. Coverage Gaps

  • Requirements with zero associated tasks
  • Tasks with no mapped requirement/story
  • Non-functional requirements not reflected in tasks (e.g., performance, security)

F. Inconsistency

  • Terminology drift (same concept named differently across files)
  • Data entities referenced in plan but absent in spec (or vice versa)
  • Task ordering contradictions (e.g., integration tasks before foundational setup tasks without dependency note)
  • Conflicting requirements (e.g., one requires Next.js while other specifies Vue)

5. Severity Assignment

Use this heuristic to prioritize findings:

  • CRITICAL: Violates constitution MUST, missing core spec artifact, or requirement with zero coverage that blocks baseline functionality
  • HIGH: Duplicate or conflicting requirement, ambiguous security/performance attribute, untestable acceptance criterion
  • MEDIUM: Terminology drift, missing non-functional task coverage, underspecified edge case
  • LOW: Style/wording improvements, minor redundancy not affecting execution order

6. Produce Compact Analysis Report

Output a Markdown report (no file writes) with the following structure:

Specification Analysis Report

IDCategorySeverityLocation(s)SummaryRecommendation
A1DuplicationHIGHspec.md:L120-134Two similar requirements ...Merge phrasing; keep clearer version

(Add one row per finding; generate stable IDs prefixed by category initial.)

Coverage Summary Table:

Requirement KeyHas Task?Task IDsNotes

Constitution Alignment Issues: (if any)

Unmapped Tasks: (if any)

Metrics:

  • Total Requirements
  • Total Tasks
  • Coverage % (requirements with >=1 task)
  • Ambiguity Count
  • Duplication Count
  • Critical Issues Count

7. Provide Next Actions

At end of report, output a concise Next Actions block:

  • If CRITICAL issues exist: Recommend resolving before /speckit.implement
  • If only LOW/MEDIUM: User may proceed, but provide improvement suggestions
  • Provide explicit command suggestions: e.g., "Run /speckit.specify with refinement", "Run /speckit.plan to adjust architecture", "Manually edit tasks.md to add coverage for 'performance-metrics'"

8. Offer Remediation

Ask the user: "Would you like me to suggest concrete remediation edits for the top N issues?" (Do NOT apply them automatically.)

Operating Principles

Context Efficiency

  • Minimal high-signal tokens: Focus on actionable findings, not exhaustive documentation
  • Progressive disclosure: Load artifacts incrementally; don't dump all content into analysis
  • Token-efficient output: Limit findings table to 50 rows; summarize overflow
  • Deterministic results: Rerunning without changes should produce consistent IDs and counts

Analysis Guidelines

  • NEVER modify files (this is read-only analysis)
  • NEVER hallucinate missing sections (if absent, report them accurately)
  • Prioritize constitution violations (these are always CRITICAL)
  • Use examples over exhaustive rules (cite specific instances, not generic patterns)
  • Report zero issues gracefully (emit success report with coverage statistics)

Source

git clone https://github.com/h3y6e/speckit-skills/blob/main/skills/speckit-analyze/SKILL.mdView on GitHub

Overview

Speckit-analyze performs cross-artifact consistency checks across spec.md, plan.md, and tasks.md after speckit.tasks has produced a complete tasks.md. It identifies inconsistencies, duplications, ambiguities, and underspecified items before implementation, flags constitution conflicts, and can propose a remediation plan if approved.

How This Skill Works

Load minimal necessary context from spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md and constitution.md. Build internal semantic models: a requirements inventory, a user story inventory, a task coverage map, and a constitution rule set. Run targeted detection passes (duplication, ambiguity, underspecification, constitution alignment, coverage gaps, and inconsistency) and generate a structured analysis report with an optional remediation plan that requires explicit user approval before any edits are performed.

When to Use It

  • After task generation to validate full coverage and catch gaps across spec, plan, and tasks
  • Before implementation to identify duplications, ambiguities, and underspecified items
  • When the constitution changes or new MUST principles are added
  • If architecture or data model references in plan.md require cross-checking against requirements
  • During governance reviews to ensure traceability from requirements to tasks

Quick Start

  1. Step 1: Run prerequisites: scripts/check-prerequisites.sh --json --require-tasks --include-tasks
  2. Step 2: Execute speckit-analyze to generate the analysis report (after /speckit.tasks completes tasks.md)
  3. Step 3: Review findings; if a remediation plan is generated, obtain explicit approval before applying edits

Best Practices

  • Run the prerequisites script (scripts/check-prerequisites.sh --json --require-tasks --include-tasks) before analysis
  • Ensure spec.md, plan.md, and tasks.md are complete and stable prior to running speckit-analyze
  • Derive stable requirement keys (slugs) for reliable mapping and deduplication
  • Review findings line-by-line and map each issue to specific tasks or requirements
  • Only apply remediation after explicit user approval to trigger manual edits

Example Use Cases

  • Identifying near-duplicate requirements between spec.md and plan.md and consolidating them
  • Flagging a performance requirement described as 'fast' without measurable latency targets
  • Detecting a placeholder like TODO or <placeholder> in a requirement that prevents implementation
  • Finding a MUST principle conflict where a plan proposes a feature not allowed by the constitution
  • Revealing a non-functional requirement (e.g., security) with no corresponding tasks mapping

Frequently Asked Questions

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