unisono/specs/004-afraid-to-ask/spec.md

Feature Specification: speckit.specify command automation

Feature Branch: 004-afraid-to-ask
Created: 2025-10-13
Status: Draft
Input: User description: "Afraid to Ask. The requirements are in the .context/afraid-to-ask.md file."

User Scenarios & Testing (mandatory)

User Story 1 - Core Spec Generation (Priority: P1)

A developer provides a feature description to the /speckit.specify command. The system automatically generates a new feature branch and a complete, structured spec.md file based on a template, filling in details derived from the description.

Why this priority: This is the core functionality. Without it, the feature has no value.

Independent Test: Can be tested by running the command with a simple description and verifying that the correct branch and a well-formed spec file are created.

Acceptance Scenarios:

1. Given a developer is on the main branch, When they run /speckit.specify "New feature", Then a new branch [num]-new-feature is created and checked out, and a specs/[num]-new-feature/spec.md file is created.
2. Given a feature description, When the spec is generated, Then the spec file contains all the mandatory sections from the template.

---

User Story 2 - Validation and Checklists (Priority: P2)

After generating the spec, the system automatically creates a requirements.md checklist and validates the spec against it.

Why this priority: This ensures the quality and completeness of the generated spec, which is a key part of the desired workflow.

Independent Test: Can be tested by checking for the existence and content of the requirements.md file after a spec is generated.

Acceptance Scenarios:

1. Given a spec has been generated, When the validation step runs, Then a checklists/requirements.md file is created in the feature directory.
2. Given a generated spec has obvious omissions (e.g., empty sections), When the validation runs, Then the corresponding items in the checklist are marked as failed.

---

User Story 3 - Interactive Clarification (Priority: P3)

When the system encounters ambiguities in the feature description, it adds [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers to the spec. It then presents these as questions to the user and updates the spec with their answers.

Why this priority: This handles cases where the AI cannot make a reasonable assumption, making the process more robust. It's P3 because the core generation can function without it for well-defined features.

Independent Test: Can be tested by providing an ambiguous description and verifying that the system asks for clarification and correctly incorporates the answer.

Acceptance Scenarios:

1. Given a feature description with an ambiguous requirement, When the spec is generated, Then it contains a [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] marker.
2. Given a spec with a clarification marker, When the clarification flow is triggered, Then the user is presented with a formatted question and options.
3. Given a user provides an answer, When the system processes it, Then the [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] marker in the spec is replaced with the user's answer.

---

Edge Cases

• What happens when the feature description is empty?
• How does the system handle a non-git repository?
• How does the system handle a situation where the generated branch name already exists?

Requirements (mandatory)

Functional Requirements

• FR-001: System MUST accept a natural language string as a feature description.
• FR-002: System MUST generate a unique, kebab-cased feature branch name from the description, prefixed with a 3-digit incrementing number.
• FR-003: System MUST create and check out a new git branch with the generated name.
• FR-004: System MUST create a new directory for the feature under the specs/ directory.
• FR-005: System MUST create a spec.md file in the new feature directory, populated from a template.
• FR-006: System MUST parse the feature description to populate the sections of the spec.md file.
• FR-007: System MUST create a checklists/requirements.md file to validate the spec.
• FR-008: System MUST identify and flag ambiguous requirements with [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers (max 3).
• FR-009: System MUST present clarification questions to the user and update the spec with their answers.
• FR-010: System MUST handle cases where a generated branch name already exists by checking out the existing branch instead of failing.

Key Entities (include if feature involves data)

• Feature Specification: A markdown document that describes a new feature. It includes user scenarios, requirements, and success criteria.
• Requirement Checklist: A markdown document used to validate the quality and completeness of a feature specification.

Success Criteria (mandatory)

Measurable Outcomes

• SC-001: A developer can generate a complete and validated draft specification from a one-sentence feature description in under 1 minute.
• SC-002: 90% of generated specifications require no manual structural changes to the file itself (i.e., the template is correctly applied).
• SC-003: The clarification process correctly resolves ambiguities in over 95% of cases where it is triggered.
• SC-004: The time spent by developers writing initial feature specs is reduced by 75%.