Idea to spec

Skill DevelopersGlobal/ai-agent-skills/skills/idea-to-spec

AI agent skills for production grade applications

Install

npx -y skills add DevelopersGlobal/ai-agent-skills --skill idea-to-spec

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What its author says it does

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Converts vague ideas into concrete, testable specifications with acceptance criteria. No implementation begins without a spec.

SKILL.md

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Overview

Vague ideas produce vague implementations. This skill transforms any idea — no matter how fuzzy — into a concrete specification with clear scope, acceptance criteria, and non-goals.

When to Use

At the start of any new feature
When a request is ambiguous
Before creating tasks or writing any code

Process

Step 1: Capture the Core Problem

Write: "Users currently can't [do X], which causes [pain Y]."
Identify: who has this problem? How often? What's the impact?
Distinguish problem from solution — don't spec a solution until the problem is understood.

Verify: You can state the problem without mentioning any implementation.

Step 2: Define Success

Write 3–7 acceptance criteria in this format:
```
Given [context]
When [action]
Then [outcome]
```
Each criterion must be binary — either it passes or it doesn't.
Include negative cases: "Given X, the system must NOT do Y."

Verify: A QA engineer can test each criterion without asking for clarification.

Step 3: Define Scope

In scope: List what is explicitly included.
Out of scope: List what is explicitly excluded — as important as what's included.
Open questions: List any decisions that still need resolution before implementation.

Verify: The out-of-scope list has at least 2 items.

Step 4: Define Non-Functional Requirements

Performance: response time, throughput, scale targets.
Security: auth requirements, data sensitivity.
Reliability: uptime SLA, acceptable error rate.

Verification

Problem statement written without mentioning implementation
Acceptance criteria in Given/When/Then format
Each criterion is binary (pass/fail)
Explicit out-of-scope list
Open questions listed