A spec-driven development skill that enforces a structured, multi-phase workflow for AI coding agents to ensure high-quality feature implementation.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install spec-flow
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install spec-flow using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow?
Spec-Flow is a sophisticated development framework within the Openclaw Skills ecosystem designed to bring professional engineering discipline to AI-assisted coding. It moves away from chaotic code generation by enforcing a rigorous phase-by-phase progression: Proposal, Requirements, Design, Tasks, and finally Implementation. This skill ensures that your AI agent fully understands the scope and risks of a feature before writing any code, significantly reducing technical debt and logic errors.
By integrating Spec-Flow into your development cycle, you establish a clear trail of living documentation. The skill relies on mandatory user confirmation at every stage, ensuring the human developer remains in control of the architectural direction. Whether you are building complex systems or simple features, this addition to Openclaw Skills provides the structure necessary for reliable and scalable software development.
Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow Use Cases
- Orchestrating complex feature development that requires alignment on architecture and business logic.
- Generating technical specifications and EARS-compliant requirements automatically.
- Breaking down high-level feature requests into granular, actionable tasks for AI agents.
- Maintaining a searchable archive of project decisions and design patterns within the .spec-flow directory.
- Preventing scope creep by defining clear Non-Goals and risks during the proposal phase.
How Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow Works
- The user triggers the workflow using keywords like spec mode or structured development, initiating Phase 0 to set the feature context.
- The skill generates a proposal.md to define the background, goals, and scope, requiring user approval to proceed.
- Upon approval, it creates a requirements.md file using the EARS format to ensure all functional and non-functional needs are testable.
- If not skipped, the skill produces a design.md including Mermaid diagrams and API definitions to map out the technical implementation.
- It decomposes the design into a tasks.md file, where each task is sized for 1-2 tool calls with defined complexity levels.
- The agent enters the implementation phase, executing tasks sequentially and updating their status until the feature is complete and archived.
Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow Setup
To begin using this skill in your Openclaw Skills environment, you can initialize a new feature workflow using the provided shell script or by direct prompt:
# Initialize a new feature workflow
./scripts/init-spec-flow.sh <feature-name>
You can also trigger it by telling your agent: "I need a plan for [feature]" or "Enter spec-flow mode for [feature description]". Ensure your project has a .spec-flow directory structure to store the generated documentation.
Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill organizes all development artifacts within a dedicated .spec-flow/ directory to maintain project cleanliness:
| Directory | Contents | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
steering/ |
constitution.md, tech.md |
Provides global project context and technical constraints. |
active/ |
proposal.md, requirements.md, design.md, tasks.md |
Contains the living documents for the feature currently in development. |
archive/ |
Completed feature folders | Stores historical records of finished implementations for future reference. |
Note: All generated markdown documentation is written in Chinese by default to support specific development team requirements.
Spec-Flow: Structured Development Workflow Advanced Features
- Phase-Gate Enforcement: Prevents the agent from skipping ahead to code implementation without validated requirements.
- Fast-Track Mode: Use the
--fastflag to generate all planning documentation in a single pass for smaller, well-defined tasks. - Design Flexibility: Use the
--skip-designparameter for straightforward features where a full architectural document isn't necessary. - Multi-Agent Compatibility: Fully compatible with leading AI tools supported by Openclaw Skills, including Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
- Living Documentation: Automatically updates the tasks.md file during the implementation phase to reflect real-time progress.
SKILL.md
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