Skip to content

SDD Skills

Spec-Driven Development skills for AI coding assistants.

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and GitHub Copilot.

SDD is a methodology where every code change starts with a specification — not code. These skills guide the AI through a structured workflow that ensures what you build matches what you intended, with full traceability from problem statement to implementation.

Why SDD?

Without structure, AI-assisted development can produce code that works but drifts from intent. SDD solves this by making every decision explicit and traceable:

  • Specifications before code — define behavior, then implement
  • Atomic commits — one task, one file, one commit
  • Living documentation — specs are always up to date with the codebase
  • Project memory — conventions and rules survive across sessions

How it works

graph LR
    A[You describe what you want] --> B["/sdd-new"]
    B --> C[proposal]
    C --> D[spec]
    D --> E[design]
    E --> F[tasks]
    F --> G["/sdd-apply"]
    G --> H[code + commits]
    H --> I["/sdd-verify"]
    I --> J["/sdd-archive"]
    J --> K[canonical specs updated]

Skills are project-agnostic. They work with any language, framework, or stack. Project-specific knowledge lives in steering files generated during setup.

Quick start

# Install skills
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jorgeferrando/sdd-skills/main/install-skills.sh | bash

# In your project
/sdd-init                    # Set up project context
/sdd-new "add user auth"     # Start a change
/sdd-continue                # Advance to next phase

What you get

What Where Purpose
17 skills Installed per tool Process automation
Steering files openspec/steering/ Project context
Canonical specs openspec/specs/ Living documentation
Change artifacts openspec/changes/ Traceability