/sdd-explore

Read-only codebase exploration to understand context before making changes.

Usage

/sdd-explore "how does authentication work"
/sdd-explore

Prerequisites

• openspec/ initialized (/sdd-init)

What it does

1. Recalls past decisions — searches archived specs, canonical specs, and openspec/INDEX.md for previous decisions, discarded alternatives, and business rules related to the change. Skips silently if no history exists.
2. Finds similar patterns — existing implementations of the same type
3. Identifies affected files — what will need to change and why
4. Reviews domain models — data structures, interfaces, contracts
5. Checks tests — how existing tests are structured for similar code
6. Reads canonical specs — relevant domains from openspec/specs/
7. Compiles constraints — key constraints affecting the design

Artifacts produced

• openspec/changes/{change-name}/notes.md — structured exploration findings (prior decisions, relevant files, existing patterns, specs, constraints)

Next step

• /sdd-propose — create a proposal based on the exploration