Skip to content
Agent Orchestration
Skill

/spec-first

Write the goal spec on disk before the agent acts, so it can't drift. Use before any multi-step task.

BOOST
From plugin
loopkit
75553 skills1 agent4 commands2 MCP
Install
$ npx -y skills add Archive228/loopkit --skill spec-first --agent claude-code

How it fires

How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.

  • Fires itselfAuto-invocation. Claude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.Auto-invocation is when the right skill fires by itself at the right moment, driven by a FLOW.md router and a hook, instead of you invoking it by name. It is the difference between a skill being installed and a skill actually getting used.Read the full definition →
  • You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
  • Slash command/spec-first

Context preview

The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.

Write the goal spec on disk before the agent acts, so it can't drift. Use before any multi-step task.

SKILL.md

spec-first.SKILL.md
name: spec-first
description: Write the goal spec on disk before the agent acts, so it can't drift. Use before any multi-step task.
when_to_use: a task with more than 2 steps, a long-running job, "build X", agent drifting

Spec First

Without an external contract, the agent drifts after ~3 iterations — and the failure looks like progress (code written, tests pass, wrong goal solved). Write `PROMPT.md` BEFORE acting:

  • **Goal** — one sentence.
  • **Done when** — concrete, checkable conditions. "Test suite green: <cmd>".
  • **Never touch** — files/areas off-limits.
  • **Stop if** — more than N files outside scope change; a passing test starts failing.

The agent re-reads this file every iteration. State (what's done) goes in a separate `IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md` it updates in place. If you can't write "done when" concretely, the task isn't ready — clarify before coding.

Ships withloopkit

33 battle-tested skills + minimal .claude harness for any coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI).

Get the whole plugin

Other skills on loopkit.