/speckit-checklist

name: "speckit-checklist"
description: "Generate a custom checklist for the current feature based on user requirements."
argument-hint: "Domain or focus area for the checklist"
compatibility: "Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory"
metadata:
  author: "github-spec-kit"
  source: "templates/commands/checklist.md"
user-invocable: true
disable-model-invocation: false

Checklist Purpose: "Unit Tests for English"

**CRITICAL CONCEPT**: Checklists are **UNIT TESTS FOR REQUIREMENTS WRITING** - they validate the quality, clarity, and completeness of requirements in a given domain.

**NOT for verification/testing**:

• ❌ NOT "Verify the button clicks correctly"
• ❌ NOT "Test error handling works"
• ❌ NOT "Confirm the API returns 200"
• ❌ NOT checking if code/implementation matches the spec

**FOR requirements quality validation**:

• ✅ "Are visual hierarchy requirements defined for all card types?" (completeness)
• ✅ "Is 'prominent display' quantified with specific sizing/positioning?" (clarity)
• ✅ "Are hover state requirements consistent across all interactive elements?" (consistency)
• ✅ "Are accessibility requirements defined for keyboard navigation?" (coverage)
• ✅ "Does the spec define what happens when logo image fails to load?" (edge cases)

**Metaphor**: If your spec is code written in English, the checklist is its unit test suite. You're testing whether the requirements are well-written, complete, unambiguous, and ready for implementation - NOT whether the implementation works.

**Ownership and checkbox lifecycle**:

• Custom checklists generated by this command are reviewer-owned requirements-quality review artifacts.
• `[x]` means the reviewer determined the requirements-quality criterion is satisfied.
• `[x]` does NOT mean implementation work is complete.
• This command generates or appends checklist items; it MUST NOT mark generated items `[x]`.
• An agent may assist with evaluating items only when explicitly asked by the reviewer.
• `checklists/requirements.md` is a separate built-in spec-quality checklist maintained by `/speckit-specify` and `/speckit-clarify`; do not treat that exception as applying to custom checklists generated here.

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

You **MUST** consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

Pre-Execution Checks

**Check for extension hooks (before checklist generation)**:

• Check if `.specify/extensions.yml` exists in the project root.
• If it exists, read it and look for entries under the `hooks.before_checklist` key
• If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, do not skip silently: tell the user that `.specify/extensions.yml` could not be read (include the parser error) and that no hooks were checked, including any mandatory (`optional: false`) hooks registered there, then continue normally
• Filter out hooks where `enabled` is explicitly `false`. Treat hooks without an `enabled` field as enabled by default.
• For each remaining hook, do **not** attempt to interpret or evaluate hook `condition` expressions:
• If the hook has no `condition` field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
• If the hook defines a non-empty `condition`, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
• When constructing command invocations from hook command names, replace dots (`.`) with hyphens (`-`). For example, `speckit.git.commit` → `/speckit-git-commit`.
• For each executable hook, output the following based on its `optional` flag:
• **Optional hook** (`optional: true`):

    ## Extension Hooks

    **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Command: `/{command}`
    Description: {description}

    Prompt: {prompt}
    To execute: `/{command}`

• **Mandatory hook** (`optional: false`):

    ## Extension Hooks

    **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Executing: `/{command}`
    EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}

    Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Execution Steps.

After emitting the block above you MUST actually invoke the hook and wait for it to finish before continuing. Run it the same way you would run the command yourself in this agent/session (the invocation may differ from the literal `{command}` id shown above, e.g. a skills-mode agent runs it as `/skill:speckit-...` or `$speckit-...`). Emitting the block alone does not run the hook.

• If no hooks are registered or `.specify/extensions.yml` does not exist, skip silently

Execution Steps

1. **Setup**: Run `.specify/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh --json --template checklist-template` from repo root and parse JSON for FEATURE_DIR, AVAILABLE_DOCS list, and TEMPLATE_CONTENT.

• All file paths must be absolute.
• For single quotes in args like "I'm Groot", use escape syntax: e.g 'I'\''m Groot' (or double-quote if possible: "I'm Groot").

2. **IF EXISTS**: Load `.specify/memory/constitution.md` for project principles and governance constraints.

3. **Clarify intent (dynamic)**: Derive up to THREE initial contextual clarifying questions (no pre-baked catalog). They MUST:

• Be generated from the user's phrasing + extracted signals from spec/plan/tasks
• Only ask about information that materially changes checklist content
• Be skipped individually if already unambiguous in `$ARGUMENTS`
• Prefer precision over breadth

Generation algorithm: 1. Extract signals: feature domain keywords (e.g., auth, latency, UX, API), risk indicators ("critical", "must", "compliance"), stakeholder hints ("QA", "review", "security team"), and explicit deliverables ("a11y", "rollback", "contracts"). 2. Cluster signals into candidate focus areas (max 4) ranked by relevance. 3. Identify probable audience & timing (author, reviewer, QA, release) if not explicit. 4. Detect missing dimensions: scope breadth, depth/rigor, risk emphasis, exclusion boundaries, measurable acceptance criteria. 5. Formulate questions chosen f