What problem does it solve?
Explore mode helps teams and individuals think through ambiguous problems, clarify requirements, and investigate code or design options before any implementation work begins. It prevents premature commitment to solutions by enabling open-ended analysis and visual thinking grounded in repository context.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Conversational exploration: Ask open questions, surface tradeoffs, and reframe problems without producing production code.
- Codebase investigation: Read and map relevant files, identify integration points, and surface hidden complexity from the repository.
- Visualization & decision capture: Produce ASCII diagrams, list risks and open questions, and offer to create OpenSpec artifacts (proposals or designs) when the user requests capture.
- Use Case: A product manager and engineer jointly brainstorm real-time collaboration approaches, map architecture options, and identify next investigation tasks.
Quick Start
Use the openspec-explore skill to think through adding real-time collaboration to the project, map key tradeoffs, and list open questions and risks.