openspec-onboard

You start an OpenSpec workflow by selecting a small codebase task and following a guided onboarding cycle. This process walks you step-by-step through proposal, specs, design, tasks, implementation, and archiving changes.

The OpenSpec change lifecycle is an end-to-end workflow taking a codebase improvement from idea to implementation. It involves creating proposals, defining specs, planning tasks, writing code, and archiving the change history.

You find small codebase changes by scanning for TODO or FIXME hints, missing validation, debug artifacts, and weak type usage. It also analyzes recent git activity to identify concrete work items for onboarding.

Guided onboarding does not enforce strict task scope but provides guardrails. It gently steers you toward small first changes while allowing you to override and select larger work items if you insist.

Yes, you need the OpenSpec CLI installed. The onboarding workflow checks for CLI availability and uses its commands to create and persist change artifacts under the openspec/changes directory.

A guided spec workflow uses a phase-based EXPLAIN, DO, SHOW, and PAUSE structure. This ensures you understand each step, execute it, review the output, and pause at key decision points before proceeding.