understanding-spx

To load all specification documents for a work item, read the hierarchical context from product level down to the target story. This verifies constraints, product decisions, requirements, and specifications exist before implementation begins.

Hierarchical context loading fails fast when required specifications are missing to prevent costly mistakes and rework. It provides actionable errors so you can locate and create the missing ADR, PDR, or PRD documents before proceeding.

Before starting feature implementation, you must verify the Product Guide, Capability Spec, Feature Spec, and Story Spec. This ensures complete context by checking that all ADRs, PDRs, and PRD constraints are readable.

Yes, you can check constraints across product, capability, feature, and story levels. The hierarchical loading process reads specifications from the product level down, ensuring all architectural decisions and product decisions are accessible before work starts.

The best way to ensure complete context for a new feature is to read all specification documents down the hierarchy and fail fast on missing files. This method guarantees all constraints and product decisions are loaded prior to coding.

If a required ADR or PDR document is not readable during context verification, the process fails fast with actionable errors. This prevents implementation from proceeding without the necessary architectural and product decisions.