Vercel Composition Patterns
supabase/supabase
React composition patterns that scale. An agent skill from supabase/supabase.
A skill your agent uses when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step.
Install Writing Specs
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specs --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .claude/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .claude/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specsType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specs --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .agents/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .agents/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specs --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .cursor/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .cursor/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git --path packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specs --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .gemini/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .gemini/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specsInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .github/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .github/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install JetBrains/thinkrail writing-specs --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs .opencode/skills/writing-specs && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-specs" agent skill from https://github.com/JetBrains/thinkrail/tree/main/packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs into .opencode/skills/writing-specs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-specs", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
writing-specs- GitHub stars
- 514
- Token cost
- ~743 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 421 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 11
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
At a glance
A skill your agent uses when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step.
- A workflow step drafts
- SKILL.md covers Short, Honest, On-rails and The goal doc describes the…
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
- Revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements
What it does
Writing Specs is an agent skill from JetBrains/thinkrail, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Use when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step. The shared quality bar for specs — not a workflow, nothing to execute.
Its SKILL.md is about 740 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
It sits in Development. The repository describes itself as: Vibe code with pi in a lightweight, real IDE that customises itself around the way you work — The Vibe You Need. The licence is Apache-2.0.
When your agent uses it
- A workflow step drafts
- Revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements
- An architecture
- A module SPEC —
Example prompts
- “/writing-specs”
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 57a1361. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Writing Specs loads about 743 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 64 tokens; SKILL.md has 421 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from JetBrains/thinkrail at commit 57a1361, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© JetBrains). 421 words, ~743 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/writing-specs/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- writing-specs
- description
- Use when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step. The shared quality bar for specs — not a workflow, nothing to execute.
Writing Specs
The workflow family's shared bar for every spec a workflow produces: short, honest, on-rails.
Process skills name this concept at the steps that draft or revise specs; what to draft and when
stays with the referencing skill. Graph mechanics — frontmatter, link kinds, the spec_* tools — are
the spec-graph skill's ground; this concept carries the quality bar the family holds on top of them,
and is where the family's rules for specs and the spec graph accrue.
Short
- Small enough to read in one sitting. Target signal, not completeness.
- Explain intent, not inventory: what the thing is for, what it owns, where its boundary runs — never a file listing or a restatement of the code.
Honest
- Only settled content appears. Never pad with
[TBD]or placeholder sections — a section that hasn't been settled simply doesn't exist yet. - Anything inferred rather than confirmed is marked unconfirmed, inline, where it stands.
- New and inferred specs are
status: draftuntil the user has reviewed them — the flip out ofdraftfollows the user's review, never the drafting agent's own judgment. A reviewed durable spec goesactive, neverdone: it stays in force and evolves with the project.
On-rails
- High-signal enough that a future agent (or human) lands on the decisions without re-deriving them.
- The spec is the only home for rationale: decisions, invariants, trade-offs, and bug post-mortems are recorded here, never as code comments — a rationale paragraph found in code is content to promote into the owning spec, leaving at most a one-line pointer where misediting would silently break something.
- Say each thing once: link by
idinstead of restating; the dependency edges between sibling modules live in the parent's spec, not in each leaf. - One spec per genuine boundary — not per directory, not per file.
Show full SKILL.md (127 more words)Show less
The goal doc describes the product, not a plan
goal-and-requirements is the living record of what the product is and why: its goal, problem,
audience, capabilities, and non-goals, plus any durable principles.
- No versions, releases, phases, MVP/v1/v2 splits, or "later" lists. Sequencing is not a spec's job: an idea cut from scope goes back to the user to track wherever they plan work, and never into the doc.
- Capabilities state what the product does, or for a new project what its smallest useful first build will do.
- Non-goals hold only what is excluded by decision. Something neither listed nor excluded is open, not forbidden.
- It evolves with the product: a change that adds a capability or overturns a principle updates the goal doc in the same change.
© JetBrains, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs of JetBrains/thinkrail.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 57a1361
Compare with similar skills
Writing Specs next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing Specs this skillJetBrains/thinkrail | 514 | — | ~743 | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Vercel Composition Patternssupabase/supabase | 111k | 58 repos | ~726 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Finishing a Development Branchobra/superpowers | 297k | 5 repos | ~1.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Typescript Advanced Typesrolling-scopes/rsschool-app | 10k | 25 repos | ~4.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MPL-2.0 | |
| PR Babysitteropeninterpreter/openinterpreter | 69k | 3 repos | ~4.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Code Review ChecklistshareAI-lab/learn-claude-code | 78k | 4 repos | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
- Official
Finishing a Development Branch
obra/superpowers
Walks the last step of a branch: confirm tests pass, detect the git environment, ask how to integrate, carry out your choice and clean up the worktree.
Typescript Advanced Types
rolling-scopes/rsschool-app
Master TypeScript's advanced type system including generics, conditional types, mapped types, template literals, and utility types for building type-safe applications.
PR Babysitter
openinterpreter/openinterpreter
Watches an open GitHub pull request until it merges, handling review comments, diagnosing CI failures and retrying flaky checks along the way.
Code Review Checklist
shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code
Reviews code against a five-part checklist covering security, correctness, performance, maintainability and testing, and reports findings in a fixed format.
Greploop
onyx-dot-app/onyx
Iteratively improves a PR (GitHub), MR (GitLab), or shelved changelist (Perforce) until Greptile gives it a 5/5 confidence score with zero unresolved comments.
More from JetBrains/thinkrail
All 11 skills in this repo- Official
Importing A Codebase
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when asked to create the initial spec graph for an existing codebase that has source code but no specs.
- Official
Starting A New Project
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when the workspace is empty, has no code, and the user brings a raw project idea.
- Official
Asking User Questions
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when composing an askuserquestion round inside a workflow, or when a workflow skill names it at a question step.
- Official
Setting Up A Project
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when asked to set up, onboard, initialize, or spec a project with no spec graph, or when invoked by the app's Set-up-project card.
- Official
Shipping A PR
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when finished work needs to ship as a pull request, or when creating, syncing, updating metadata, checking status, monitoring CI, or addressing review comments on a PR.
- Official
Spec Graph
JetBrains/thinkrail
A skill your agent uses when locating, reading, creating, updating, or validating project specs, or when work is governed by or may alter a documented boundary, contract, invariant, behavior, or…
Related
Categories
Questions about Writing Specs
What does Writing Specs do?
A skill your agent uses when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step. Writing Specs is an agent skill from JetBrains/thinkrail, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Use when a workflow step drafts or revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements, an architecture, or a module SPEC — or when a workflow skill names it at such a step.
When should I use Writing Specs?
Writing Specs fits situations like: A workflow step drafts; revises a spec artifact — a goal-and-requirements; an architecture; A module SPEC —.
How do I install Writing Specs in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs in JetBrains/thinkrail) into .claude/skills/writing-specs in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Writing Specs in Codex?
Run `npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow/skills/writing-specs in JetBrains/thinkrail) into .agents/skills/writing-specs in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Writing Specs in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add JetBrains/thinkrail --skill writing-specs -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/writing-specs, .gemini/skills/writing-specs, .github/skills/writing-specs and .opencode/skills/writing-specs in your project.
What does Writing Specs need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Writing Specs is instructions for the agent only.
Does Writing Specs access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Writing Specs safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Writing Specs use?
Writing Specs is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Writing Specs use?
About 743 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Writing Specs?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Writing Specs: Vercel Composition Patterns (supabase/supabase, 111k stars), Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 297k stars), Typescript Advanced Types (rolling-scopes/rsschool-app, 10k stars) and PR Babysitter (openinterpreter/openinterpreter, 69k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Writing Specs?
JetBrains (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in JetBrains/thinkrail, which has 514 GitHub stars. The repository holds 11 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.
Source: JetBrains/thinkrail on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.