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Agent skill

Specify Meta

by rsmdt in rsmdt/the-startup

Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Specify Meta

skills CLI
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill specify-meta -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup specify-meta --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/specify-meta .claude/skills/specify-meta && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
specify-meta
GitHub stars
557
Token cost
~932 tokens
SKILL.md length
388 words
Files
4
Skills in repo
27
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories.

  • Works in 4 steps: Scaffold → Read Status → Transition Phase → …
  • Creating a new spec
  • SKILL.md covers Persona, Interface, Constraints and Reference Materials, plus 1 more section
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder

What it does

Specify Meta is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories. Use when creating a new spec, reading spec status, transitioning between phases, or logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/.

Its SKILL.md is about 930 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 4 other files (for example `reference/spec-management.md`, `spec.py` and `template.md`).

The repository describes itself as: The Agentic Startup - A collection of Claude Code commands, skills, and agents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Creating a new spec
  • Reading spec status
  • Transitioning between phases
  • Logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/

Example prompts

  • “/specify-meta”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Scaffold
  2. Read Status
  3. Transition Phase
  4. Log Decision

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 88d447c. 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

    Ships script files (Python), which the agent can run.

    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

Specify Meta loads about 932 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 51 tokens; SKILL.md has 388 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~51
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~932

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 rsmdt/the-startup at commit 88d447c, republished under its MIT licence (© rsmdt). 388 words, ~932 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/specify-meta/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 3 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
specify-meta
description
Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories. Use when creating a new spec, reading spec status, transitioning between phases, or logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/.

Persona

Act as a specification workflow orchestrator that manages specification directories and tracks user decisions throughout the Requirements → Solution → Decomposition workflow. The Decomposition phase produces one of three artifact families based on the tier chosen by the specify classifier: Direct (no artifacts), Incremental (plan/ directory), or Factory (manifest.md + units/ + scenarios/).

Interface

SpecStatus { id: string // 3-digit zero-padded (001, 002, ...) name: string directory: string // .start/specs/[NNN]-[name]/ (legacy: docs/specs/) phase: Initialization | Requirements | Solution | Decomposition | Ready decomposition_tier: Direct | Incremental | Factory | None documents: { name: string status: pending | in_progress | completed | skipped notes?: string }[] }

State { specId = "" currentPhase: Initialization | Requirements | Solution | Decomposition | Ready decompositionTier: Direct | Incremental | Factory | None documents: [] }

Constraints

Always:

  • Use spec.py (co-located with this SKILL.md) for all directory operations.
  • Create README.md from template.md when scaffolding new specs.
  • Log all significant decisions with date, decision, and rationale.
  • Confirm next steps with user before phase transitions.

Never:

  • Create spec directories manually — always use spec.py.
  • Transition phases without updating README.md.
  • Skip decision logging when user makes workflow choices.

Reference Materials

  • Spec Management — Spec ID format, directory structure, script commands, phase workflow, decision logging, legacy fallback
  • README Template — Template for spec README.md files

Workflow

1. Scaffold

Create a new spec with an auto-incrementing ID.

  1. Run Bash("spec.py \"$featureName\"").
  2. Create README.md from template.md.
  3. Report the created spec status.
Show full SKILL.md (180 more words)Show less
2. Read Status

Read existing spec metadata.

  1. Run Bash("spec.py \"$specId\" --read").
  2. Parse TOML output into SpecStatus.
  3. Suggest the next continuation point:

match (documents) { manifest exists => "Factory manifest found. Proceed to implementation?" plan exists => "Incremental plan found. Proceed to implementation?" solution exists, no decomposition => "Solution found. Continue to Decomposition (classifier will recommend Direct, Incremental, or Factory)?" requirements exists, no solution => "Requirements found. Continue to Solution?" no documents => "Start from Requirements?" }

3. Transition Phase

Update the spec directory to reflect the new phase.

  1. Update README.md document status and current phase.
  2. Log the phase transition in the decisions table.
  3. Hand off to the document-specific skill:

match (phase) { Requirements => specify-requirements skill Solution => specify-solution skill Decomposition => route by tier: Direct => no skill invocation (no artifacts written) Incremental => specify-incremental skill Factory => specify-factory skill }

  1. On completion, return here for the next phase transition.
4. Log Decision

Append a row to the README.md Decisions Log table. Update the Last Updated field.

Entry Point

match ($ARGUMENTS) { featureName (new) => execute step 1 (Scaffold) specId (existing) => execute steps 2, 3, and 4 in order }

© rsmdt, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files in plugins/start/skills/specify-meta of rsmdt/the-startup.

  • SKILL.md
  • reference/spec-management.md
  • spec.py
  • template.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 88d447c

Compare with similar skills

Specify Meta 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.

Specify Meta compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Specify Meta this skillrsmdt/the-startup557—~932Automated safety check: PassMIT
Scaffoldingdotnet/efcore15k—~321Automated safety check: PassMIT
Scaffold Elementremotion-dev/remotion63k—~202Automated safety check: PassCustom licence
Agent Specificationruvnet/ruflo74k2 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Specificity Managementthedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist74k—~477Automated safety check: PassMIT
Scaffold Python ADK Recipegoogle/adk-recipes10k—~931Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Questions about Specify Meta

What does Specify Meta do?

Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories. Specify Meta is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories.

When should I use Specify Meta?

Specify Meta fits situations like: creating a new spec; reading spec status; transitioning between phases; logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/.

How do I install Specify Meta in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill specify-meta -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/specify-meta in rsmdt/the-startup) into .claude/skills/specify-meta in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Specify Meta in Codex?

Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill specify-meta -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/specify-meta in rsmdt/the-startup) into .agents/skills/specify-meta in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Specify Meta 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 rsmdt/the-startup --skill specify-meta -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/specify-meta, .gemini/skills/specify-meta, .github/skills/specify-meta and .opencode/skills/specify-meta in your project.

What does Specify Meta need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Specify Meta needs Python for the scripts in its folder. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Specify Meta 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 Specify Meta 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 Specify Meta use?

Specify Meta is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Specify Meta use?

About 932 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.7k 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 Specify Meta?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Specify Meta: Scaffolding (dotnet/efcore, 15k stars), Scaffold Element (remotion-dev/remotion, 63k stars), Agent Specification (ruvnet/ruflo, 74k stars) and Specificity Management (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Specify Meta?

rsmdt (a GitHub user) maintains it in rsmdt/the-startup, which has 557 GitHub stars. The repository holds 27 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 3, 2026.

Source: rsmdt/the-startup on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.