Agent skill

Ralph Specum Requirements

by tzachbon in tzachbon/smart-ralph

This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Ralph Specum Requirements

skills CLI
$ npx skills add tzachbon/smart-ralph --skill ralph-specum-requirements -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install tzachbon/smart-ralph ralph-specum-requirements --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/tzachbon/smart-ralph.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/ralph-specum-codex/skills/ralph-specum-requirements .claude/skills/ralph-specum-requirements && 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
ralph-specum-requirements
GitHub stars
559
Token cost
~1.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
837 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
26
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.

  • Works in 12 steps: Resolve the active spec. If none exists,… → Read research.md when present,… → Run phase_gate.py mode through… → …
  • Explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements
  • SKILL.md covers Contract, Action, Output Shape and Response Handoff
  • Calls go

What it does

Ralph Specum Requirements is an agent skill from tzachbon/smart-ralph. This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Agent Workflows. The repository describes itself as: Spec-driven development with smart compaction. Claude Code plugin combining Ralph Wiggum loop with structured specification workflow. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements
  • Explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase

Example prompts

  • “/ralph-specum-requirements”

Workflow steps

12 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Resolve the active spec. If none exists, stop.
  2. Read research.md when present, .progress.md, and the current state.
  3. Run phase_gate.py mode through "$RALPH_CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/phase_gate.py" with STATE and exact --quick, exact --interactive, or no…
  4. When research.md exists, require its artifact approval in interactive mode; exact quick mode continues with the validated file. When it is…
  5. When research.md exists, require skill discovery pass 2 against the goal plus final research. When it is absent, require pass 1 against…
  6. Load "$RALPH_CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/interview-framework-codex/SKILL.md", its required algorithm and domain-modeling references, and all…
  7. Clear any prior approval gate by merging awaitingApproval: false before generation.
  8. In interactive mode, require explicit approve and delegate; in exact quick mode, record bypassed_quick. In both modes, run phase_gate.py…
  9. Delegate requirements generation to a product-manager sub-agent. Pass the absolute helper path, state path, identity tuple, unique…
  10. Read the sub-agent's output and validate it exists.
  11. Merge state with phase: "requirements" and awaitingApproval: true (or false when exact --quick is active).
  12. Update .progress.md with approved research context, user decisions, blockers, next step, skill discovery, and any epic constraints that…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit ac7251a. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • go

    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

Ralph Specum Requirements loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 49 tokens; SKILL.md has 837 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~49
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.7k

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 tzachbon/smart-ralph at commit ac7251a, republished under its MIT licence (© tzachbon). 837 words, ~1,653 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/ralph-specum-requirements/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
ralph-specum-requirements
description
This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use `$ralph-specum-requirements`, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.
metadata.surface
helper
metadata.action
requirements

Ralph Specum Requirements

You are a coordinator, not a product manager -- delegate ALL work to a product-manager sub-agent.

Derive RALPH_CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT from this loaded skill by resolving two parent directories from the SKILL.md directory. Never derive it from the project working directory.

Contract

  • Resolve the active spec by explicit path, exact name, or .current-spec
  • Require the spec directory to exist
  • Merge state fields only
  • Keep the Ralph disk contract unchanged

Action

  1. Resolve the active spec. If none exists, stop.
  2. Read research.md when present, .progress.md, and the current state.
  3. Run phase_gate.py mode through "$RALPH_CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/phase_gate.py" with STATE and exact --quick, exact --interactive, or no flag. Reject both, -q, variants, and natural-language substitutes.
  4. When research.md exists, require its artifact approval in interactive mode; exact quick mode continues with the validated file. When it is absent, record that there is no upstream research artifact and require no prior-artifact approval.
  5. When research.md exists, require skill discovery pass 2 against the goal plus final research. When it is absent, require pass 1 against the goal alone. Run the applicable pass when the state lacks its revision. Select explicitly named skills and record harness-shadowed duplicates.
  6. Load "$RALPH_CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/interview-framework-codex/SKILL.md", its required algorithm and domain-modeling references, and all selected domain contracts in both interactive and quick mode. In interactive mode, use its focused brainstorming method for critical user outcomes, scope exclusions, acceptance thresholds, and material non-functional requirements. Inspect existing behavior and terminology instead of asking.
  7. Clear any prior approval gate by merging awaitingApproval: false before generation.
  8. In interactive mode, require explicit approve and delegate; in exact quick mode, record bypassed_quick. In both modes, run phase_gate.py check-delegation with the current loaded-manifest identity before creating the child. Apply the shared hard-transition invariant before requirements writer dispatch. A failed check-delegation in either mode ends this invocation before phase transition, child dispatch, or target-artifact write; after a normal-mode failure, the next explicit invocation creates a fresh manifest/interview identity and does not create an alternate quick bypass. After an exact --quick delegation failure, the next explicit invocation reruns discovery, records a fresh phaseSkillLoad and interview identity, and does not reuse a terminal bypassed_quick interview or its discovery revision. Only a matching in-progress collecting or awaiting_confirmation interview is resumable.
  9. Delegate requirements generation to a product-manager sub-agent. Pass the absolute helper path, state path, identity tuple, unique teammate dispatch identity, verbatim manifest, research context, goal, and interview results. The child reloads and records the manifest, passes check-agent-write with that unique identity, and writes requirements.md. Do NOT write requirements.md yourself.
  10. Read the sub-agent's output and validate it exists.
  11. Merge state with phase: "requirements" and awaitingApproval: true (or false when exact --quick is active).
  12. Update .progress.md with approved research context, user decisions, blockers, next step, skill discovery, and any epic constraints that must carry forward.
  13. If spec commits are enabled, commit only the spec artifacts.
  14. In normal mode only, when the user selects continue to prototype, treat requirements.md as approved and route to $ralph-specum-prototype --suggested --return-phase design with the same resolved base path. Let that skill own prototype behavior and its return handoff.
Show full SKILL.md (320 more words)Show less
Quick Prototype Gate

After requirements validation and review in quick mode:

  1. Select the oldest prototype that blocks design. If none blocks design, select the highest-risk grounded, falsifiable question from research.md and requirements.md; let the prototype coordinator record a skipped result when no suitable question exists.
  2. Make exactly one request: $ralph-specum-prototype --quick --return-phase design.
  3. Treat the request as requestAttempt: 1. Keep it separate from builderExecutionAttempt; duplicate reuse, supersession, conflict resolution, skip, and lock failure consume the request without adding a builder execution.
  4. Own every capture, conflict, verdict, retry, cleanup, and handoff decision. Ask no user questions and preserve unrelated active prototypes.
  5. Continue to design after every result. Treat a completed request as the one request on resume and never invoke the prototype skill a second time.
Stop Behavior
  • Without --quick: STOP HERE. Display the walkthrough summary and approval prompt. Do NOT continue to design. Wait for the user to explicitly approve and request the next phase.
  • With exact --quick: Run the Quick Prototype Gate once, then continue directly into design for every outcome.

Output Shape

The result should include user stories, acceptance criteria, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, dependencies, exclusions, and success criteria.

Response Handoff

  • After writing requirements.md, name requirements.md and summarize the requirements briefly.
  • When normalized quickMode is false, end with exactly one explicit choice prompt:
    • approve current artifact
    • request changes
    • continue to design
    • continue to prototype
  • Treat continue to design as approval of requirements.md.
  • Treat continue to prototype as approval of requirements.md and route through $ralph-specum-prototype with returnPhase: design.
  • With exact --quick, do not show this prompt; continue directly to design after the phase gates and single Quick Prototype Gate request complete.
  • During artifact review, apply the changes immediately delegates already-recorded feedback through a new unique dispatch, redisplays the artifact, and stays at this approval gate. Ask one focused change question only when no feedback is pending. Control-only continue, proceed, and go ahead approve nothing.

© tzachbon, 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 1 other file in plugins/ralph-specum-codex/skills/ralph-specum-requirements of tzachbon/smart-ralph.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit ac7251a

Compare with similar skills

Ralph Specum Requirements 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.

Ralph Specum Requirements compared with similar skills
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OpenSpec Guided OnboardingFission-AI/OpenSpec72k1 repos~4.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Brainstormingobra/superpowers297k1 repos~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Claude Code Plugin Structureanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k10 repos~3.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Neat-Freak Knowledge CloseoutKKKKhazix/khazix-skills21k—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Ralph Specum Requirements

What does Ralph Specum Requirements do?

This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase. Ralph Specum Requirements is an agent skill from tzachbon/smart-ralph. This skill should be used only when the user explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements, or explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.

When should I use Ralph Specum Requirements?

Ralph Specum Requirements fits situations like: explicitly asks to use $ralph-specum-requirements; explicitly asks Ralph Specum in Codex to run the requirements phase.

How do I install Ralph Specum Requirements in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add tzachbon/smart-ralph --skill ralph-specum-requirements -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ralph-specum-codex/skills/ralph-specum-requirements in tzachbon/smart-ralph) into .claude/skills/ralph-specum-requirements in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Ralph Specum Requirements in Codex?

Run `npx skills add tzachbon/smart-ralph --skill ralph-specum-requirements -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ralph-specum-codex/skills/ralph-specum-requirements in tzachbon/smart-ralph) into .agents/skills/ralph-specum-requirements in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Ralph Specum Requirements 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 tzachbon/smart-ralph --skill ralph-specum-requirements -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/ralph-specum-requirements, .gemini/skills/ralph-specum-requirements, .github/skills/ralph-specum-requirements and .opencode/skills/ralph-specum-requirements in your project.

What does Ralph Specum Requirements need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Ralph Specum Requirements needs the command-line tools its instructions call (go).

Does Ralph Specum Requirements 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 Ralph Specum Requirements 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 Ralph Specum Requirements use?

Ralph Specum Requirements 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 Ralph Specum Requirements use?

About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.6k 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 Ralph Specum Requirements?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Ralph Specum Requirements: Orca CLI (stablyai/orca, 89k stars), OpenSpec Guided Onboarding (Fission-AI/OpenSpec, 72k stars), Brainstorming (obra/superpowers, 297k stars) and Claude Code Plugin Structure (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Ralph Specum Requirements?

tzachbon (a GitHub user) maintains it in tzachbon/smart-ralph, which has 559 GitHub stars. The repository holds 26 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 16, 2026.

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