Live Spec Authoring Template

This template provides a standardized structure for authoring Live Spec documents — the primary input artifact in Spec Driven Development. A Live Spec replaces ad-hoc prompts with a versioned, machine-readable specification that defines what an agent must build, how success is measured, and what context the agent needs to do the work correctly.

The Context Architect uses this template to create specs before assigning work to agents. Each spec feeds into the Triangular Workflow: Specify (author the spec), Execute (agent builds against the spec), Evaluate (the Eval Harness validates the output against acceptance criteria).

Well-authored specs produce three measurable benefits: reproducible agent output, automated evaluation, and accumulated institutional knowledge that survives across sessions, developers, and model versions.

Use this template when:

• A Context Architect is defining a new unit of agent work (feature, component, refactor, migration)
• A team is transitioning from ad-hoc prompting to Spec Driven Development
• An existing spec needs to be restructured to include proper acceptance criteria and context references
• Work is being parallelized across multiple agents and each agent needs a self-contained specification

The template produces a YAML-structured spec document that can be stored in version control (typically in a specs/ directory), reviewed in pull requests, and consumed by agent orchestration tooling and the Eval Harness.

Before writing a spec, ensure the relevant Context Packet exists. If the project does not yet have context packets for the domain in question, create them first — the spec references context but does not replace it.