Does this skill help with Architectural Decision Records (ADRs)?

Yes, it specifically seeks out and reads ADRs at the product, capability, and feature levels to ensure all technical constraints are respected during implementation.

How does the 'Abort Protocol' work?

If a required document (like a PRD or ADR) is missing from the expected hierarchy, the skill immediately stops the process and tells you exactly which file is missing and where it should be located.

What is the primary benefit of the Understanding Specs skill?

It prevents 'context drift' by ensuring Claude has read every relevant piece of documentation—from high-level product goals to low-level technical constraints—before it writes any code.

Can I use this skill if my project doesn't use a 'specs/' folder?

This skill expects a standardized structure within a 'specs/' directory to function correctly. It is designed to encourage and enforce this organized documentation methodology.

Understanding Specs

Name: Understanding Specs
Author: simonheimlicher

bysimonheimlicher

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Productivity & Workflow

Enforces a strict documentation hierarchy by verifying and loading all product specifications and architectural records before implementation begins.

The Understanding Specs skill acts as a rigorous context-loading gate for your development workflow. It ensures that Claude never starts a task with incomplete information by traversing a project's documentation hierarchy—from the high-level Product Guide and Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) down to specific Feature PRDs and Story specs. By mandating a 'complete context or abort' policy, it eliminates implementation errors caused by missed requirements or ignored technical constraints. This skill is essential for maintaining high engineering standards and ensuring that AI-generated code aligns perfectly with established project architecture.

Key Features

01Structured context summary generation to prep Claude for implementation

02Mandatory ADR (Architectural Decision Record) discovery and ingestion

03Fail-fast error handling with clear remediation guidance for missing docs

041 GitHub stars

05Strict mode verification for PRDs, TRDs, and technical specifications

06Hierarchical document traversal from product level down to specific stories

Use Cases

01Initializing a new work session to ensure all requirements and constraints are loaded

02Onboarding to a new capability or feature set with full architectural context

03Auditing project documentation to identify missing PRDs or technical specifications

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add simonheimlicher/spx-claude understanding-specs

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill