Spec-Kit-Plus Initialization

Problem

The /sp.autonomous command assumes directories already exist. When run on a fresh project, it fails to create the required .specify/ and .claude/ directory structures, causing the workflow to fail or behave unexpectedly.

Context / Trigger Conditions

Use this skill when:

• Running /sp.autonomous on a new project with no existing structure
• Error: “directory not found” or “no such file or directory”
• Workflow state is inconsistent or corrupted
• .specify/ or .claude/ directories don’t exist
• Starting any project that will use the autonomous workflow

Solution

CRITICAL RULES (NEVER VIOLATE)

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  FORBIDDEN ACTIONS - NEVER DO THESE                                        ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  ✗ NEVER create: skill-lab/, workspace/, temp/, output/                   ║
║  ✗ NEVER create: .claude/ inside another directory                        ║
║  ✗ NEVER overwrite existing .claude/skills/ contents                      ║
║  ✗ NEVER ignore existing directories - USE them                           ║
║  ✗ NEVER regenerate skills that already exist                             ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Step 1: Check What ALREADY EXISTS

# Check BEFORE doing anything
CLAUDE_EXISTS="false"
SPECIFY_EXISTS="false"
SKILL_COUNT=0

if [ -d ".claude" ]; then
    CLAUDE_EXISTS="true"
    SKILL_COUNT=$(find .claude/skills -name "SKILL.md" 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
    echo "✓ .claude/ exists with $SKILL_COUNT skills - WILL USE IT"
fi

if [ -d ".specify" ]; then
    SPECIFY_EXISTS="true"
    echo "✓ .specify/ exists - WILL USE IT"
fi

Step 2: Create ONLY Missing Directories

# Only create .specify if it doesn't exist
if [ "$SPECIFY_EXISTS" = "false" ]; then
    mkdir -p .specify/templates
    mkdir -p .specify/validations
    mkdir -p .specify/features
fi

# Only create .claude if it doesn't exist
if [ "$CLAUDE_EXISTS" = "false" ]; then
    mkdir -p .claude/skills
    mkdir -p .claude/agents
    mkdir -p .claude/commands
    mkdir -p .claude/rules
    mkdir -p .claude/logs
    mkdir -p .claude/build-reports
fi

Step 3: Initialize Workflow State

cat > .specify/workflow-state.json << 'EOF'
{
  "phase": 0,
  "status": "initialized",
  "project_type": "unknown",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-21T00:00:00Z",
  "features": [],
  "completed_phases": []
}
EOF

Step 4: Copy Template (If Available)

TEMPLATE_DIR="/path/to/template/repo"

# Copy all configurations
cp -r "$TEMPLATE_DIR/.claude/skills/"* .claude/skills/ 2>/dev/null || true
cp -r "$TEMPLATE_DIR/.claude/agents/"* .claude/agents/ 2>/dev/null || true
cp -r "$TEMPLATE_DIR/.claude/rules/"* .claude/rules/ 2>/dev/null || true
cp -r "$TEMPLATE_DIR/.claude/commands/"* .claude/commands/ 2>/dev/null || true
cp "$TEMPLATE_DIR/CLAUDE.md" ./ 2>/dev/null || true
cp "$TEMPLATE_DIR/.mcp.json" ./ 2>/dev/null || true

Verification

After initialization, verify:

# Check directories exist
ls -la .specify/
ls -la .claude/

# Check workflow state
cat .specify/workflow-state.json

# Check skill count
find .claude/skills -name "SKILL.md" | wc -l

Expected output:

• .specify/ contains: templates/, validations/, features/, workflow-state.json
• .claude/ contains: skills/, agents/, commands/, rules/, logs/
• Skill count should be > 0 if template was copied

Commands

Notes

• Always run /q-init BEFORE /sp.autonomous on fresh projects
• The sp.autonomous command now includes Phase 0.0 that auto-initializes
• If copying from template, ensure paths are correct for your system
• MCP servers in .mcp.json may need path adjustments

Root Cause

The original /sp.autonomous command had Phase 0 (PRE-CHECK) that only checked if directories existed but didn’t create them. This was fixed by adding Phase 0.0 (INITIALIZATION) that creates directories if they don’t exist.

Prevention

Always include initialization logic at the start of autonomous workflows:

1. Check if structure exists
2. Create if missing
3. Then proceed with detection/resume logic