Living Specs in SpecKit

Description and use

Living specs in SpecKit keep feature requirements up-to-date next to the code, reducing duplication and simplifying current spec discovery.

Problem

Spec files become stale and fragmented, making it hard to understand current feature behavior and to reuse knowledge across changes.

Outcome

Living specs reduce duplication, keep documentation current, and improve agent guidance by providing a single, up-to-date spec per feature.

Workflow

• 1. Define capabilities and match globs in living-specs.yml
• 2. Run SpecKit Companion to load the living spec before drafting
• 3. Agent drafts specify, plan, tasks, and implement phases
• 4. After implementation, Companion rewrites the living spec with updated requirements
• 5. Spec remains next to code for future runs and human review

Evidence

Spec-kit gives each feature its own numbered folder, and that folder is finished the day the feature is

Source

A living spec is a pointer to that previous understanding. When the next run starts, the agent has more guidance, faster, because the record of how the feature works is already there and already current.

Source

The difference is who finds the spec without being told where it is. You can pick per capability, and /speckit.companion.living-move moves a spec between the two later, so nothing here is a commitment.

Source