Commands

Tip
Commands are grouped below. spec <command> --help shows arguments and examples, spec help <command> --markdown prints one command’s reference page, and every command takes --json.

Query

spec context — The documents that govern code paths: read this before changing code
spec find — Find documents by words, type, owner, status or tag
spec show — Frontmatter, outline, one section, or relations of a document
spec resolve — Resolve an id, alias, path or slug to one document
spec graph — Graph queries: impact, chain, governs, consumers; or the whole graph
spec owners — Owners, their documents and where public owners store theirs
spec assets — Agent skills, rules, subagents and instruction files declared under [[assets]]
spec log — The history of a document’s status and relations, from git
spec census — Counts of documents, references and attachments

Write

spec new — Create a document at the place its owner and type decide
spec set — Change frontmatter with the lifecycle enforced
spec edit — Replace or append to a section or the whole body; previews until –write
spec mv — Move or rename a document and rewrite every reference to it
spec fix — Apply fixes that need no judgement
spec sync — Copy asset sources over the [[assets]] roots that declare copy_of; previews until –write
spec attach — Register files with a document, in the repository or the store
spec fetch — Download a document’s stored attachments, verified by hash
spec files — A document’s attachments and where each is kept

Check

spec check — Run the rules
spec verify — Run sot verify commands
spec guard — Run guards over files and commit messages
spec audit — Diagnose what passes the rules yet needs attention; build review packs; record audits
spec explain — Why a rule exists and how to fix it; or the configuration keys
spec schema — Document types and their frontmatter; or output schema names

Set up and connect

spec init — Write a starter spec.toml
spec import — Bring documents from another layout in through an import map
spec agents — The lines to put in an agent’s instruction file
spec hook — Hook snippets for git, pre-commit, lefthook or husky
spec plugins — Configured plugins and what they provide
spec export — Export through an exporter plugin
spec mcp — Serve these commands as MCP tools over stdio
spec lsp — Serve check findings as editor diagnostics (Language Server Protocol over stdio)
spec help — Commands and arguments; with –json, the whole command tree

All commands

There are 33 commands. This table is generated by spec help --markdown; do not edit it by hand.

command	what it does
`spec context`	The documents that govern code paths: read this before changing code
`spec find`	Find documents by words, type, owner, status or tag (also `spec list`, `spec ls`)
`spec show`	Frontmatter, outline, one section, or relations of a document
`spec resolve`	Resolve an id, alias, path or slug to one document
`spec graph`	Graph queries: impact, chain, governs, consumers; or the whole graph
`spec owners`	Owners, their documents and where public owners store theirs
`spec assets`	Agent skills, rules, subagents and instruction files declared under [[assets]]
`spec log`	The history of a document’s status and relations, from git
`spec new`	Create a document at the place its owner and type decide
`spec set`	Change frontmatter with the lifecycle enforced
`spec edit`	Replace or append to a section or the whole body; previews until –write
`spec mv`	Move or rename a document and rewrite every reference to it
`spec fix`	Apply fixes that need no judgement
`spec sync`	Copy asset sources over the [[assets]] roots that declare copy_of; previews until –write
`spec attach`	Register files with a document, in the repository or the store
`spec fetch`	Download a document’s stored attachments, verified by hash
`spec files`	A document’s attachments and where each is kept
`spec init`	Write a starter spec.toml, or upgrade an existing one
`spec import`	Bring documents from another layout in through an import map
`spec check`	Run the rules
`spec verify`	Run sot verify commands
`spec guard`	Run guards over files and commit messages
`spec audit`	Diagnose what passes the rules yet needs attention; build review packs; record audits
`spec census`	Counts of documents, references and attachments
`spec doctor`	Read-only setup diagnosis: configuration, conflict markers, ignored local documents
`spec explain`	Why a rule exists and how to fix it; or the configuration keys
`spec schema`	Document types and their frontmatter; or output schema names
`spec help`	Commands and arguments; with –json, the whole command tree
`spec agents`	The lines to put in an agent’s instruction file
`spec hook`	Hook snippets for git, pre-commit, lefthook or husky
`spec plugins`	Configured plugins and what they provide
`spec export`	Export through an exporter plugin
`spec mcp`	Serve these commands as MCP tools over stdio
`spec lsp`	Serve check findings as editor diagnostics (Language Server Protocol over stdio)