diff --git a/docs/history.md b/docs/history.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..b3aee62909 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/history.md @@ -0,0 +1,173 @@ +# History + +Spec Kit began as a toolkit for making specifications the starting point of +AI-assisted development. From its +[first full check-in](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/commit/28fdfaa86973d4402eecd89ba6c87d31e1edae03), +it described three ways to apply Spec-Driven Development: + +- **0-to-1 Development ("Greenfield")** generates a new system from + requirements. +- **Creative Exploration** compares parallel implementations, technology + choices, and experience designs. +- **Iterative Enhancement ("Brownfield")** adds features to and modernizes + existing systems. + +All three moved from durable planning artifacts into implementation: + +**Specify → Plan → Tasks → Implement** + +Those development paths and that core sequence remain, but the project has +grown into an extensible harness for coding agents, software delivery +processes, and other structured work. + +## Project stewardship + +Spec Kit's history includes two distinct stewardship periods. Recording them +here preserves the contemporary account of the project's leadership without +reducing the work to any one person. + +### Founding stewardship: August 2025–January 2026 + +[Den Delimarsky](https://github.com/localden) and +[John Lam](https://github.com/jflam) conceived Spec Kit and gave the project its +first shape. Den authored the +[initial commit](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/commit/fa2736371e077f55c4fe145fea186bab2561386d) on +August 21, 2025 and led the repository through its first months. + +That founding period established the shape users still recognize: the Specify +CLI, coding-agent-specific scaffolding, project constitutions, and the +specification → plan → tasks → implementation process. It also framed SDD as +useful for greenfield development, parallel exploration, and brownfield +enhancement rather than tying the method to a single agent or development +scenario. + +### Community stewardship: January 2026–present + +[Manfred Riem](https://github.com/mnriem) took over as lead maintainer on +January 22, 2026. The transition became publicly visible when the repository's +global [`CODEOWNERS` entry](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/commit/3040d33c31d8a26d50f91aec5d62d1cecac3298c) +changed to `@mnriem` on February 23. + +During this stewardship, the maintainer team's focus moved from building a +composable model to using it to ship complete first-party processes. That shift +was not sequential for the community: the modular extension system began as a +community contribution, and contributors adopted and extended each primitive +as it arrived. + +These dates and roles are also documented in the lead maintainer's +[six-month retrospective](https://www.manorrock.com/blog/2026/07/22/six_months_leading_spec_kit.html) +and +[first-anniversary account](https://www.manorrock.com/blog/2026/08/21/spec_kit_turns_one.html), +and are consistent with the repository's commit and ownership history. + +## Milestones + +### August 2025: The foundation + +The repository history begins on August 21, 2025. The first releases established +the Specify CLI, reusable templates, and the core Spec-Driven Development +paths. Support for multiple coding agents through centrally configured, +agent-specific scaffolding was part of the project from the start, keeping the +process independent of any one model or tool. + +### February–April 2026: Building the primitives + +The modular extension system arrived in February as a community contribution +from Michal Bachorik, allowing capabilities to be added without expanding the +core process. March brought pluggable presets, which made templates and +commands replaceable or composable while preserving the same CLI experience. + +The founding-era agent scaffolding was rewritten as a registry-backed +integration architecture. Core assets were also embedded in the Python package, +enabling reliable offline and air-gapped initialization. + +The workflow engine introduced catalog-distributed automation and built-in +workflow step types in April. Workflows could coordinate reusable steps rather +than requiring users to invoke every command manually. An integration catalog +followed, making coding-agent support discoverable and independently +distributable. + +The composable model came to be described through five primitives: + +- **Integrations** connect Spec Kit to coding agents. +- **Extensions** add capabilities, commands, templates, scripts, and hooks. +- **Presets** customize or replace behavior. +- **Workflows** automate multi-step processes. +- **Workflow steps** provide reusable units of workflow behavior. + +The emphasis during these first months was on creating reusable machinery: +making the process configurable, distributable, and automatable before adding +more first-party processes. Community contributors did not wait for the full +model to be complete; they quickly used the new extension and preset surfaces +to publish their own capabilities and process variations. + +### June–July 2026: Composing and applying the primitives + +For the core team, June marked the turn from mainly building primitives to using +them. A workflow step catalog made custom step types community-installable, +extending a primitive that had shipped with the workflow engine in April. +Bundles then made it possible to package extensions, presets, workflows, and +steps as a coherent setup for a role or team, optionally targeting a specific +integration. + +Catalogs became the bridge between the primitives and the community. Community +authors built extensions, presets, integrations, workflows, step types, and +bundles; the maintainer team checked submission metadata and listed accepted +entries in community catalogs so users could discover and install them. A +catalog listing made a component visible, but did not mean its code had been +audited or endorsed. + +At the same time, core maintainers began using the model to add two first-party +processes alongside feature delivery: + +- On June 5, version 0.9.5 introduced the bundled, opt-in + [`bug` extension](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/commit/60302fefec541a68fcac6f0428a95ba35f2acadf). + Its assess → fix → test process keeps bug diagnosis, remediation, and + verification separate and documented. +- On July 17, version 0.13.0 introduced the bundled, opt-in + [`assess` extension](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/commit/208d38695fc88d8eaec7855c96e5098a852927cf). + Its intake → research → define → shape → decide process evaluates an idea + before it enters SDD. + +Distribution broadened too: the release pipeline added PyPI publishing, and +Python joined Bash and PowerShell as a supported project script type. These +changes made installation and cross-platform use simpler while preserving +support for offline and enterprise environments. + +### August 2026: First anniversary + +Spec Kit turned one and released version 1.0.0 on August 21, 2026. By then, its +five primitives — integrations, extensions, presets, workflows, and workflow +steps — already formed a coherent model. Bundles composed extensions, presets, +workflows, and steps around a selected integration. A README refresh made the +existing SDD, bug-fixing, and idea-assessment processes easier to discover +through separate quickstarts. + +Version 1.0.0 did not create or freeze that model; it gave the project's +evolving state a round number. The documentation then reported 38 coding-agent +integrations, 157 community extensions, 33 presets, and 270+ contributors. Spec +Kit continues to favor adaptability: processes, integrations, and conventions +can evolve while agents help projects apply those changes. + +## Enduring themes + +Several themes connect the project's stewardship periods and technical +evolution: + +- **Intent comes before implementation.** Specifications capture what should be + built before technical decisions dominate the work. +- **Artifacts should be durable.** Specs, plans, and tasks remain useful beyond + a single prompt or agent session. +- **The process should be agent-independent.** Teams can change coding agents + without abandoning their development method. +- **The method should adapt to the work.** The original development paths grew + into a formally composable model that teams can modify, automate, or replace. +- **The community shapes the kit.** Community contributions have influenced + both the project's infrastructure and the ecosystem built on it. + +## Release history + +This page records the project's broad evolution, not every feature or breaking +change. For release-level detail, see the +[changelog](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md) and +[GitHub Releases](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/releases). diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md index 93857ba0e8..d1007aed85 100644 --- a/docs/index.md +++ b/docs/index.md @@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ Community extensions like CI Guard and Architecture Guard add compliance gates a What is SDD? The philosophy behind Spec-Driven Development + + History + How Spec Kit grew from its SDD foundation into an extensible process harness + --- diff --git a/docs/toc.yml b/docs/toc.yml index a2e07b270c..d6996640dc 100644 --- a/docs/toc.yml +++ b/docs/toc.yml @@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ - name: Home href: index.md +# About +- name: About + items: + - name: History + href: history.md + # Getting started section - name: Getting Started items: