spec-kit Copilot Plugin Demo

This project demonstrates an end-to-end AI-assisted development workflow using spec-kit with the Spec Kit plugin for GitHub Copilot CLI. Starting from a raw GitHub issue, an idea was assessed, specified, planned, and shipped entirely through structured agents — first the Idea Assessment Pipeline (the assess extension), then Spec-Driven Development. The steps below document exactly what was entered — you can follow the same process to take your own ideas from issue to implementation.

Note on the workflow: The feature was not driven by an elaborate formal specification. It began as a raw GitHub issue, was assessed through the intake → research → define → shape → decide pipeline, and only then handed off to Spec-Driven Development. Each command below is the exact prompt entered into Copilot Chat, as you will see.

Acknowledgements

This project is built on top of spec-kit, an open-source toolkit for Spec-Driven Development created and maintained by GitHub. All credit for the toolkit, its agents, and its extensions belongs to the spec-kit contributors. Please visit the original repository to learn more, contribute, or show your appreciation.

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Prerequisites

• GitHub Copilot CLI

• The Spec Kit specify CLI on your PATH:

  uv tool install specify-cli      # or: pipx install specify-cli
  specify --version

• A GitHub repository to work in

Install the Spec Kit Copilot plugin

This demo is driven by the Spec Kit Copilot plugin, which exposes the specify CLI to the Copilot agent as skills. Register the marketplace, then install the plugin:

copilot plugin marketplace add github/spec-kit-copilot
copilot plugin install spec-kit-copilot@spec-kit-marketplace

Verify it loaded:

copilot plugin list
# or, inside an interactive session:
/skills list

See the plugin README for local development installs and troubleshooting.

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Assessment — from issue to a go/no-go decision

The assess extension adds the Idea Assessment Pipeline: five skills (intake, research, define, shape, decide) that turn a raw idea into a scored decision before any code is written.

Step 1 — Initialize the project

Initialize the project as a Spec Kit project using Copilot and skills mode

This scaffolds .specify/ and installs the spec-kit commands as Copilot Agent Skills (.github/skills/speckit-*/SKILL.md).

Step 2 — Load the new skills

/skills reload

Loads the newly scaffolded skills into the running session.

Step 3 — Add the assess extension

Add the assess extension

Installs the Idea Assessment Pipeline — the five assess skills (intake, research, define, shape, decide).

Step 4 — Reload again

/skills reload

Picks up the newly added assess skills.

Step 5 — Intake the idea

Now do an intake using https://github.com/github/spec-kit/issues/3423

Captures the raw idea from the issue into .specify/assessments/specs-of-specs/intake.md.

Step 6 — Research

Continue

Gathers evidence for and against the idea into research.md.

Step 7 — Define the problem

Continue

Frames the problem — affected users, goals, non-goals, success metrics — in problem.md.

Step 8 — Shape the solution

Continue

Sketches 2–3 solution options with appetite and trade-offs in concept.md.

Step 9 — Refine an option

What about D a separate page describing option 4 in more detail?

Adds Option D (a dedicated docs page) and makes it the recommended option.

Step 10 — Decide

Continue

Scores the idea and records the verdict in decision.md: go, handing off to Spec-Driven Development.

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Delivery — Spec-Driven Development

With a go decision in hand, the standard spec-kit agents took the idea from specification to a shipped change.

Step 11 — Specify

Continue

Converts the go verdict into specs/001-spec-of-specs-docs/spec.md plus a spec quality checklist.

Step 12 — Plan

Yes

Produces plan.md and design artifacts (research.md, data-model.md, contracts/, quickstart.md).

Step 13 — Generate the task list

Yes

Generates the dependency-ordered tasks.md (14 tasks, grouped by user story).

Step 14 — Implement

Do the implementation

Executes the tasks: adds docs/concepts/spec-of-specs.md, trims Option 4 in complex-features.md to a summary plus link, and wires the new page into docs/toc.yml.

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Result

A raw GitHub issue turned into a shipped change — assessed, specified, planned, and implemented through structured agent workflows without manual scaffolding. In this run the idea happened to resolve to a documentation change (a new concept page wired into the docs table of contents), but the point of the demo is the workflow itself: the Spec Kit plugin for GitHub Copilot CLI carrying any idea from issue to implementation.