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OpenSpec – A lightweight and configurable AI spec framework

204 points · 100 comments · etoxin

  1. wyum · · focus · HN ↗
    This is my first time seeing openspec, and it seems to share a similar philosophy to what I've been working on this year.

    If you like this / SDD, I'd appreciate your feedback:

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;spekk-ai&#x2F;spekk-cli" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;spekk-ai&#x2F;spekk-cli

    Similar iterative specs philosophy. Ours is a bit different because we focus on declarative specs and installable agent skills. We chose Go for simplicity and minimal requirements (single binary).

    1. ulimn · · focus · HN ↗
      Please don&#x27;t take this as offense, I&#x27;m honestly curious as I&#x27;m pretty bad at these things.

      You say this is your first time seeing openspec, but you&#x27;ve been working on a pretty similar project for a year now. Openspec and Speckit both seem to have similar (almost same?) goal as yours. Do you just jump into such a project as yours without worrying about others already existing?

      I tend to overthink such stuff...

      1. wyum · · focus · HN ↗
        No offense taken. I&#x27;d also say I overthink things, so this question hits home.

        The existence of similar tools has certainly given me pause several times. I was aware of SpecKit (GitHub) and Kiro (Amazon) when I started in January of this year. I Googled around and asked AI to find and evaluate similar things to my idea. Somehow I genuinely missed openspec, which seems to have had 20k GitHub stars at that time. I look at this and realize how bad I&#x27;ve been about sharing and promoting spekk.

        I&#x27;ve continued to iterate on my idea because nobody else is as focused on the concept of declarative, living specifications that evolve with the code. From the beginning that has been Spekk&#x27;s differentiator.

        I&#x27;ve definitely had doubts about whether building my own version is &quot;worth it.&quot;

        Some wisdom I&#x27;ve gained as I get older is that the world is a complex place. There are many valid ways to solve the same problem, and every version has its audience and community.

        The other thing is that even in this age of AI, putting sustained effort into a thing is still a scarce resource. The best software still takes time to mature and refine. It never ceases to amaze me how many small but important decisions and features go into what many see as &quot;just markdown files and skills.&quot;

        Appreciate the question.

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