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bmad-tech-spec

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Quick Flow lightweight technical specification for small-scope work (1-15 stories). Replaces the full PRD + architecture pair when scope is small and requirements are clear. Produces bmad-output/tech-spec.md as the single planning artifact before story creation. Use when the user says: "write a tech spec", "create a technical specification", "I need a tech spec for this feature", "quick spec", "small project spec", "we don't need a full PRD", "just a tech spec", "spec out this change", "document this feature". QUICK FLOW TRACK ONLY (1-15 stories). If scope grows beyond ~15 stories or involves multiple teams / external integrations at scale, stop and redirect to bmad-prd + bmad-architecture instead — those skills are built for that complexity. Supports three intents: Create (new spec), Update (revise an existing tech-spec.md), Validate (review a draft for completeness against BMAD criteria).

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How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/aj-geddes/claude-code-bmad-skills/blob/HEAD/bmad-planning-orchestrator/skills/bmad-tech-spec/SKILL.md

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Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use. Codex skill guide

BMAD Tech Spec — Quick Flow

This skill produces a focused tech-spec.md for Quick Flow work: small, well-scoped features or changes that sit in the 1-15 story range. It consolidates the product rationale, technical approach, and story backlog into a single lightweight document, skipping the separate PRD + architecture artifacts that larger tracks require.

Track guidance

  • 1-15 stories, single team, clear requirements → Quick Flow (this skill)
  • 10-50+ stories, multiple concerns, or uncertain scope → use bmad-prd then bmad-architecture
  • 30+ stories, cross-org, security/compliance/DevOps dimensions → Enterprise track

Workflow

Step 1 — Identify intent

Ask the user (or infer from context) which of three intents applies:

IntentWhen
CreateNo tech-spec.md exists yet
UpdateRevising scope, requirements, or approach in an existing spec
ValidateChecking a draft spec for BMAD completeness before moving to stories

Step 2 — Gather context

For Create, collect (interactively or from existing project files):

  1. Problem & solution — what are we solving and how?
  2. Scope — what is in scope? What is explicitly out of scope?
  3. Functional requirements — numbered, MoSCoW-tagged (MUST / SHOULD / COULD)
  4. Non-functional requirements — performance, security, accessibility targets that are relevant; omit boilerplate that does not apply
  5. Technical approach — stack, key components, data model sketch, API surface (if any)
  6. Story list — high-level backlog items; the scrum-master skill will compile them into full story files
  7. Dependencies & risks — third-party libs, external services, known unknowns
  8. Decision log entries — any choices made during this conversation that belong in bmad-output/decision-log.md

Load bmad-output/project-context.md if present — it is the project constitution and must not be contradicted without a recorded decision.

For Update, read the existing bmad-output/tech-spec.md first, then apply targeted edits and log what changed in the decision log.

For Validate, read the existing spec and report against the checklist in the Validation Checklist section below.

Step 3 — Draft or revise

Render the template at:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/bmad-tech-spec/templates/tech-spec.template.md

Fill every section. Omit sections that genuinely do not apply (e.g., no API design for a pure-CLI tool) and note the omission inline. Do not leave unreplaced {{placeholders}}.

Testing strategy in the spec is planning only — describe what should be tested and why. Do not write test code. Do not set coverage numbers as mandatory targets; frame them as guidance for the dev team.

Step 4 — Write output

Write to bmad-output/tech-spec.md (respecting the outputFolder user config if set).

If decision-log entries were made, append them to bmad-output/decision-log.md (create the file if it does not exist, using the format: ## [YYYY-MM-DD] <title> / **Decision:** ... / **Rationale:** ...).

Step 5 — Confirm next steps

After writing, tell the user:

  • The spec is the Quick Flow planning artifact. Story creation is the next step.
  • Use bmad-epics-and-stories to compile stories from the story list in the spec.
  • If scope has grown during this conversation beyond ~15 stories, recommend switching to the BMad Method track (bmad-prd + bmad-architecture) before proceeding.

Validation Checklist

When intent is Validate, report pass/fail for each item:

  • Problem statement is clear and specific
  • Solution is described without implementation code
  • All functional requirements are numbered and MoSCoW-tagged
  • Non-functional requirements include at least one performance or security entry if applicable
  • Technical approach names the stack and describes key components
  • Story list exists and each story title is one-line, action-oriented
  • Story count is 1-15 (flag if over)
  • No unreplaced {{placeholders}} remain
  • Testing section describes strategy only (no executable test code)
  • Dependencies table lists version or version constraint
  • Risks table lists at least one risk with a mitigation
  • Decision log entries have been written for any significant choices
  • No content instructs a dev agent to run tests, lint, build, or deploy

Subagent Strategy

This skill is primarily single-threaded (one conversation, one document). Parallelism is optional and limited to information gathering:

  • If the user wants concurrent research (e.g., compare two tech options), spawn two WebSearch/WebFetch agents in parallel and synthesize results before writing the spec.
  • Do not spawn parallel agents for writing — the spec is one coherent document and must be written atomically to avoid merge conflicts.

Part of the BMAD Planning & Orchestrator plugin — a Claude Code harness for the BMAD Method by the BMAD Code Organization (https://github.com/bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD). Implements the spirit of bmad-tech-spec. All methodology credit belongs to the BMAD Code Organization.