Spec Kitty 3.2 current overview

You are looking at Spec Kitty 3.2 documentation. This is the current product surface for new projects and upgrades.

Answer summary

Current target version: Spec Kitty 3.2.
Current runtime model: Charter-era missions with governed context injection.
Current governance source: .kittify/charter/charter.md.
Current mission loop: spec-kitty next --agent <name> --mission <slug>.
Upgrade path: Migration to Spec Kitty 3.2.

What is Charter?

Charter is the governance layer introduced in Spec Kitty 3.x. A single human-edited file (charter.md) drives a synthesis pipeline that produces structured context for governed mission actions and standalone profile invocations. The flow is:

charter.md  ->  charter synthesize  ->  validated Charter state  ->  governed prompt/context

When you run spec-kitty next --agent <name> --mission <slug>, the runtime automatically injects the relevant Charter context into the prompt file it returns for the next mission action. Separate profile-invocation commands such as ask, advise, and do use the same governed-context model for standalone work.

For the full mental model, see How Charter Works.

Documentation by type

Tutorials — learning-oriented

Step-by-step walkthroughs for new users.

Governed Charter Workflow End-to-End — Start from a fresh repo, set up governance, synthesize doctrine, and run a governed mission action
Getting Started with Spec Kitty — First project from scratch
Multi-Agent Workflow — Run a mission across multiple harnesses

How-to guides — task-oriented

Focused guides for specific operator tasks.

How to Set Up Project Governance — Charter interview, generate, and sync
How to Synthesize and Maintain Doctrine — charter synthesize, charter resynthesize, bundle validation
How to Run a Governed Mission — spec-kitty next --agent with Charter context injection
How to Manage the Glossary — Living glossary, Charter integration, retrospective proposals
How to Use the Retrospective Learning Loop — retrospect summary, agent retrospect synthesize
Troubleshooting Charter Failures — Stale bundle, missing doctrine, compact-context, retro gate failures

Reference — authoritative specifications

Precise CLI and schema references.

Charter CLI Reference — All charter subcommands with flags
CLI Commands — Full spec-kitty CLI reference including Charter-era additions
Profile Invocation Reference — ask, advise, do, invocation trail
Retrospective Schema Reference — retrospective.yaml schema, proposal kinds, exit codes
Governance Files Reference — Every file in .kittify/charter/

Explanation — conceptual background

Understanding-oriented pages that explain why things work the way they do.

How Charter Works — Mental model: doctrine → DRG → governed context
Understanding Charter: Synthesis, DRG, and Governed Context — Deep dive into synthesis and the Directive Relationship Graph
Understanding Governed Profile Invocation — The (profile, action, governance-context) triple
Understanding the Retrospective Learning Loop — Why retrospectives exist and how the gate model works

Migration

Upgrading from an earlier version? See:

Migrating from 2.x / Early 3.x — What changed, migration steps, and known failure modes

What is archived

Documentation for Spec Kitty 1.x and 2.x is preserved through the migration hub for historical context. The 2.x governance model did not include the DRG-backed synthesis pipeline or the retrospective learning loop. If you are running a current project, use the 3.2 documentation above.

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