Table of Contents

Use Spec Kitty in Claude Code

Tier: first_class — reference harness, integration-tested. Citation (accessed 2026-05-21): https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/overview

Prerequisites

  • Spec Kitty CLI installed. See Install Spec Kitty.
  • Project initialized for this harness: 
    spec-kitty init --ai claude
  • Claude Code installed and signed in. Follow the Claude Code overview for installation and authentication.

Where Spec Kitty installs files

Per the supported-harnesses matrix, Claude Code uses the slash-command mechanism. Spec Kitty installs:

  • Directory: .claude/commands/
  • Files: spec-kitty.specify.md, spec-kitty.plan.md, spec-kitty.tasks.md, spec-kitty.implement.md, spec-kitty.review.md, spec-kitty.accept.md, spec-kitty.merge.md, spec-kitty.dashboard.md, spec-kitty.status.md, spec-kitty.charter.md, spec-kitty.analyze.md, spec-kitty.research.md, plus the spec-kitty.tasks-* helpers.

Each file is a Claude Code slash-command definition; the agent surfaces them as /spec-kitty.<command> in chat.

Canonical invocation

Slash-command syntax inside the Claude Code TUI:

/spec-kitty.specify "<one-line mission description>"
/spec-kitty.plan
/spec-kitty.tasks
/spec-kitty.implement WP01

The command name is the filename stem under .claude/commands/. Arguments after the command name are forwarded as a single string.

Worked example

  1. From your project root, start Claude Code (claude).
  2. In the chat, type: 
    /spec-kitty.specify "a hello world page"
  3. Spec Kitty's interview prompts appear — answer them inside the chat.
  4. When asked for a kebab-case slug, supply something short, e.g. hello-world-page.
  5. The mission spec lands at kitty-specs/hello-world-page-<mid8>/spec.md and the kanban moves the mission into the planned lane.

Troubleshooting

  • /spec-kitty.* commands do not show in Claude Code. Run spec-kitty agent config sync from the repo root. This rewrites .claude/commands/ from the canonical source templates (see CLAUDE.md, "Template Source Location"). Restart Claude Code afterwards.

  • Profile not loading (researcher / reviewer roles do not adopt). Inside Claude Code, run:

    /ad-hoc-profile-load researcher-robbie

    Replace the profile id with the one named in the work-package frontmatter (agent_profile:).

Where to learn more about Claude Code

Authoritative documentation: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/overview (accessed 2026-05-21).

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