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Specification Capture

Category: General  ·  Sub-category: general-misc  ·  Last updated:
Capture the three specification elements (non-goals, failure modes, interface contracts) for an issue and persist them to the decision journal under a ## Specification heading. Use when starting work on an issue (Phase 1 of /flow:start), entering a design discussion (/flow:design), or starting a brainstorm (/flow:brainstorm). This skill MUST be consulted because acceptance criteria alone do not describe the full specification — without explicit non-goals, failure modes, and interface contracts, downstream phases (PLAN, CODE, VERIFY) cannot fence the implementation or know what behavior to test.
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From the source SKILL.md

You capture three specification elements that complement an issue's acceptance criteria, and you persist them to the decision journal so every downstream phase (PLAN, CODE, VERIFY) and every related command (/flow:design, /flow:brainstorm) can read from the same source of truth.

What this skill does

Specification Capture is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the general-misc sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when starting work on an issue (Phase 1 of /flow:start), entering a design discussion (/flow:design), or starting a brainstorm (/flow:brainstorm). This skill MUST be consulted because acceptance criteria alone do not describe the full specification — without explicit non-goals, failure modes, and interface contracts, downstream phases (PLAN, CODE, VERIFY) cannot fence the implementation or know what behavior to test.

Who uses this skill

The Specification Capture Claude Code skill is built for Claude Code users and developers across all disciplines looking for general-purpose AI assistance. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 159,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/specification-capture/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\specification-capture\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

Telegram

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Specification Capture Claude Code skill?
Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/specification-capture/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.
What does the Specification Capture skill do?
Capture the three specification elements (non-goals, failure modes, interface contracts) for an issue and persist them to the decision journal under a ## Specification heading. Use when starting work on an issue (Phase 1 of /flow:start), entering a design discussion (/flow:design), or starting a brainstorm (/flow:brainstorm). This skill MUST be consulted because acceptance criteria alone do not describe the full specification — without explicit non-goals, failure modes, and interface contracts, downstream phases (PLAN, CODE, VERIFY) cannot fence the implementation or know what behavior to test.
Is this skill free to install?
Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.
When should I use the Specification Capture skill?
Use Specification Capture when your Claude Code task falls under the General category — specifically in the general misc area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Specification Capture" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/general/.
What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Specification Capture skill fit in?
A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Specification Capture is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA
ClaudSkills. (2026). Specification Capture [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/specification-capture/
BibTeX
@misc{specification-capture-2026,
  author    = {ClaudSkills},
  title     = {Specification Capture [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/specification-capture/}
}

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Security scan

Grade A · scanned 2026-07-24 — free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10.

The scan flagged 1 of 10 categories (filesystem), including lower-severity patterns. Patterns shown inside code fences are weighted as examples rather than instructions — read the grading methodology for what this does and does not guarantee.

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