Speckit CLI Setup

Spec Kit — CLI setup

The Spec Kit plugin drives the specify command-line tool. Every other speckit

skill assumes specify is installed and on PATH. This skill detects it and

installs it when it is missing.

Detect first

Always check availability before doing anything else:

specify --version

• Prints a version (e.g. specify 0.15.0) → the CLI is installed. If a skill needs

bundle or workflow step, ensure the version is >= 0.11; if it is older, hand

off to the speckit-self skill to upgrade.

• command not found / non-zero exit → not installed. Install it (below).

Install

Spec Kit's specify CLI is published on PyPI as

specify-cli. Install the latest

release — this plugin is not pinned to a specific specify version.

uv is the recommended installer;

pipx is an alternative:

# Recommended: uv (persistent install, latest from PyPI)
uv tool install specify-cli

# Alternative: pipx (persistent install, latest from PyPI)
pipx install specify-cli

# One-off / ephemeral (no install) — handy to bootstrap a project.
# Pass --script (py keeps this cross-platform) so the PTY-backed agent shell
# doesn't hit the interactive "Choose script type" chooser and hang.
uvx --from specify-cli specify init . --integration copilot --integration-options="--skills" --script py

If neither uv nor pipx is available, tell the user to install uv first

(curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh, or see <https://docs.astral.sh/uv/>),

then re-run the install. Do not silently install system Python packages.

Verify

specify --version
specify check

Notes

• This skill is the prerequisite for the rest of the plugin. If any speckit skill

finds that specify is not available, it should run this skill's detect/install

steps first, then retry.

• For an already-installed CLI that just needs a newer version, prefer the

speckit-self skill (specify self upgrade) over reinstalling. To refresh a

uv/pipx install to the latest PyPI release, use uv tool upgrade specify-cli

or pipx upgrade specify-cli.

• Installing from PyPI always pulls the latest published specify-cli. Only pin a

specific version (e.g. uv tool install "specify-cli==0.15.0") if you have a

concrete reason to hold back.