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Notes

docs-lab/Notes.md

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Ok these are my notes when reviewing the different sections/file in docs-lab. I've written down my thoughts when looking at these sections so we can think about how to update these docs with the feedback in mind.

Start > Overview

Ok the following subtitle here is horrible:

OpenSpec gives you and your coding agent a shared, reviewable plan before code is written.

This is not a strong value prop in the day and age of plan mode, but other than that i don't think it sells openspec hard enough

OpenSpec is not really about a shared plan for a single session it's about a keeping things on track and aligned for larger features.

what we focus on:

  • making it work for teams
  • git native / things checked into vcs
  • intented behaviour matches the implemented behaviour
  • we help you capture intendede behaviour and match it to the implemented behaviour.
  • it's about correctness, coherence,

Control theory inspiration:

Instructors break down how a system measures its current state, compares it to a desired goal, and adjusts its actions to reduce the difference.

Guides > Explore and idea

I think in this section we should mention:

This is about exploring the problem space, figuring out what problems you care about and diving deeper into them.

It was designed with a very different philiosphy in mind of giving you the freedom to explore the problem space and jump around to different ideas and sections.

It serves a similar purpose to other newer entrees in the fields like superpowers or matt pocock's skills.

We often do see people combining explore with

Often this is a matter of UX and personal preference. There is no single best skill or method to getting to aligment with your agent.

Some people prefer a conversing with a thoughtful design partner, others might prefer being asked questions till they have a good understanding of a problem.

Feel free to customize the explore skills to your needs.

Unrelated to docs:

How do we solve the problem for PM's? How do we give them a good home? - what is their job to be done? How we efficiently help them achieve that?

  • they're basically turning it into tickets?

What do we want to get across the line this week?

  • The spec drift agent?

  • The dashboard?

  • figure out how we use agent session and traces better

From docs-lab drafting (2026-08-19, project-config page)

Product issue, not docs: the installed skills in this repo are stale against the current templates. .claude/skills/openspec-archive-change/SKILL.md has no openspec instructions call at all, while src/core/templates/workflows/archive-change.ts:40 instructs one; the installed apply skill also doesn't mention the context/operationGuidance fields in the JSON it reads. So config injection reaches the CLI output, but a stale skill never tells the agent to consume it. Running openspec update should refresh them.

From docs-lab drafting (2026-08-19, schemas page)

Product issues found while verifying the schema system (all file refs current as of today):

  • schema init next-steps output prints a command that doesn't exist in that form: "Use with: openspec new --schema <name>" (schema.ts:999); real syntax is openspec new change <name> --schema <name>.
  • openspec new change spinner prints the hardcoded default schema, not the resolved one (new-change.ts:118): "Creating change 'x' with schema 'spec-driven'..." then "Schema: lite".
  • schema fork re-serializes schema.yaml (literal instruction: | becomes folded >, comments dropped), so diffing a fork against upstream is noisy (schema.ts:706-712).
  • All openspec schema subcommands plus openspec schemas/templates use process.cwd() and take no --store; they silently see nothing when run from a subdirectory, unlike root-resolved commands (schema.ts:383/485/634/768).
  • suggestSchemas fuzzy "did you mean" helper exists but is wired to nothing (project-config.ts:420).

Docs follow-up: the community schema catalog lives only in legacy docs/customization.md (#community-schemas); customize/schemas.md links to it on GitHub. When the old docs tree retires, the catalog needs a docs-lab home.