git:20260629.b1f0329 to git:20260712.84145b4

---

name: spec-walkthrough

description: >

Render a spec bundle (or a chosen slice) into a plain-language, didactic

comprehension artifact a human reads and judges for themselves: an unaided

cold read before kickoff, re-orientation mid-execution, or onboarding to a

finished or abandoned spec. Standalone and strictly read-only: it renders any

status, never edits, signs off, mutates the pipeline, or delivers a verdict of

its own. The independent complement to /spec-kickoff's guided dialogue.

argument-hint: "[--scope <selector>] [--reveal] <spec-path>"

---

# /spec-walkthrough

A standalone, read-only command that renders an existing spec bundle, or a

selected part of it, into a visual, plain-English artifact a human reads and

**judges for themselves** (REQ-A1.1, D-1). It lowers the cost of absorbing a

dense bundle so a reader can independently evaluate it at any lifecycle stage,

and it stands apart from `/spec-kickoff` precisely so that read stays

independent: the moment the authoring agent performs the comprehension,

independent review collapses into "the agent reviewed its own spec."

On a successful load the command assembles the bundle into a single

self-contained HTML file and writes it to the gitignored

`.claude/walkthroughs/<spec>/` location (REQ-E1.1), naming the path in the load

report. The artifact carries the one-pager, the decision map, the drawn

dependency graph, and the teach-back; a partial `--scope` selector renders only

the sections in its scope (a single file, a requirement group, the decision set,

the task graph, or one decision plus its blast radius), and the framing adapts

to the bundle's auto-detected status (REQ-B1.2, REQ-B1.3).

## Doctrine

Resolve and read these rule docs at run start via the rule-doc resolution

convention (`scripts/resolve-rule-doc.sh <doc-name>`, or the documented

`PLANWRIGHT_ROOT`/`CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT` chain): `spec-format` (the bundle this

command reads conforms to the meta-spec — its file set, headers, and identifier

discipline govern what the scaffold loads and validates) and `security-posture`

(the identifier-charset and path-containment rules the scaffold enforces before

any read, and the data-hygiene rule for anything it later writes). Their

definitions govern wherever this skill names a concept. If one does not resolve,

halt with a clear message naming the missing doc and the chain consulted

(REQ-K1.7: a clear message is the graceful arm; proceeding without doctrine is

the opaque failure).

## Invocation

Run from the repository root (the scaffold resolves `specs/` relative to the

working directory, the same contract as the validator):

```sh

scripts/spec-walkthrough.sh [--scope <selector>] [--reveal] <spec-path>

```

- **`<spec-path>`** — `specs/<spec>` or the bare `<spec>` (the two sanctioned

forms). The `<spec>` segment is charset-validated against

`^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*$` (max 64) and the resolved path is containment-checked

**before any read** (REQ-A1.6). A hostile or malformed identifier or a path

that escapes `specs/` is a clean refusal that never becomes a path and never

echoes the candidate back.

- **`--scope <selector>`** — which part to render (REQ-A1.2, REQ-B1.2). Default

is the whole bundle. Selectors: `whole`; `file:<name>` (one of

`requirements`, `design`, `tasks`, `test-spec`); `reqs:<GROUP>` (one

requirement group, e.g. `reqs:A`); `decisions` (the decision set); `tasks`

(the task graph); `decision:<id>` (a single decision plus its blast radius,

e.g. `decision:1` or `decision:D-1`).

- **`--reveal`** — expose the underlying identifiers. Off by default (REQ-D1.3):

the default view is plain and audience-neutral.

**Exit codes.** `0` the bundle loaded (full or partial); `1` graceful

degradation with nothing to load (the bundle directory is absent, holds none of

the four files, or the requested scope resolves to no part of it) — a clear

message names what is absent or the available scopes, never an opaque halt

(REQ-A1.5); `2` a clean refusal (a malformed invocation, or a hostile/malformed

identifier or escaping path).

**Artifact.** On a successful load the command assembles the bundle into a

single self-contained HTML file (via `scripts/spec-assemble.sh`) and writes it

to the gitignored `.claude/walkthroughs/<spec>/<spec>.html` (REQ-E1.1); the load

report names the path. The file opens offline in any browser with nothing

installed (REQ-E1.2): the read (the one-pager) first, the teach-back prompt

after it, all bundle content HTML/SVG-escaped so markup in the spec displays as

literal text and never executes (REQ-E1.7), identifiers behind an off-by-default

reveal toggle (REQ-D1.3), original styling inlined that draws on MIT-licensed

design primitives (REQ-E1.6), and a

bundle + commit provenance stamp so a reader can tell whether it is stale

(REQ-E1.5). Open it directly: `open .claude/walkthroughs/<spec>/<spec>.html`.

**Optional Graphviz enhancement.** The dependency graph is always drawn as

inline SVG (never ASCII), self-contained and offline. When the Graphviz `dot`

binary is present it is used for a richer node layout (read-only, for

coordinates only); when it is absent, exits non-zero, times out, or emits an

unparseable layout, the view degrades identically to a built-in layout and

records a one-line in-artifact note saying which path was taken (REQ-E1.3, D-5).

`dot` is never on a path that can fail the render, so the artifact is fully

self-contained and offline either way; only the layout differs. No installation

is required: Graphviz is an enhancement, not a dependency. Two environment

variables tune the probe: `SPEC_WALKTHROUGH_DOT` overrides the binary name

(default `dot`; point it at a name that does not exist to force the built-in

layout), and `SPEC_WALKTHROUGH_DOT_TIMEOUT` sets the watchdog in whole seconds

(default 5; any value that is not a plain non-negative integer, such as `0.5`,

is coerced back to 5) before a slow `dot` run is killed and the layout degrades.

## Teach-back

The teach-back is the comprehension check: the reader restates the spec's own

assertions, section by section, and judges each for themselves (D-3, D-9;

REQ-C1.5). The claim set is extracted once by `scripts/spec-teachback.sh` over

the plain-language translation stream — every live requirement and every

decision becomes one claim, grouped into sections (one per requirement group,

then the decisions) — and **both** delivery paths render from that single

source, so they always cover the same claims:

- **In-artifact** (assembled by the HTML task): a self-paced

agree / disagree / unsure checklist, one neutral choice per claim. It records

the reader's marks; it has no comparison engine and supplies no answer.

- **In-session walk** (optional, this skill): present each claim section by

section, ask the reader to restate it in their own words, and record the

response. Where a restatement diverges from the source, **surface the

divergence** — show the verbatim source for the reader to compare — and let

the reader adjudicate (REQ-D1.4). Never say who is right, never score, never

supply the "right" answer: the independence firewall (REQ-D1.1) means the

tool presents and structures, the human judges.

Run the full read first; only then offer the teach-back. The agent voices no

verdict, score, or assessment of the spec at any point.

## Invariants

These hold at every stage of the rendering pipeline:

- **Strictly read-only** (REQ-A1.3). The command never edits a bundle file,

commits, pushes, changes a status, or writes the kickoff brief. Its only

sanctioned write is the generated artifact to the gitignored

`.claude/walkthroughs/<spec>/` location; it modifies no tracked content (the

optional Graphviz probe's only writes are ephemeral, auto-cleaned `$TMPDIR`

temp files).

- **Status-agnostic** (REQ-A1.4, REQ-B1.4). Every status renders — Draft, Ready,

Active, Done, Retired, Superseded — in deliberate contrast with the execution

skills' non-Active refusal. Rendering is read-only, so that refusal's safety

rationale does not apply, and terminal bundles stay valuable for archaeology.

There is no Active gate.

- **Presents and structures; the human judges** (REQ-D1.1, the independence

firewall). The command never delivers a verdict, score, or quality assessment

of its own. It renders the bundle and records the reader's own responses; it

never supplies the "right" answer.

- **Degrades, never halts opaquely** (REQ-A1.5). A missing, malformed, or

partial bundle, or an unresolvable scope, yields a clear message that names

what is present and what is absent.

## Maintenance

After each run, compare these instructions against the doctrine and spec they

implement: the `spec-format` and `security-posture` doctrine docs (the bundle

file set and identifier discipline this command reads, and the data-hygiene rule

for the artifact it writes) and REQ-F1.4 (the completion-time drift-observation

contract). If a concept this skill names (the bundle file set, the identifier

charset, the path-containment gate, or the artifact data-hygiene rule) has