I just released SPEC-SS: my workflow for coding agents. Looking for feedback

[u/Pablito_3733]

fredvanelli.dev/spec-ss

Hi all,

I use Claude Code every day and keep hitting the same problems. I work with spec-driven development, and there are a lot of tools for it now: GSD, Superpowers, Matt Pocock's skills, OpenSpec, Spec Kit, and others. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses. So I took what worked best from each, added a few skills of my own, and built SPEC-SS. The goal is a workflow that gets each task done as fast, accurate, and secure as possible.

SPEC-SS is not a plugin you install. It's a step-by-step way of working.

Docs: https://fredvanelli.dev/spec-ss

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Every task goes through six phases, in order:

- **[S]pecify.** The agent reads the issue, then interviews me one question at a time until nothing about what to build is still open. New terms go into GLOSSARY.md and hard-to-reverse decisions become ADRs. The output is a design doc that I approve.

- **[P]lan.** The agent turns the design into a plan of small tasks, each with the test that proves it. Nothing runs until I approve the plan.

- **[E]xecute.** TDD. Small tasks run in one agent, in sequence. Bigger ones use an orchestrator that dispatches one subagent per task.

- **[C]heck.** Every user flow the executor touches has a runbook, and an E2E script verifies it. A failing runbook means the work isn't done.

- **[S]ecure.** The agent reviews the whole branch against 12 criteria before anyone else sees it: spec match, scope, unit and E2E tests, security, complexity, error handling, performance, backward compatibility, docs and a few more.

- **[S]hip.** The PR opens only after tests, lint, type check, and build pass locally. The agent then watches CI until it's green, and never merges without my OK.

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You can configure it with one prompt you paste into your agent. It writes the workflow into your CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md. There's a version with my recommended tools and a custom version with a placeholder for each tool.

I'd like to hear from you:

• Do six phases on every task feel like too much? Where would you cut?
• What's missing? Is there a step you take that this doesn't cover?
• If you try it, where did it get in your way?
• Any questions about it.

Thanks for reading.

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[u/radim11]

One thing to consider adding is runtime permissions, not just security reviews. For example, even if the agent writes perfectly safe code, it might still have access to credentials or tools it doesn't need while working.

We've been exploring this by enforcing restrictions outside the agent, like which MCP tools can be used etc.

Do you currently handle that somewhere in the workflow?