Files
github-spec-kit/docs/installation.md
Copilot 927f54feea feat: make git extension opt-in and remove --no-git at v0.10.0 (#2873)
* feat(init)!: make git extension opt-in and remove --no-git at v0.10.0

- Remove --no-git parameter from specify init command
- Remove git extension auto-installation from init flow
- Git repository initialization (git init) still runs when git is available
- Remove --no-git from all test invocations across the test suite
- Update docs to reflect opt-in git extension behavior
- Replace TestGitExtensionAutoInstall with TestGitExtensionOptIn tests

BREAKING CHANGE: specify init no longer auto-installs the git extension.
Use `specify extension add git` to install it explicitly.
The --no-git flag has been removed.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* refactor(scripts): remove git operations from core scripts

Git functionality is now entirely managed by the git extension.
Core scripts only handle directory-based feature creation and numbering.

- Remove has_git(), check_feature_branch(), git branch creation from core
- Simplify number detection to use only spec directory scanning
- Remove HAS_GIT output from get_feature_paths()
- Remove git remote fetching and branch querying
- Keep BRANCH_NAME output key for backward compatibility

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* refactor: remove all git operations from core

- Remove is_git_repo() and init_git_repo() dead code from _utils.py
- Remove --branch-numbering from init command
- Remove git from 'specify check' (now extension-only)
- Update docs: git is optional prerequisite, check command description
- Fix tests to reflect no-git-in-core reality (fallback to main)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* refactor(scripts): remove directory scanning and branch fallback from core

Core scripts now resolve feature context exclusively from:
1. SPECIFY_FEATURE env var (set by git extension)
2. .specify/feature.json (persisted by specify command)

Removed find_feature_dir_by_prefix() and directory scanning heuristics —
these are the git extension's responsibility. Scripts error clearly when
no feature context is available.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* feat: introduce feature_numbering, deprecate branch_numbering in init-options

- specify command template now reads feature_numbering (preferred) with
  fallback to branch_numbering (deprecated) from init-options.json
- Git extension reads git-config.yml > feature_numbering > branch_numbering
- init now writes feature_numbering: sequential to init-options.json
- Deprecation warning emitted when branch_numbering is used as fallback

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix: remove trailing whitespace in common.ps1

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* feat(scripts): persist SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY env var to feature.json

When SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY is set, get_feature_paths() now writes the
value to .specify/feature.json so future sessions without the env var can
still resolve the feature directory. The write is idempotent — it skips
when the file already contains the same value.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix: address review feedback — error messages and docs

- Update error messages in common.sh and common.ps1 to reference
  SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY instead of SPECIFY_FEATURE (which no longer
  resolves feature directories)
- Fix get_current_branch comment (returns empty string, not error)
- Update upgrade.md to reference SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY with correct
  example paths
- Update local-development.md troubleshooting: replace stale 'Git step
  skipped' row with actionable git extension guidance

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix(scripts): harden feature.json persistence

- Use json_escape in printf fallback when jq is unavailable (common.sh)
- Replace utf8NoBOM encoding with UTF8Encoding($false) for PowerShell
  5.1 compatibility (common.ps1)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* refactor(scripts): remove dead feature_json_matches_feature_dir functions

These guards are no longer needed since the branch-name validation they
protected against has been removed from check-prerequisites.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* refactor(git-ext): rename create-new-feature to create-new-feature-branch

The git extension's script only creates the git branch — rename it to
reflect that responsibility. The core create-new-feature.sh/.ps1 handles
feature directory creation and feature.json persistence.

Also includes fixes from review feedback:
- common.sh: _persist_feature_json uses json_escape fallback
- common.ps1: Save-FeatureJson uses UTF8Encoding for PS 5.1 compat
- common.ps1: case-sensitive path stripping on non-Windows
- create-new-feature.sh/ps1: output both SPECIFY_FEATURE and
  SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY
- setup-tasks.sh: fix stale 'Validate branch' comment

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix(tests): update references to renamed git extension scripts

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix(tests): remove duplicate EXT_CREATE_FEATURE assignments

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Manfred Riem <mnriem@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-06-09 06:13:07 -05:00

4.5 KiB

Installation Guide

Prerequisites

Installation

Important

The only official, maintained packages for Spec Kit come from the github/spec-kit GitHub repository. Any packages with the same name available on PyPI (e.g. specify-cli on pypi.org) are not affiliated with this project and are not maintained by the Spec Kit maintainers. For normal installs, use the GitHub-based commands shown below. For offline or air-gapped environments, locally built wheels created from this repository are also valid.

Install once and use everywhere. Replace vX.Y.Z with a tag from Releases:

Note

The command below requires uv. If you see command not found: uv, install uv first.

uv tool install specify-cli --from git+https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git@vX.Y.Z

Then initialize a project:

specify init <PROJECT_NAME> --integration copilot

One-time Usage

Run directly without installing — see the One-time usage (uvx) guide.

Alternative Package Managers

Specify Integration

Interactive terminals prompt you to choose a coding agent integration during initialization. Non-interactive sessions, such as CI or piped runs, default to GitHub Copilot unless you pass --integration.

You can proactively specify your coding agent integration during initialization:

specify init <project_name> --integration claude
specify init <project_name> --integration gemini
specify init <project_name> --integration copilot
specify init <project_name> --integration codebuddy
specify init <project_name> --integration pi

Specify Script Type (Shell vs PowerShell)

All automation scripts now have both Bash (.sh) and PowerShell (.ps1) variants.

Auto behavior:

  • Windows default: ps
  • Other OS default: sh
  • Interactive mode: you'll be prompted unless you pass --script

Force a specific script type:

specify init <project_name> --script sh
specify init <project_name> --script ps

Ignore Agent Tools Check

If you prefer to get the templates without checking for the right tools:

specify init <project_name> --integration claude --ignore-agent-tools

Verification

After installation, run the following command to confirm the correct version is installed:

specify version

This helps verify you are running the official Spec Kit build from GitHub, not an unrelated package with the same name.

Stay current: Run specify self check periodically to learn whether a newer release is available — it is read-only and never modifies your installation. When you are ready to upgrade, follow the Upgrade Guide.

After initialization, you should see the following commands available in your coding agent:

  • /speckit.specify - Create specifications
  • /speckit.plan - Generate implementation plans
  • /speckit.tasks - Break down into actionable tasks

Scripts are installed into a variant subdirectory matching the chosen script type:

  • .specify/scripts/bash/ — contains .sh scripts (default on Linux/macOS)
  • .specify/scripts/powershell/ — contains .ps1 scripts (default on Windows)

Troubleshooting

Enterprise / Air-Gapped Installation

If your environment blocks access to PyPI or GitHub, see the Enterprise / Air-Gapped Installation guide for step-by-step instructions on creating portable wheel bundles.

Git Credential Manager on Linux

If you're having issues with Git authentication on Linux, see the Air-Gapped Installation guide for Git Credential Manager setup instructions.