SPECLAN — Your Specification Is Your Prompt

The missing middle layer between business intent and AI coding agents. Write structured specifications inside VS Code. Hand them to your AI assistant. Ship.

AI coding agents have become remarkably capable — the bottleneck is no longer the agent, it's the input. The better the specification, the better the code. SPECLAN turns loose ideas into structured, traceable specification trees that both humans can read and AI agents can act on. Everything lives as plain Markdown files in your project folder — no database, no server, no lock-in.

Key Capabilities

	Capability	What It Does
Specify	Hierarchical Domain Model	Goal → Feature → Requirement → Scenario → Acceptance Criterion → Test. Nothing exists in isolation. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Write	WYSIWYG Markdown Editor	Business people write in a polished editor. Developers see clean Markdown. Same file, same tool, no translation layer. Auto-saves every keystroke.
Track	7-Status Lifecycle	Draft → review → approved → in-development → under-test → released → deprecated. Always know where every requirement stands — and who owns it.
Generate	AI Specification Wizard	Describe a feature in one sentence. Get a full specification tree back — requirements, scenarios, acceptance criteria, tests — in minutes, not days.
Import	HLRD Import Assistant	Feed in a stakeholder brief, product requirements doc, or meeting notes. Get structured goals, features, and requirements back.
Infer	Codebase Inference	Already have code? Point SPECLAN at your project and reverse-engineer a full specification tree from what's built.
Plan	Implementation Assistant	Once a spec is approved, craft an implementation plan ready to hand off to Claude Code or any AI coding tool.
Connect	MCP Integration (42+ Tools)	Your specifications become accessible to any AI assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol.
Collaborate	Git-Native Workflow	Branch, merge, and review specs the way you already collaborate on code. Conflict detection included.
Evolve	Change Requests	Released specs are locked. Changes go through their own lifecycle — tracked, reviewed, implemented. No silent spec drift.

Three Workflows That Matter

1. From Idea to Spec Tree in Minutes

Describe what you want to build. The AI Generation Wizard decomposes your idea into a full specification hierarchy — requirements, scenarios, acceptance criteria, tests — each as a separate, traceable entity. Skip the blank-page problem. Structure enables AI.

AI Generation Wizard

2. Business Writes, Developer Reads — Same File

The WYSIWYG editor makes specification authoring feel like a modern document editor. Bold, italic, tables, task lists — through a familiar toolbar. The Markdown and YAML frontmatter are hidden entirely. A product manager never sees a # or a ---. They just write. The output is clean, standards-compliant Markdown — ready for Git, ready for AI, ready for developers.

WYSIWYG Editor

3. Tree Views for the Full Picture

Navigate your entire specification hierarchy through dedicated tree views — goals, features, requirements, templates. Drag to reorder. Right-click for context menus. See lifecycle status at a glance with color-coded icons. Git status integration shows what's changed since the last commit.

Tree Views

Two On-Ramps — Start Anywhere

New project? Import a requirements doc. The HLRD Import Assistant takes unstructured stakeholder input and generates a structured specification tree — vision, mission, goals, features, requirements — in minutes.

Existing codebase? Infer specs from code. The Codebase Inference Assistant reads your source and generates draft specifications that describe what the code already does. Finally, your legacy project has proper specs — without anyone writing them from scratch.

Either way, you have structured, AI-ready specifications in minutes — not months.

Built for Claude Code

SPECLAN is built for Claude Code. That's a deliberate choice, not a limitation.

If you have a Claude subscription — Max, Pro, or Team — open a terminal in VS Code, run claude login, and every AI feature lights up. No API key. No separate billing. No token budgets. You already pay for Claude. SPECLAN puts that investment to work.

# That's it. One command.
claude login

No Lock-In. No Paperwork. No Excuses.

Every specification lives as a plain Markdown file with YAML frontmatter in your project's speclan/ directory — right next to src/. The folder structure is the data model.

your-project/
├── src/
└── speclan/
    ├── goals/           G-###-slug.md
    ├── features/        F-####-slug/F-####-slug.md
    │   └── requirements/  R-####-slug/R-####-slug.md
    └── templates/

Stop using SPECLAN tomorrow and your specs remain perfectly readable. No export step. No migration script. No proprietary format. Version them with Git, review them in pull requests, read them on GitHub. Your specifications belong to you.

Quick Start

Install SPECLAN from the VS Code Marketplace
Open a terminal in VS Code and run claude login
Open any project folder — SPECLAN detects the speclan/ directory automatically
New project: Use the HLRD Import command to generate specs from a requirements document
Existing project: Use Codebase Inference to reverse-engineer specs from your source code
From scratch: Right-click in the Features tree and create your first feature

Your specification is your prompt. Let's build.

Requirements

VS Code ^1.107.0
Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated (claude login) for AI features
A Claude subscription (Max, Pro, or Team) for AI features
AI features are optional — specification management works without them

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an AI subscription to use SPECLAN? No. All specification management features — the domain model, WYSIWYG editor, tree views, lifecycle tracking, templates, Git integration — work without any AI subscription. AI features (generation wizard, HLRD import, codebase inference, implementation assistant) require a Claude subscription.

Which Claude subscription works? Any Claude subscription that includes Claude Code: Max, Pro, or Team. Run claude login in your terminal and you're set. No API key, no separate billing.

Can I use a different AI provider instead of Claude? SPECLAN is built for Claude Code. Other providers are not currently supported for AI features. However, the MCP integration (42+ tools) makes your specifications accessible to any AI assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol.

Where are my specifications stored? Everything lives as plain Markdown files with YAML frontmatter in a speclan/ directory inside your project. No database, no server, no proprietary format. You can read, edit, and version them with any tool — Git, GitHub, your favorite text editor.

What happens if I stop using SPECLAN? Nothing. Your specs remain as readable Markdown files. No export step, no migration script. The folder structure is the data model. You keep everything.

Can I use SPECLAN with an existing codebase? Yes. The Codebase Inference Assistant analyzes your source code and generates draft specifications that describe what the code already does. Point it at your project and get structured specs in minutes.

How does SPECLAN work with Git? Specifications are plain files, so they work with Git natively. SPECLAN adds status decorations in tree views, conflict detection on merge, and a sync panel with AI-generated commit messages. Branch, merge, and review specs just like code.

What is the specification hierarchy? Goal → Feature → Requirement → Scenario → Acceptance Criterion → Test. Goals capture business outcomes. Features break down into requirements. Requirements decompose into testable scenarios. Every entity is traceable to its parent.

Can multiple people work on specs at the same time? Yes. Since specs are Git-tracked Markdown files, your team branches, merges, and reviews specifications through the same workflow you use for code. SPECLAN detects merge conflicts and helps resolve them.

What does the 7-status lifecycle do? Every specification moves through: draft → review → approved → in-development → under-test → released → deprecated. This tracks where each requirement stands. Released specs are locked — changes go through a formal change request process to prevent silent spec drift.

Resources

Documentation & Help — Getting started guides, tutorials, and reference
speclan.net — Product website
Report an Issue — Bug reports and feature requests
Support — support@speclan.net
Changelog — What's new in each release

License

SPECLAN Proprietary License

SPECLAN — structure your ideas, feed your AI, ship your code.

SPECLAN

Digital Dividend