SpecDevShip for VS Code

See where every spec in your project stands, and drive the SpecDevShip workflow from the editor: start work, approve documents with a button, and hand tasks to Claude Code.

SpecDevShip is a spec-driven way of working with Claude Code. Each piece of work gets a folder under spec/ with a plan, or with requirements, a technical decision, a design and a task list, and each document is approved before the next is written. This extension shows all of it in one place and keeps it in step with the files. It has no agent of its own: it reads and writes the workflow's Markdown files, and hands work to Claude Code.

The Specs view beside a task list, with milestones, the phase bar and the actions above each task

What it does

See every spec at a glance. The Specs view lists each spec with its tier, its stage and its next step, without expanding anything. Under a spec are its documents, each draft, approved or not yet written, and its checklist, grouped by milestone. The active spec is marked, and the status bar shows its progress.

Approve with a button. Approve a document, reopen it for revision, or set its status, from the Specs view, from the editor's title bar, or from the phase bar at the top of the document. A document is never approved out of order, and a file with unsaved changes is never written behind your back.

Work the checklist. Every task shows as not started, in progress or done. Start a task, continue one, run all the remaining tasks of a spec or of one milestone, or mark tasks by hand, from the Specs view or from the actions above each task in the editor.

Hand work to Claude Code. Starting a task, writing the next document or beginning a new piece of work opens a Claude Code session with the right skill and the right spec already named. The prompt goes to the Claude Code panel, to claude in a terminal, or to the clipboard, as you prefer.

Follow requirements to tasks. In a task list, hover over a criterion number to read the criterion, or go to its definition. Formatting mistakes that would confuse the workflow are listed in the Problems panel.

Look back. For a finished task, see the changes its commits made, or reopen the Claude Code session that made them.

Start from nothing. The extension carries SpecDevShip Skill Pack Lite, a free set of skills for the light-tier workflow: one plan, then the work, then a walkthrough. Set it up in a project or for your whole account in one step. Every file is listed before anything is written, and no existing file is changed.

The Start list, offering a new piece of work

Requirements

VS Code 1.105 or later.
Claude Code, as its VS Code extension or as the claude command, to hand work to.
The SpecDevShip skills: the full SpecDevShip Skill Pack, release 1.1.0 or later, or SpecDevShip Skill Pack Lite, which this extension can set up for you.
git, for the history of a task. Everything else works without it.

Getting started

Open a project in VS Code and select the SpecDevShip icon in the activity bar.
With no skills installed, choose Set up SpecDevShip Skill Pack Lite, or install the full pack.
Choose Start a piece of work, pick what you want to do, and describe it. Claude Code takes it from there, and the spec appears in the view as soon as its folder exists.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
`specdevship.handOff.target`	`auto`	Where a prompt goes: the Claude Code panel, `claude` in a terminal, or the clipboard. `auto` takes the first of these that is available.
`specdevship.handOff.reviewBeforeSending`	off	Show each prompt and ask before sending it.
`specdevship.milestoneKeywords`	`Milestone`	Words that mark a heading in a checklist as a milestone. A heading is a milestone only when it starts with one of them.
`specdevship.animateTaskIcons`	on	Show a spinner for tasks in progress. Never shown while VS Code's Reduce Motion setting is on.

Privacy

The extension makes no network requests and collects no data. Work you hand off goes to Claude Code, which has its own privacy terms. The full notice ships with the extension: run SpecDevShip: Show Privacy Notice from the command palette.

Licence

The extension is free to use, under the licence that ships with it: run SpecDevShip: Show Licence. SpecDevShip Skill Pack Lite, which it can install, has its own licence, PolyForm Shield 1.0.0, installed with it.

Learn about SpecDevShip and the full Skill Pack at specdevship.com.

SpecDevShip