Mission Creator

You are creating a project mission file (specs/mission.md) through an interactive interview.

Golden Rule: NEVER assume. ALL content MUST come from user answers or code exploration.

Required Skills

Invoke before starting:

• /speq-code-tools — Codebase exploration
• /speq-ext-research — Tech stack research
• /speq-cli — Spec structure

Workflow

1. Project Detection

Determine project type:

Cargo.toml, package.json, go.mod, etc. exists?
├─ Yes → Brownfield (existing code)
└─ No  → Greenfield (new project)

specs/ or similar directory exists?
├─ Yes → Has existing specs (read them)
└─ No  → No specs yet

2. Brownfield Exploration

For existing projects, gather context BEFORE interviewing:

#### 2.1 Detect Tech Stack

Important: This is an exemplary list. Project may use other languages or frameworks. Project may use several technologies.

#### 2.2 Detect Commands

Look for existing scripts:

# package.json scripts
# Makefile targets
# Cargo.toml aliases
# pyproject.toml scripts

#### 2.3 Explore Structure

# List top-level directories
ls -la

# Find main source directories
find . -type d -name "src" -o -name "lib" -o -name "app" | head -20

#### 2.4 Read Existing Docs

Check for existing documentation:

• README.md
• docs/
• Existing specs/ if any

3. Research Phase

For technologies discovered or mentioned:

• Context7 MCP — Query library documentation for correct API usage
• WebSearch — Research best practices, alternatives, common patterns

Use research to inform interview questions and validate user choices.

4. Clarifying Interview

Conduct a Socratic interview via AskUserQuestion for EVERY section. Never fill in content without asking. Each question should reveal assumptions, surface contradictions, or narrow scope.

#### 4.1 Identity & Purpose

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the project name?
- In one sentence, what does this system do and why does it exist?
- What problem does this solve?
- Who experiences this problem?
- Why do existing solutions fall short?

For brownfield:

Present discovered information, then ask:
- "I found [X]. Is this accurate? What would you add/change?"
- "The README says [Y]. Is this still the current purpose?"

#### 4.2 Target Users

Questions:
- Who are the primary users of this system?
- What are they trying to achieve?
- What is their typical workflow?

For brownfield: "Based on the code, it seems targeted at [X]. Is this correct?"

#### 4.3 Core Capabilities

Apply User Story Mapping (Patton) — identify activities, then decompose into capabilities:

Questions:
- What are the 3-5 core capabilities this system provides?
- (Describe what it does, not how)

For brownfield: "I found these main modules: [X, Y, Z]. What capabilities do they represent?"

#### 4.4 Out of Scope

Questions:
- What does this project explicitly NOT do?
- What features might users expect but won't be supported?

#### 4.5 Domain Glossary

Questions:
- Are there domain-specific terms users should understand?
- Any terms used differently than their common meaning?

For brownfield: "I noticed these terms in the code: [X, Y]. What do they mean in this context?"

#### 4.6 Tech Stack

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What language/runtime?
- What framework (if any)?
- What database (if any)?
- What testing framework?

Use Context7 to research mentioned technologies.

For brownfield:

Present discovered stack:
- "I found: Rust with tokio, clap for CLI, no database. Correct?"
- "Testing appears to use cargo test. Any additional test frameworks?"

#### 4.7 Commands

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the build command?
- What is the test command?
- What is the lint/format command?
- What is the coverage command?

For brownfield:

Present discovered commands:
- "Found in package.json: npm run build, npm test. Are these correct?"
- "No coverage command found. What should it be?"

#### 4.8 Project Structure

For greenfield:

Questions:
- What is the planned directory structure?
- What is the purpose of each main directory?

For brownfield:

Present discovered structure and ask for clarification on purpose.

#### 4.9 Architecture

Questions:
- What is the high-level architecture pattern? (layered, hexagonal, event-driven, etc.)
- What are the key components and their responsibilities?
- How does data flow through the system?

#### 4.10 Constraints

Questions:
- Technical constraints? (browser-only, offline-first, etc.)
- Business constraints? (GDPR, multi-tenant, etc.)
- Performance constraints? (response time, memory limits, etc.)

#### 4.11 External Dependencies

Questions:
- What external services/APIs does this depend on?
- What happens if each dependency is unavailable?

5. Generate Mission

After collecting ALL information:

1. Create specs/ directory if needed
2. Generate specs/mission.md using references/mission-template.md as structure
3. Fill with ACTUAL collected information (no placeholders)
4. Present to user for review

6. Review & Iterate

Present the generated mission.md and ask:
- "Does this accurately capture your project?"
- "Anything to add, change, or remove?"

Iterate until user approves.

Interview Guidelines

Question Batching

Group questions into MECE partitions (max 3-4 per AskUserQuestion call) — each group covers one dimension without overlap:

Adaptive Depth

Never Assume