Home / Setup

Set up SpecManager in one command.

Init creates the files SpecManager needs, offers four optional plugins that make its agents better, and can connect the other repos your product lives in.

Init is safe to run again. It only writes what is missing and never overwrites your edits.

What init writes

Three things in your repo, plus a mirror per connected repo.

.claude/specs/

Where every PRD, plan and study lives, plus the index the board reads.

CLAUDE.md

A managed block that tells Claude which stage each feature is in. Your own text stays untouched.

docs/DESIGN.md

Your design tokens, read by the designer and builder so screens match your product.

Recommended plugins

Four optional extras. Each one has a fallback.

Init checks which of these you already have and offers the missing ones. It installs only what you pick, and it installs nothing if it can't ask you.

Plugin	Used by	What it adds	Without it
superpowers	Builder	Test-first work, step-by-step debugging and a two-stage review	A plain build loop
frontend-design	Designer, builder on UI tasks	Visual judgement, still grounded in your DESIGN.md	DESIGN.md only
context7	Every writer and the builder	Current library docs, so code uses the latest APIs	Model memory only
playwright	Reviewer on web UI	A browser to walk the happy path	Reviewer reads the diff only

superpowers

Used by: Builder
Without: A plain build loop

frontend-design

Used by: Designer, UI tasks
Without: DESIGN.md only

context7

Used by: Every writer, builder
Without: Model memory only

playwright

Used by: Reviewer on web UI
Without: Reviewer reads the diff only

After installing a plugin, restart Claude Code: quit and reopen it, or reload your IDE window.

If your session already has Chrome DevTools tools, playwright counts as installed. Init never suggests both.

Multi-repo

One folder for the project. Specs beside the code.

The layout is flexible. This is the ideal case: one folder named for your project, a specs repo inside it where you run Claude Code, and your product repos next to it.

<project>/
├── <project>-specs/     # run Claude Code and SpecManager here
│   ├── CLAUDE.md
│   ├── docs/DESIGN.md
│   ├── repos/            # read-only mirrors init writes
│   └── .claude/specs/features/…
├── backend/
├── frontend/
└── another-repo/
../external-repo/        # outside the project folder

/specmanager:specmanager-init /path/to/<project>/backend /path/to/<project>/frontend /path/to/<project>/another-repo /path/to/external-repo

✓Run it from the specs repo. Use absolute paths. A relative one resolves against the server's working folder, not the one you typed in.
✓Read-only. The paths give SpecManager permission to read those repos. It writes nothing into them.
✓A mirror per repo. Each repo gets repos/<name>/ in the specs repo, named after its folder, with its notes and design tokens.
✓Re-run to add more. Existing mirrors are kept. A name clash is reported and skipped.
✓Say where work lands. Describe each repo and its branch in the specs repo's CLAUDE.md, so every session starts from it.

Questions

Setup questions

Do I need the recommended plugins?+

No. Every agent works without them and falls back to a simpler method. They make answers more current and reviews more thorough.

Can I add a repo later?+

Yes. Run init again with the new path. It keeps what's already set up.

Does init send anything anywhere?+

SpecManager itself sends nothing. Init writes files in your repo, runs Claude Code's /init in your session, and installs a plugin only if you pick it. The board runs on your machine.

Keep reading

Tutorial · soon

An existing codebase across several repos →

The multi-repo walkthrough, end to end.

Guide

Research before you build →

Studies, findings and the handoff to the builder.

Run init, then your first loop.

Five commands and a restart, about a minute, and everything stays on your machine.

Get started →Read the full reference on GitHub ↗