Openspec Continue ChangeSAFE

Spec-driven development (SDD) for AI coding assistants.

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: openspec-continue-change
description: Continue working on an OpenSpec change by creating the next artifact. Use when the user wants to progress their change, create the next artifact, or continue their workflow. Also use when the user says "openspec continue" or "opsx continue".
allowed-tools: Bash(openspec:*)
license: MIT
compatibility: Requires openspec CLI.
metadata:
  author: openspec
  version: "1.0"
---

Continue working on a change by creating the next artifact.

**Store selection:** If the user names a store (a store is a standalone OpenSpec repo registered on this machine) or the work lives in one, run `openspec store list --json` to discover registered store ids, then pass `--store <id>` on the commands that read or write specs and changes (`new change`, `status`, `instructions`, `list`, `show`, `validate`, `archive`, `doctor`, `context`, `schemas`, `view`). Once selected, treat `--store <id>` as sticky for the rest of the workflow. Every unscoped example of those commands below is shorthand: before running it, append the flag. For example, run `openspec status --change "<name>" --json --store "<id>"`, not the unscoped form shown below. Other commands do not take the flag. Hints printed by commands already carry the flag; keep it on follow-ups. Without a store, commands act on the nearest local `openspec/` root.

**Project check:** These steps expect a project that already uses OpenSpec. Before the first step that writes anything (`new change`, `archive`, `sync specs`, or authoring an artifact file), confirm the project has a root: run `openspec list --json` (with `--store <id>` when a store is selected, since the store is then the root) and read `root`. A root object means the project is set up. `"root": null` means it is not - there is no `openspec/` directory here, and a write such as `openspec new change` would create one as a side effect. The command also exits non-zero, which is that answer rather than a broken CLI, so read the JSON instead of retrying or working around it.

One `"root": null` is not about setup: when a `status` error message starts with `Declared in` or `Invalid store declaration in` and names this project's `openspec/config.yaml` (or `config.yml`), the project does use OpenSpec through a store it declares, which this machine cannot resolve (the store is not registered, or the `store:` line is malformed). Do not treat it as uninitialized and skip the branches below: stop before writing and show the user that error's `message` and `fix`.

Otherwise, with no root, what happens next depends on how this workflow was reached:

- **Auto-selected**: you chose this workflow yourself, without the user naming OpenSpec, naming this skill, or running its slash command. Stop using OpenSpec and answer the request normally, as you would with no OpenSpec installed. Do not ask them to set anything up and do not mention OpenSpec setup.
- **Explicit OpenSpec request**: the user named OpenSpec, named this skill, or ran its slash command. Stop before writing and ask how to proceed: set this project up (`openspec init`), target a store they already have (`--store <id>`), or continue without OpenSpec for this request. Wait for their answer.

In both branches, never create the root as a side effect: do not run `openspec init` until the user asks for it, do not hand-create `openspec/` files, and do not let a command create it.

**Input**: Optionally specify a change name. If omitted, check if it can be inferred from conversation context. If vague or ambiguous you MUST prompt for available changes.

**Steps**

1. **Select the change**

   If a name is provided, use it. Otherwise:
   - Infer from conversation context if the user mentioned a change
   - Auto-select if only one active change exists
   - If ambiguous, run `openspec list --json` to get available changes sorted by most recently modified, and ask the user to select one

   When prompting, present the top 3-4 most recently modified changes as options, showing:
   - Change name
   - Status (e.g., "0/5 tasks", "complete", "no tasks")
   - How recently it was modified (from `lastModified` field)

   Mark the most recently modified change as "(Recommended)" since it's likely what the user wants to continue.

   Always announce: "Using change: <name>" and how to override (e.g., `/openspec-continue-change <other>`).

2. **Check current status**
   ```bash
   openspec status --change "<name>" --json
   ```
   Parse the JSON to understand current state. The response includes:
   - `schemaName`: The workflow schema being used (e.g., "spec-driven")
   - `artifacts`: Array of artifacts with their status ("done", "skipped", "ready", "blocked")
   - `isPlanningComplete`: Boolean indicating if all planning artifacts are complete. Older CLI versions expose the same value as `isComplete`.
   - `planningHome`, `changeRoot`, `artifactPaths`, and `actionContext`: path and scope context. Use these instead of assuming repo-local paths.

3. **Act based on status**:

   ---

   **Before anything else, finish a partly written artifact**:
   - An artifact whose output is a glob pattern (e.g. `specs/**/*.md`) reads `done` as soon as one matching file exists, so a run interrupted while writing its files leaves it `done` with some still missing
   - For each such `done` artifact, first get its instructions and read any completed dependencies needed to determine the expected files. Then compare those files with `artifactPaths.<id>.existingOutputPaths`. For spec-driven's `specs`, read the proposal and check for one `specs/<capability-path>/spec.md` per capability it lists; resolve each expected path against `changeRoot` before comparing path identity, and verify each one remains inside `changeRoot` after resolving symlinks, both in its parent directories and in the file itself if it already exists
   - Never write an expected path that fails that check; stop and tell the user. If any are missing, write only the missing files, each at its ch

SAFEgrade B · trust 89/100 Nothing in the source contradicts what it says it does. Grade A is reserved for packages that have also passed the behavioural sandbox.

What the source does

Filesystem

none-observed

Network

none-observed

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (0)

No findings outside the package's declared scope.

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.

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