Turn a chat into a spec (prompt)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/raw' -o ~/'.claude/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o ~/'.claude/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/raw' -o '.cursor/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.cursor/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/raw' -o '.agents/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.agents/skills/turn-chat-into-spec-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "theskillvault": {
      "url": "https://theskillvault.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

You have already talked a feature through. This prompt writes up what was decided, without asking you everything again.

When to use

• A long chat with an AI has settled what to build.
• You need a spec or issue for a teammate or a coding agent.
• You want decisions captured before the chat is lost.

When not to use

• Nothing has been discussed yet. Use write-prd-prompt, which interviews you.

Steps

1. Paste the prompt at the end of the same conversation (or paste the chat after it).
2. Check the user stories and out-of-scope list carefully.
3. Paste the spec into an issue or save it as docs/specs/name.md.

Prompt

Turn our conversation so far into a spec. Do not interview me; use only what we discussed and what you can see in the code. Mark gaps as "Open question".

## Problem
The user's problem, in their words.

## Solution
What we will build, from the user's point of view.

## User stories
A numbered list: "As a <who>, I want <what>, so that <why>." Cover edge cases and errors, not just the happy path.

## Implementation decisions
Modules to build or change, interfaces, data or schema changes, API contracts and key choices made. No file paths or code unless a snippet states a decision exactly.

## Testing decisions
What behaviour will be tested and at which level; test behaviour, not internals.

## Out of scope
What we agreed not to do.

## Open questions
Anything undecided.

How to adapt

• Writing for a coding agent? Add "keep each user story small enough for one pull request".
• Need tickets too? Follow with write-plan-and-tickets-prompt.

Gotchas

• The AI may fill gaps with guesses. Anything not discussed should appear under open questions.
• Remove customer names and private data before posting to a public issue tracker.

Portability

Works with any chat AI and any issue tracker (GitHub, Linear, Jira). No tool lock-in.

Done when

• The spec covers problem, solution, user stories, decisions, tests and scope.
• Open questions are listed rather than guessed.

Example prompt

"We have talked through the team invites feature. Turn this chat into a spec I can paste into a GitHub issue."

---

Adapted from "to-spec" in mattpocock/skills (MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock). See LICENSE.txt.

Bundled files

• LICENSE.txt

Licence

Adapted from Matt Pocock (mattpocock/skills, to-spec) (Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock), MIT License. Adapted by TheSkillVault: rewrote the spec template and process as a paste-in prompt with original wording; dropped issue-tracker publishing and setup-script dependency; added steps, adapt notes and done-when.

Licence: MIT License. Attribution when you reuse it: Based on work by Matt Pocock (mattpocock/skills, to-spec) (Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock, MIT License), https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/a496f5513d4a4cf889bc48e189e579f4b0bdf6aa/skills/engineering/to-spec; adapted by TheSkillVault, https://theskillvault.ai