specmem validate

Validate specifications for quality and consistency.

Usage

specmem validate [OPTIONS]

Description

Runs validation rules against all specifications to detect issues like missing acceptance criteria, contradictions, and invalid formats.

Options

Option	Description	Default
--spec, -s SPEC	Validate specific spec	all
--rules RULES	Comma-separated rules to run	all
--severity LEVEL	Minimum severity (error, warning, info)	warning
--strict	Fail on warnings	false
--fix	Auto-fix fixable issues	false
--dry-run	Show fixes without applying	false
--format FORMAT	Output format (text, json)	text

Examples

Validate All Specs

specmem validate

Output:

✅ SpecValidator Results

📊 Summary:
   • Specs checked: 24
   • Errors: 2
   • Warnings: 5
   • Info: 3

❌ Errors:
   auth/requirements.md:45
     Rule: acceptance_criteria
     Missing acceptance criteria for requirement "User Login"

   api/design.md:12
     Rule: constraints
     Invalid constraint format: "fast response times"

⚠️  Warnings:
   auth/design.md:78
     Rule: vague_terms
     Vague term "quickly" in requirement

   security/constraints.md:23
     Rule: duplicates
     Duplicate constraint detected (also in auth/constraints.md:15)

ℹ️  Info:
   legacy/old-feature.md:1
     Rule: lifecycle
     Spec marked as deprecated, consider archiving

Validate Specific Spec

specmem validate --spec auth/requirements.md

Only Errors

specmem validate --severity error

Specific Rules

specmem validate --rules structure,acceptance_criteria

Strict Mode (for CI)

specmem validate --strict

Exit code 3 if any warnings or errors.

Auto-fix

# Preview fixes
specmem validate --fix --dry-run

# Apply fixes
specmem validate --fix

JSON Output

specmem validate --format json

Output:

{
  "summary": {
    "specs_checked": 24,
    "errors": 2,
    "warnings": 5,
    "info": 3
  },
  "issues": [
    {
      "spec": "auth/requirements.md",
      "line": 45,
      "rule": "acceptance_criteria",
      "severity": "error",
      "message": "Missing acceptance criteria for requirement",
      "suggestion": "Add acceptance criteria using EARS format",
      "fixable": false
    }
  ]
}

Validation Rules

Rule	Description
structure	Valid Markdown structure
timeline	Temporal consistency
duplicates	No duplicate specs
constraints	Valid constraint format
acceptance_criteria	Requirements have criteria
contradiction	No conflicting specs
vague_terms	No vague language

Severity Levels

Level	Description	Exit Code
error	Must be fixed	3
warning	Should be fixed	0 (3 with --strict)
info	Suggestion	0

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	No errors (warnings allowed)
1	General error
3	Validation errors found

CI Integration

# GitHub Actions
- name: Validate Specs
  run: specmem validate --strict

See Also

• SpecValidator