📚 User Guide

Learn how to use SpecMem effectively in your projects.

Overview

SpecMem provides a comprehensive toolkit for managing specifications and context for AI coding agents. This guide covers all major features.

For an end-to-end view of SpecMem as an external memory layer for coding agents, see Building a Memory Layer for Coding Agents.

Core Features

🧠 Core Concepts

Understand SpecIR, memory types, and the architecture.

Learn →

🔌 Adapters

Parse specs from Kiro, Cursor, Claude, and more.

Explore →

⚡ Kiro Powers

Use SpecMem as a Kiro Power with MCP tools.

Integrate →

📊 SpecImpact Graph

Understand relationships between specs, code, and tests.

Discover →

⏱️ SpecDiff Timeline

Track spec evolution and detect drift over time.

Track →

✅ SpecValidator

Ensure specification quality and consistency.

Validate →

📊 Spec Coverage

Analyze gaps between acceptance criteria and tests.

Analyze →

🎯 Selective Testing

Run only the tests that matter for your changes.

Optimize →

🔄 Spec Lifecycle

Prune, generate, and compress specs pragmatically.

Manage →

Workflow

graph TD
    A[Write Specs] --> B[specmem scan]
    B --> C[specmem build]
    C --> D[Agent Context Ready]
    D --> E{Code Changes?}
    E -->|Yes| F[specmem impact]
    F --> G[Selective Tests]
    E -->|No| H[specmem query]
    H --> I[Get Context]

Best Practices

Keep Specs Updated

Run specmem scan after updating specifications to keep the index fresh.

Use Impact Analysis

Before committing, run specmem impact to understand the scope of your changes.

Validate Regularly

Run specmem validate in CI to catch spec issues early.

Leverage the Web UI

Use specmem serve for visual exploration of your spec graph.