OpenSpec Baseline Generation

Overview

Generates a baseline set of OpenSpec specifications by reverse-engineering the existing code (src/, README.md, AGENTS.md) and archives it as a historical reference point of the system's state when adopting OpenSpec.

Flow: /opsx:propose baseline (reverse engineering) → /opsx:archive (without apply)

Capabilities:

• Reverse-engineers the code to deduce behavior, business rules, flows, and existing capabilities.
• Creates the baseline change (or baseline-YYYY-MM-DD) and archives it directly, without an apply phase.

Limitations:

• Does not run /opsx:apply — it does not plan new work, it only documents the current state.
• The generated artifacts are an initial approximation that requires manual review for anything that cannot be inferred from the code.

Prerequisites

• The project has source code but does not yet have OpenSpec specifications.
• OpenSpec is initialized (the openspec/ directory exists).
• A source code directory exists (src/ by default; otherwise the user indicates which one).
• The /opsx:propose and /opsx:archive skills are available.

Execution

1. Verify the source code directory

   Check whether the src/ directory exists at the project root:

   • If src/ exists → use it as the main source directory and continue
   • If src/ does not exist → list all directories at the project root and ask the user: "The src/ directory was not found. Which of these directories contains the source code?". Use the directory the user indicates.

2. Check whether a baseline change already exists

   Check whether openspec/changes/baseline/ exists:

   • If it does not exist → continue to step 3
   • If it exists → ask the user with two options:
     • Overwrite: delete the existing change and create a new one named baseline
     • Date suffix: create the new change with the name baseline-YYYY-MM-DD (using the current date)

   Use the chosen name in all subsequent steps.

3. Invoke /opsx:propose with a reverse-engineering instruction

   Use the /opsx:propose skill, passing the following reverse-engineering prompt as the change description:

   Change name: baseline (or the one chosen in step 2)

   Instruction for the proposal: Please read exhaustively the source code in the <source-directory>/ directory and the README.md and AGENTS.md files (if present), and generate in reverse (by reverse-engineering the code for retrofitting and deducing implemented features) the OpenSpec specification artifacts that describe:

   • The current behavior of the system (what it does today, how it does it)
   • The implemented business rules (validations, conditions, constraints)
   • The main user or data flows (happy paths and detected error cases)
   • The existing capabilities, grouped by functional domain

   The generated artifacts are an initial approximation based on the current code. They must be reviewed manually to complete whatever cannot be inferred from the code (business intent, design decisions not expressed in code).

   Wait for /opsx:propose to complete all artifacts (proposal.md, design.md, specs/, tasks.md).

4. Skip the apply phase

   Do not run /opsx:apply.

   The code already exists — there is no pending implementation. The baseline change documents the current state of the system; it does not plan new work.

5. Archive the change directly

   Invoke the /opsx:archive skill with the change name (baseline or the one chosen in step 2).

   When /opsx:archive requests confirmation about incomplete tasks in tasks.md, confirm that you want to archive anyway: in a baseline, tasks do not represent work to be done.

Output

• A baseline change (or baseline-YYYY-MM-DD) archived in openspec/changes/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-baseline/.
• Capability specs generated in openspec/specs/<capability>/spec.md.

• A final summary shown to the user:

  ## Baseline generated and archived
  
  **Archived change:** openspec/changes/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-baseline/
  **Specs generated in:** openspec/specs/<capability>/spec.md
  
  The baseline reflects the state of the system at the time of adopting OpenSpec.
  Review the generated specs and manually complete any section marked
  as low-confidence inference or with placeholders.
  
  For the next real change, use `/opsx:propose` normally.

Examples

Manual invocation: /openspec-generate-baseline → Detects src/, invokes /opsx:propose baseline with a reverse-engineering instruction, skips apply, and archives the change with /opsx:archive, showing the final summary.