CLI Reference

CLI Reference

specstride is the single front door. Starting a run and inspecting it are the same command; the script owns the routing.

• specstride run … (or specstride start …) starts the loop by execing orchestrator.sh.
• A leading flag — specstride -w DIR -s SPEC … — also starts.
• Any reserved inspection verb (status, watch, …) or -h/--help runs the inspection CLI.

Everything is read-only except stop and resume — the only two subcommands that mutate a run (they write stop.flag / relaunch the orchestrator).

All inspection subcommands take --feature SLUG and default to the last run's feature (from .specstride/last-run.conf); status --all spans every feature.

Inspection & control verbs

Command	Shows / does
specstride status [-w DIR] [-s SPEC] [--feature S] [--all]	one-screen state: run-state headline (RUNNING / STOPPED / HALTED / DONE) + current phase + a ✓/✗ table of which contract files exist. --all lists every feature with approved/total phase counts
specstride phases [-w DIR] [-s SPEC] [--feature S]	phases parsed from the spec + each one's state (also lints the spec)
specstride tail [-w DIR] [--feature S]	tail -f the orchestrator run.log (raw log)
specstride events [-w DIR] [--feature S] [-f|--follow] [--json]	the raw event stream ("RPC view"): every milestone and every agent tool call / message as HH:MM:SS event key=value… lines. --follow streams; --json emits raw JSONL
specstride verdicts [-w DIR] [--feature S] [N]	the critic's full reply(ies): prompt + response + parse decision
specstride feedback <N> [-w DIR] [--feature S]	GATE<N>-FEEDBACK.md
specstride watch [-w DIR]	the live status card (heartbeat + run totals)
specstride stop [-w DIR] [--now]	(mutates) request a clean stop — writes stop.flag; the run finishes its current pass and exits 6. --now also kill-trees the in-flight proposer pass so it stops within seconds
specstride resume [-w DIR] [--feature S] [overrides…]	(mutates) relaunch the orchestrator from the last run's saved config (.specstride/last-run.conf); refuses if a run is already active. Extra args override the saved flags (last-wins)

Starting a run

specstride run execs orchestrator.sh; pass --help after run for the full launch-flag list. Common launch flags:

Flag	Meaning
-w/--workdir DIR	where the proposer works (default $PWD)
-s/--specs FILE	the spec file (default <workdir>/SPECS.md, or auto-discovered)
--feature SLUG	feature namespace under .specstride/features/
--spec-format native|speckit-tasks|openspec-change	force the spec format (else auto-detected)
--start-phase N	override the derived starting phase
--verification off|plan|required	pre-loop test automation; default required (see Configuration)
--test-plan /abs/path · --generate-tests /abs/dir	override feature-scoped projection/scaffolds; paths must resolve inside workdir
--live / --no-live · --no-color	live presenter control
--debug · --telemetry · --loki-url URL · --otel · --otel-url URL	debug + Telemetry

Feature-awareness

Spec Kit numbers every feature's tasks.md from 1 and builds them all into one repo. Specstride keeps each feature's gates independent under .specstride/features/<slug>/, selected with --feature SLUG (or SPECSTRIDE_FEATURE):

specstride run    -w ./ --feature 001-login     # run one feature to completion
specstride run    -w ./ --feature 002-billing   # then the next — independent gates
specstride status -w ./ --all                    # see both, side by side

resume --feature X replays that feature's saved config (preserving its SPEC_FORMAT).

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