Prerequisites

Published from docs/start/prerequisites.md at 835522e. Edit the source in the repository, not this page.

Install only the tools your adoption level needs. The "Needed by" column tells you which ones. "Tested" is the version Sanduq's CI or maintainers ran. "Unverified" means nobody has recorded a test yet.

User Manual 2.0.4 needs no new tool. build_manual.py --all builds the audiences listed in manual.yml.

Tools

Tool	Needed by	Tested
Spec Kit (specify CLI)	Every extension	1.1.3, commit 0282d03
Python 3.11 or later	Every extension; Illustrate export; User Manual builds; Workflow's guard hook (python3, or python on Windows, on PATH)	3.13 in CI; 3.11 for the Linux regression suites
Node.js and npm	npx skills; Delegate Task (18 or later); Illustrate's hand-drawn generator	skills 1.7.2 in CI; Node unverified
Git	Workflow, Memory, Scope (required); others (optional)	Unverified
GitHub CLI (gh) with Project scopes	Workflow, Scope (required); Project, PR (optional)	Unverified
GitHub Project (v2) board with seven statuses	Managed Workflow (board setup)	Live runs on Claude Code
Playwright and Chromium	Illustrate PNG export; User Manual screenshots	Playwright 1.63.0
PyYAML and markdown-it-py; MkDocs, Material for MkDocs and the PDF libraries only for the MkDocs renderer	User Manual builds (markdown and command renderers need only those two and your own tool)	Material 9.7.6, mkdocs-to-pdf 0.10.1
age	User Manual previews in a public repository	Unverified
SuperSpec	Workflow, optional task generator and executor	1.0.2, commit c20ac6c
Superpowers Bridge	Optional; Workflow routes around an existing Bridge run	Unverified
Superpowers	Required by Superpowers Bridge	Unverified

Spec Kit

Install the tested revision. Progress needs Spec Kit 1.1.1 or later; Workflow's installer refuses Progress on an older Spec Kit. The command uses uv; the Spec Kit installation guide explains how to get it.

uv tool install specify-cli --from git+https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git@0282d03eb6fc3091b3deaa3a855d4030dc40cd6c
specify --version

To track the latest Spec Kit instead, drop the @<commit> suffix. A newer Spec Kit is allowed by the manifests but is not a tested combination. The same commit is pinned in CI and in Workflow's dependencies.json.

Each package declares its own Spec Kit range. This is information, not a problem to fix:

Package	Spec Kit range
Assure, Illustrate, PR, Project, User Manual	>=0.2.0
Scope	>=1.0.0
Memory, Workflow, workflow preset	>=1.0.0,<2.0.0
Progress	>=1.1.1.dev0,<2.0.0
scope-gate, scope-brainstorm presets	>=1.0.0

Python

Every package declares Python 3.11 or later (Illustrate as optional, for its export scripts). Memory and Progress read TOML with the standard library, which 3.11 added. CI runs the Linux regression suites on 3.11 and everything else, including the Windows suites, on 3.13.

Install Python

OS	Command
Windows	winget install Python.Python.3.13
macOS	brew install python@3.13
Linux (Debian, Ubuntu)	sudo apt-get install python3 python3-venv python3-pip

Node.js

You need Node.js for npx skills, for Delegate Task (Node 18 or later), and for Illustrate's hand-drawn generator. The generator needs its own packages: run npm install in the installed Illustrate skill/ directory, then npm run generate:hand.

Install Node.js

OS	Command
Windows	winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
macOS	brew install node
Linux (Debian, Ubuntu)	sudo apt-get install nodejs npm

Git and the GitHub CLI

Workflow and Scope read and write GitHub issues and Projects. Project and PR use gh when it is available and skip remote work when it is not.

Install Git and the GitHub CLI

OS	Command
Windows	winget install Git.Git GitHub.cli
macOS	brew install git gh
Linux (Debian, Ubuntu)	sudo apt-get install git gh

Sign in, then add the Project scopes:

gh auth login
gh auth refresh -h github.com -s project,read:project
gh auth status

Playwright and Chromium

Illustrate needs these for PNG export. User Manual screenshots use your project's own Playwright runner.

python -m pip install playwright==1.63.0
python -m playwright install chromium

On Linux, add --with-deps to the second command to install Chromium's system libraries.

User Manual renderers, MkDocs and PDF libraries

User Manual Init writes three install files. Install the one your renderer.kind in User-Manual/manual.yml needs:

File	Pins	For
requirements.lock	PyYAML and markdown-it-py	Every build; enough for the markdown (default) and command renderers
requirements-mkdocs.lock	adds mkdocs (1.6 or later, below 2) and mkdocs-material 9.7.6	The mkdocs renderer's HTML site
requirements-pdf.lock	adds mkdocs-to-pdf 0.10.1	--pdf with the mkdocs renderer

python -m pip install -r User-Manual/requirements.lock

A command renderer runs your own tool (for example Pandoc or Quarto); install it on the build machine or the CI runner. PDF builds with the mkdocs renderer also need native text-layout libraries:

OS	Command
Linux (Debian, Ubuntu)	sudo apt-get install libpango-1.0-0 libharfbuzz0b libpangoft2-1.0-0 libharfbuzz-subset0 fonts-hosny-amiri
macOS	brew install pango
Windows	Unverified. Install the Pango libraries for your Python, or build PDFs in CI on Linux.

Arabic PDFs use the Amiri font (fonts-hosny-amiri above). On macOS, install Amiri from Google Fonts; without it the PDF falls back to Noto Naskh Arabic or another Arabic font the system has.

Public repositories publish encrypted previews and need age in CI. See the docs pack.

SuperSpec

SuperSpec is an optional Spec Kit extension. When it is installed and enabled, Workflow uses its Brainstorm, Tasks and Execute commands instead of the core ones. Install the tested commit:

git clone https://github.com/WangX0111/superspec.git
git -C superspec checkout c20ac6c1ba069cc9a72dacb8044b7b193d3dde81
specify extension add --dev ./superspec

Superpowers Bridge and Superpowers

Superpowers Bridge is an optional Spec Kit extension that hands Spec Kit tasks to Superpowers. Bridge 1.3.0 requires Superpowers 5.1 or later. Follow each project's README to install it on your host. In a managed project, run python .specify/extensions/workflow/scripts/install.py --apply --with-aliases after adding the Bridge; it clears the doctor findings the Bridge install leaves. Workflow's overlays route Bridge commands to the current owner so two executors never run.

Who enforces dependencies

An extension's manifest lists hard dependencies under requires.extensions. Spec Kit records these but does not install or check them. Two Sanduq mechanisms do:

• Workflow's installer (install.py) installs Scope, Project, PR, Illustrate and the selected Assure or User Manual at the versions pinned in dependencies.json.
• deps.py ensure runs inside Assure, PR and User Manual before they need Illustrate. It follows .specify/extension-dependencies.yml: prompt (the default) asks you, auto installs, and manual stops with a message.

If you install Scope by itself, nothing installs Workflow for you. Install Workflow instead.

Limits

• Most tool versions are unverified. Host and platform results are in compatibility.
• PDF builds on Windows are unverified.
• Sanduq does not test every Spec Kit version a manifest range allows.