Proposal: Set root directory to .specify

[jalvarezsamayoa]

In the current workflow the user configures the prompts and templates using:

# new project
uvx --from git+https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git specify init <PROJECT_NAME>

cd ~/my-existing-project
uvx --from git+https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git specify init --here

This command creates a series of directories in the ROOT of the selected directory.

ROOT/
 - memory/
 - scripts/
 - specs/
 - templates/
 - out/

For existing or future projects creating these (or other) directories in the root of the project is disruptive and confusing. I would like to suggest that instead those folders are created under a ROOT/.specify directory. In that way users can take advantage of the files without affecting their current directory structure.

ROOT
  + .specify/
     - memory/
     - scripts/
     - specs/
     - templates/
     - out/

I am happy to contribute with a PR.

[ilyavenger]

strongly support this suggestion. Adding multiple new subdirectories is not just polluting the root, but also may trump over existing flies or structures, risking overloading directory structures.

[peterHoburg]

I 100% agree with this. Having a large mono repo where each dir is a different service, adding 5 new dirs that are not services is very antithetical.

.claude. .agent-os .github .devcontainer .cursor, etc...

Having a .

seems like it is becoming the standard.

[danstis]

I’ve been handling this by running specify init in a temporary folder, then copying the generated files into a .specify subdirectory. After that, I update the scripts and templates to reference this subfolder. Once that’s done, everything works smoothly.

[mkellerman]

Created a PR for review: #86

I opted with a .speckit folder name, but I'm not going to die on that hill regarding naming conventions. ;)

[tiagostutz]

Great discussion! I love the .specify folder concept. ❤️

I'm wondering though, has anyone found a good pattern for organizing specs within a large monorepo? Keeping everything in one folder is starting to feel a bit tangled for me. 😅

Would love to hear how you all are managing it!

[webrgp]

Let me add that I work in many projects that have an existing templates directory, which makes it tricky to drop the spec-kit in it.