AmbyKit

Spec-Driven Development that specs your UI too. Most SDD frameworks take you from user stories straight to a technical plan and leave the interface to the model's imagination. AmbyKit adds a first-class design phase — ui.md plus a real design-tokens.json — between the what and the how, then emits native commands and rules for every AI coding assistant your team uses.

Quick start

npx @ambystech/ambykit init     # scaffold .amby/ and pick your assistants
# — or install it —
npm install -g @ambystech/ambykit
ambykit init

Node ≥ 20. No Python toolchain, no separate installer — it's an npm package.

Already have a project? init is non-destructive — an existing CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md is preserved (and backed up); AmbyKit only adds/updates its own ### AmbyKit usage section. Re-run ambykit sync any time to keep it current, or ambykit restore to roll a file back.

Then, inside your AI assistant, walk the workflow:

/amby.constitution   # one-time: set your project's guiding principles
/amby.specify        # describe a feature → spec.md (user stories + EARS requirements)
/amby.clarify        # resolve open questions
/amby.revise         # continue an existing spec — add and refine in place
/amby.design         # UI spec + design-tokens.json
/amby.plan           # technical plan
/amby.tasks          # ordered, dependency-aware task list
/amby.implement      # build it
/amby.converge       # verify the code against the spec; append gap tasks, repeat until converged
/amby.review         # have another role (QA, Architect, PM…) critique an artifact, findings by ID

Track progress from the terminal:

ambykit dashboard
ambykit dashboard 001:US-3   # story ids restart per feature — qualify with the feature ref

📖 Full documentation: ambykit.ambystech.io

Why

AI coding assistants build better software when they start from good requirements. AmbyKit gives you a rigorous, tech-agnostic SDD workflow and a single source of truth that compiles to each tool's native format.

• UI is a first-class artifact. /amby.design produces a UI spec plus design tokens — the part every other spec framework skips. Your assistant builds the interface you described, not the one it guessed.
• WHAT before HOW. spec.md captures user stories + testable requirements with no tech decisions; plan.md captures the technical approach separately.
• Parallel work is built in. ambykit worktree gives each feature its own git worktree, so several features — or several assistants — run side by side without checkout switching.
• Author once, emit per tool. One neutral source → Claude Code, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot (VS Code + CLI), Cursor (+ CLI), Antigravity (IDE + CLI), Codex CLI.

How AmbyKit compares

The honest version. GitHub Spec-Kit is the big one in this category and it is genuinely good — if you want the widest assistant coverage and the largest community, use it. AmbyKit is the choice when the UI matters and you live in the Node ecosystem.

	AmbyKit	GitHub Spec-Kit	Kiro
UI design phase + design tokens	✅ ui.md + design-tokens.json	❌	❌ (design.md is architecture)
Native git worktree isolation	✅ ambykit worktree	❌ open issue; third-party forks	❌
Cross-role artifact review	✅ /amby.review, findings by ID, --apply patches in place	Role "bundles" for setup, no review phase	❌
Dependency-graph dashboard	✅ ambykit dashboard / analyze	❌	❌
Code-vs-spec drift check	✅ /amby.converge	✅ /speckit.converge	❌
Brownfield / revise in place	✅ /amby.revise	✅ evolving-specs guide	✅
EARS requirements	✅	✅	✅
Assistants supported	6 families / 10 targets	37 integrations	self-contained
Runtime	Node ≥ 20, npx	Python 3.11+, uv/pipx	proprietary IDE + CLI
License	MIT	MIT	proprietary (Crew is Apache 2.0)
Maturity	young, v1.1	very large community	AWS-backed, paid tiers

Why not just Spec-Kit? If breadth of assistant support is your constraint, use Spec-Kit — it covers far more tools. Pick AmbyKit if you want the design phase, per-feature worktrees, and an install that's one npx away instead of a Python toolchain.

Comparison current as of AmbyKit v1.1.0; competitors move fast — corrections welcome via issue or PR.

The workflow

Phase	Command	Output
Governance (once)	/amby.constitution	.amby/constitution.md
Specify (WHAT/WHY)	/amby.specify	specs/NNN-feature/spec.md
Clarify	/amby.clarify	resolves [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers
Revise	/amby.revise	continues spec.md / ui.md in place
Design (UI)	/amby.design	ui.md + design-tokens.json
Plan (HOW)	/amby.plan	plan.md (+ data-model.md, contracts/)
Tasks	/amby.tasks	tasks.md
Analyze	/amby.analyze	cross-artifact consistency report
Implement	/amby.implement	executes tasks.md
Converge	/amby.converge	checks code vs spec/plan/tasks; appends gap tasks to tasks.md
Review	/amby.review	cross-role critique of any artifact; --apply patches in place

Requirements use user stories (US-#) + EARS functional requirements (FR-###) + Given/When/Then acceptance criteria. Stories carry priority and depends-on/blocked-by so work can be ordered and blocked; ambykit dashboard reports progress across the story/task graph.

Supported tools

Claude Code (CLI + VS Code), GitHub Copilot (VS Code + CLI), OpenCode, Cursor (+ CLI), Antigravity (IDE + CLI), Codex CLI. See docs/tool-compatibility.md.

Missing yours? Open a request — a new target is a thin BaseEmitter subclass.

CLI

Command	Description
ambykit init [dir]	Scaffold .amby/, pick tools, emit their files + AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md
ambykit add <tool…>	Add/refresh one tool's integration
ambykit sync	Re-emit all configured tools from the neutral source
ambykit dashboard [story-id]	Progress view over the story/task graph
ambykit analyze	Validate the dependency graph (cycles, blockers, orphans)
ambykit check	Doctor: verify integrations
ambykit restore [file]	Restore an agent-doc file from its .amby/backups/ backup
ambykit update	Update the CLI to the latest, then refresh this project's prompts
ambykit worktree <feature>	Isolated working copy per feature (list, remove) for parallel work
ambykit activity <feature>	Record which assistant works on a feature (run by the phase prompts)

See docs/cli-reference.md.

Contributing

AmbyKit is built with AmbyKit — see CONTRIBUTING.md, AGENTS.md, and docs/contributing.md. Changes are logged in CHANGELOG.md. MIT licensed.