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OpenSpec/openspec/changes/add-skill-cli-auto-approval/proposal.md
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Clay GoodandClaude Opus 4.8 a5bfedafc8 feat(skills): auto-approve the openspec CLI in generated skills and commands (#1300)
* feat(skills): auto-approve the openspec CLI in generated skills

Emit `allowed-tools: Bash(openspec:*)` in every generated SKILL.md so
agents that honor the Agent Skills standard run `openspec` commands
without prompting on each call. Scope is limited to the CLI; per the
standard `allowed-tools` pre-approves rather than restricts, so every
other tool a skill uses stays available under the user's normal
permission settings.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat(commands): auto-approve the openspec CLI in Claude slash commands

Extend the allowed-tools pre-approval to the second surface: Claude Code
/opsx:* slash commands share the skill frontmatter contract, so the
Claude command adapter now emits `allowed-tools: Bash(openspec:*)` too.
The value is single-sourced in `src/core/shared/allowed-tools.ts` (a
leaf module both surfaces import). Other command adapters are unchanged
— no other tool's slash-command format defines a per-command
pre-approval field; on the skills side every tool already gets the
standard field via generateSkillContent and non-implementing tools
ignore the unknown key.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-07 16:31:00 +00:00

2.5 KiB

Why

Every generated OpenSpec skill drives the openspec CLI (openspec list, status, instructions, …). Today the skill frontmatter never pre-approves those calls, so agents that gate Bash on permission prompt the user on every single openspec invocation. The workflow stalls on approvals for a first-party, read-mostly CLI the user already opted into by installing OpenSpec.

The Agent Skills standard already solves this: an allowed-tools frontmatter field pre-approves listed tools while a skill is active. We just aren't emitting it.

What Changes

  • Every generated SKILL.md gains allowed-tools: Bash(openspec:*) in its YAML frontmatter, so agents run openspec commands from the skill without prompting. Emitted centrally in generateSkillContent, so init, update, every tool's skills directory, and every current and future skill get it uniformly.
  • Claude Code slash commands (.claude/commands/opsx/*.md) gain the same field — commands share the skill frontmatter contract, so the same pre-approval applies when a user runs /opsx:*.
  • Scope is deliberately narrow: only the openspec CLI is pre-approved. Per the standard, allowed-tools pre-approves rather than restricts — so any other tool a skill or command uses (Read, Write, or arbitrary Bash for builds/tests in apply/onboard) stays available under the user's normal permission settings, still prompting as before.
  • Cross-tool: skills go to every supported tool's skills directory, and allowed-tools is an Agent Skills standard field — tools that implement the standard honor it; tools that don't ignore the unknown key. Only the Claude command adapter changes, because no other tool's slash-command format defines a per-command pre-approval field.

Capabilities

Modified Capabilities

  • cli-init: the Skill Generation requirement now specifies the allowed-tools pre-approval in generated skill frontmatter.
  • command-generation: the Claude adapter frontmatter now includes the allowed-tools field.

Impact

  • src/core/shared/allowed-tools.ts — the shared OPENSPEC_CLI_ALLOWED_TOOLS constant (single source for both surfaces).
  • src/core/shared/skill-generation.ts — emit allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
  • src/core/command-generation/adapters/claude.ts — emit allowed-tools in the slash-command frontmatter.
  • Tests: regenerated golden skill-content hashes; new assertions that every deployed skill and the Claude command format pre-approve the CLI.
  • No behavior change for agents that ignore allowed-tools; pure upside for agents that honor it.