Speckit Research

Purpose: Gather market intelligence, competitive analysis, and best practices to inform feature evaluation.

When to Use

•After Phase 3 (Clarify) is complete
•Before Phase 3.6 (Evaluate)
•When spec status is clarified

Prerequisites

• Spec exists at .github/speckit/specs/{feature-name}.md
• Spec status is clarified
• User has approved the clarified spec

Execution

1. Launch Research (Background)

Use librarian agent to conduct research:

code

background_task(
  agent="librarian",
  description="Market research for {feature-name}",
  prompt="Conduct market and competitive research for this feature:

  **Feature**: {feature-name}
  **Spec Summary**: {brief description from spec}
  **Target Users**: {from spec}
  **Core Problem**: {from spec}

  Research and report on:

  ## 1. Competitive Analysis
  Find 3-5 similar solutions/competitors:
  - Product name and URL
  - Their approach to solving this problem
  - Key features they offer
  - Strengths and weaknesses
  - Pricing model (if applicable)

  ## 2. Market Trends (2025)
  - Current industry trends in this space
  - Emerging technologies or approaches
  - User expectations and demands

  ## 3. Best Practices
  - Industry standards for this type of feature
  - Common patterns and conventions
  - UX/UI expectations

  ## 4. Potential Differentiators
  - Gaps in competitor offerings
  - Underserved user needs
  - Innovation opportunities

  ## 5. Risks and Pitfalls
  - Common implementation mistakes
  - User complaints about existing solutions
  - Technical challenges to watch for

  Format as structured markdown report."
)

2. Wait for Completion

•Research typically takes 1-3 minutes
•System will notify when complete

3. Present to User

Show research findings and ask:

•"Are any of these competitors irrelevant to your use case?"
•"Any trends or practices you want to ignore?"
•"Anything missing you want me to research further?"

4. Save Research

Save to: .github/speckit/specs/{feature-name}/research.md

5. Proceed to Evaluate

After user acknowledges research:

•Proceed to Phase 3.6 (Evaluate)
•Pass research.md path to evaluation

Output Format

markdown

# Market Research: {Feature Name}

**Generated**: {date}
**Spec**: {spec path}
**Status**: Complete

## 1. Competitive Analysis

### Competitor A: {Name}
- **URL**: {url}
- **Approach**: {description}
- **Key Features**: {list}
- **Strengths**: {list}
- **Weaknesses**: {list}

### Competitor B: {Name}
...

## 2. Market Trends

- {trend 1}
- {trend 2}
- {trend 3}

## 3. Best Practices

- {practice 1}
- {practice 2}

## 4. Potential Differentiators

- {differentiator 1}
- {differentiator 2}

## 5. Risks and Pitfalls

- {risk 1}
- {risk 2}

---
*Research conducted by librarian agent*

Handoff

After research is saved and user acknowledges:

•Next step: /speckit.evaluate
•Pass: spec path + research.md path