A Claude Code skill that reads your project's filesystem and tells you what spec-kit workflow action to run next.
Atlas is a read-only observer skill for Claude Code. It inspects the current project directory — counting code files, scanning specs/ for feature folders, checking which spec-kit artifacts are present — and maps what it finds to a concrete next action in the spec-kit development workflow. Atlas never executes commands; it recommends one command, states why, and stops. Three sub-commands: /atlas init bootstraps a project and writes a WORKFLOW.md state snapshot to the project root; /atlas scan produces a full feature-phase report with no recommendation; /atlas next surfaces one targeted recommendation for what to do right now.
The alternative is a copy-paste dispatcher: describe project state in Claude chat, get a recommendation, paste it into Claude Code, run it. That loop breaks down when multiple features are at different phases and the cognitive overhead of reconstructing state grows with the project. Atlas closes the loop by reading the filesystem directly and routing to the correct spec-kit command based on what is actually there — not what you remember was there.
Requires PowerShell. Run from the atlas-plugin repo root:
.\install.ps1The installer copies all skill files to $HOME\.claude\skills\atlas\. No build step. No package manager. Restart Claude Code after installation.
Bootstrap a project. Reads filesystem state, writes WORKFLOW.md at the project root, recommends the first action.
Example — run against atlas-plugin itself:
## Atlas — Project State
**Project**: atlas-plugin (New — 1 code files)
### Feature Phases
| Feature | Phase | Artifacts |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| 001-atlas-workflow-observer | Tasked | spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md |
### Recommended First Action
**Command**: `/speckit-implement`
**Why**: Feature 001-atlas-workflow-observer has tasks ready. The next step is implementation.
---
WORKFLOW.md written to project root.
Full state report. Lists all features and their phases. Makes no recommendation — diagnostic and review use only.
## Atlas — Scan Report
**Project**: atlas-plugin (New — 1 code files)
**Scanned**: 2026-05-17T18:29:40-04:00
### Feature Phases
| Feature | Phase | Artifacts Present |
|---------|-------|------------------|
| 001-atlas-workflow-observer | Tasked | spec.md, plan.md, tasks.md |
### Project-Level Signals
| Signal | Status |
|--------|--------|
| graphify-out/graph.json | Absent |
| ~/.gstack/projects/atlas-plugin/ | Absent |
---
Scan complete. State report only.
Single-feature focus. Observes the highest-phase feature, produces one recommendation with explicit reasoning.
## Atlas — Next Action
**Observed state**: Feature 001-atlas-workflow-observer is in Tasked phase.
spec.md, plan.md, and tasks.md are all present.
**Recommended action**: `/speckit-implement`
**Why**: Feature 001-atlas-workflow-observer has tasks ready. Implementation is the next
step to advance the feature toward completion.
| # | Principle | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| I | Observation Over Command | Atlas describes state and recommends; the user runs the commands. |
| II | Filesystem Reads Only | No network calls, no external APIs; all state is derived from reading files on disk. |
| III | No Executable Code in SKILL.md | The skill is plain markdown — no scripts, no runtimes, no compiled artifacts. |
| IV | Editable Classifier | Classification rules live in rules.md, separate from SKILL.md; edit and save to take effect immediately. |
| V | Per-Feature Phase Scope | Each feature has its own phase; a project can have multiple features at different phases simultaneously. |
| VI | Reasoning Visibility | Every recommendation includes a "why" connecting observed state to the recommended action. |
| VII | Windows-First, No Runtime Dependencies | Native Windows + PowerShell is the primary target; the skill works as soon as its files are present — nothing else to install. |
- Claude Code 2.1.0 or newer
- Windows (primary) — PowerShell 5.1+; macOS/Linux not supported in V1
- spec-kit installed per-project — atlas classifies phases by reading
specs/NNN-*/folders and checking forspec.md,plan.md,tasks.md - Optional: graphify — if
graphify-out/graph.jsonis present at the project root, atlas reports Mapped phase - Optional: gstack — if
~/.gstack/projects/<slug>/exists, atlas reports Thought phase
V1.0.0 — initial release.
Solo developer tool. No public consumers.
Known limitations:
- Windows only. macOS/Linux paths not tested in V1.
- No automated test suite. Validation is manual against synthetic project states.
- No CI pipeline.
For architecture details and design decisions, see specs/001-atlas-workflow-observer/.
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