OpenSpec

Experimental

Operator can import work from OpenSpec, the spec-driven development (SDD) framework for AI coding assistants. OpenSpec keeps proposed changes as plain-markdown bundles in your repository; Operator turns their task checklists into queued tickets.

Experimental. This provider is pull-only and file-based. Operator never edits your OpenSpec files — checking off completed tasks in tasks.md remains yours (or your agent’s) to do.

How the mapping works

OpenSpec stores each proposed change at openspec/changes/<change-id>/ with a proposal.md, an implementation checklist in tasks.md, and optional design.md + spec deltas. Operator maps that structure onto its kanban model:

OpenSpec	Operator
Active change (`changes/<id>/`)	A kanban “project” (the change id is the project key)
`## 1. Group` heading in `tasks.md`	One ticket per task group
Checklist items under the group	The ticket’s task list (embedded in the body)
All items checked	Group counts as `done` and is skipped on import

Each imported ticket carries external_provider: openspec and external_id: <change-id>#<group-number> in its frontmatter, so re-running an import skips everything already in your queue — imports are idempotent.

The ticket body includes the change id, the proposal’s Why section, the group’s checklist verbatim, and a pointer to the change directory so agents read the full spec (proposal, design, deltas) before starting.

Configuration

Add an OpenSpec root to operator.toml:

[kanban.openspec.myrepo]
enabled = true
root_path = "/path/to/your-repo/openspec"  # the dir containing changes/
project = "yourproject"                     # operator project for imported tickets

Setting	Default	Description
`enabled`	`false`	Whether this OpenSpec root is active
`root_path`	—	Directory containing the OpenSpec `changes/` tree
`project`	change id	Operator project stamped on imported tickets

No credentials are needed — OpenSpec is local markdown.

Importing

# Import one change's open task groups as tickets
operator import openspec add-dark-mode

# Import every active (non-archived) change under all configured roots
operator import openspec

# Sync all configured kanban providers, OpenSpec included
operator import

Fully-checked task groups are skipped; unchecked or partially-checked groups become TASK tickets (flagged needs_issuetype_mapping so you can retype them if desired). Re-running any of these commands only creates tickets for groups not already imported.

Limitations

Pull-only. Ticket completion is not written back to tasks.md checkboxes, and Operator cannot create OpenSpec changes.
Group granularity. One ticket per ## N. task group — individual checklist items are not split into their own tickets.
No dependency ordering. Tickets are queued FIFO in group order; Operator’s same-project sequencing keeps them from running concurrently, but there is no hard blocking between groups.
design.md and spec deltas are referenced by path, not ingested.