spec-kit-presets

Spec Kit presets (Copilot-specific)

Important

This directory is Spec Kit plumbing, not Copilot plumbing. Everything here is consumed by the specify CLI via specify preset add — it is not a Copilot plugin, skill, extension, or marketplace entry. Do not confuse the catalog.json in this directory with the Copilot marketplace manifest at .github/plugin/marketplace.json, and do not confuse a preset here with a Copilot plugin under plugins/ or a skill under skills/.

Plumbing	Consumed by	Lives in
Copilot plugins / skills / canvases	copilot plugin … (Copilot CLI & App)	root plugin.json, skills/, plugins/, .github/plugin/marketplace.json
Spec Kit presets (this folder)	specify preset … (Spec Kit specify CLI)	spec-kit-presets/

What lives here

These are the Copilot-specific Spec Kit presets — presets that depend on Copilot's own agent mechanisms rather than being agent-agnostic. This directory is their canonical home.

Preset	Requires	Why it is Copilot-specific
copilot-sub-agents	Spec Kit >= 0.8.0	Built around Copilot delegation mechanisms — VS Code's runSubagent tool, Copilot CLI sub-agent processes, and custom agents in .github/agents/ / ~/.copilot/agents/.
copilot-assess-ask-questions	Spec Kit >= 0.9.0, the assess extension	Drives the assess pipeline through Copilot's interactive ask_user tool (App, CLI, VS Code). No plain-text fallback — not meant for agents without an interactive question tool.

Only Copilot-specific presets belong here. Agent-agnostic presets (generic themes, extension-specific workflows that don't rely on Copilot's tools) do not belong in this Copilot integration hub.

Installing a preset

Recommended — register the catalog once, then install by id. Catalogs are discovery-only by default, so --install-allowed is required to install from them (and --name is required):

specify preset catalog add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/spec-kit-copilot/main/spec-kit-presets/catalog.json \
  --name spec-kit-copilot --install-allowed

# then add by id — the normal way:
specify preset add copilot-sub-agents
specify preset add copilot-assess-ask-questions   # also: specify extension add assess

The two methods below are escape hatches, not the primary path:

• One-off, without registering a catalog — install straight from a release zip (--from requires an HTTPS URL):

  specify preset add --from https://github.com/github/spec-kit-copilot/releases/download/copilot-sub-agents-v1.0.0/copilot-sub-agents.zip
  specify preset add --from https://github.com/github/spec-kit-copilot/releases/download/copilot-assess-ask-questions-v1.0.0/copilot-assess-ask-questions.zip

• Local development only — install from a working clone of this repo:

  specify preset add --dev ./spec-kit-presets/copilot-sub-agents
  specify preset add --dev ./spec-kit-presets/copilot-assess-ask-questions

Layout

spec-kit-presets/
├── README.md              # this file (the plumbing boundary note)
├── catalog.json           # Spec Kit preset catalog (NOT the Copilot marketplace)
├── copilot-sub-agents/
│   ├── preset.yml
│   └── commands/
└── copilot-assess-ask-questions/
    ├── preset.yml
    └── commands/

Versioning & distribution

Presets are versioned and released independently of the Copilot plugins in this repo. Each preset carries its own version in preset.yml and its own catalog.json entry. specify preset add <name> (catalog install) resolves a release-asset zip via each entry's download_url, tagged <preset>-v<version> (e.g. copilot-sub-agents-v1.0.0).

Releases are cut by CI — there is no local build script. The zip is built inside the release workflow (.github/workflows/release-preset.yml) from the preset directory, so preset.yml and commands/ sit at the archive root. To publish:

• Preferred: run the Release Preset Trigger workflow (.github/workflows/release-preset-trigger.yml) via Actions → Run workflow with the preset id and version; it validates, then creates and pushes the <preset>-v<version> tag.
• Or push the tag yourself (git tag copilot-sub-agents-v1.0.0 && git push origin copilot-sub-agents-v1.0.0).

Either path fires release-preset.yml, which builds the zip and creates the GitHub release with that asset. When revving a preset, bump its preset.yml version and the matching catalog.json entry together before tagging.