Context & docs

Ground your specs in the code that already exists

The quickest way to write a useless ticket is to describe something that already exists, or to name a module that does not. Connect GitHub, pin up to five repos, and Spectr reads the relevant code before drafting - so a story names your actual services and endpoints, and the estimate reflects what the change would really touch.

How it connects

OAuth App with repository and organisation read access. Spectr reads code and issues; it never pushes, opens pull requests, or comments.

Before you start

No plan requirement. Connections are configured per project, and every credential is encrypted at rest.

What Spectr reads from GitHub

Up to five pinned repositories: Chosen from your accessible repositories, sorted by recent activity. Private repositories are included when the authorising account can see them.
Relevant source files: Spectr searches for the code a discussion actually concerns and reads those files - up to 30,000 characters each - rather than sampling the tree at random. Search results themselves are never stored as context; only the files that got read.
Open issues and recent pull requests: So a generated story can reference work already in flight instead of duplicating it.

A person approves everything before it is published

Spectr generates specs and stories, then stops. Every story goes to a review page where you approve it, edit it inline, or reject it - individually or in bulk. Only approved stories reach an issue tracker. There is no auto-publish setting to switch on, because a backlog nobody read is not a saving.

Setting it up

In Spectr, open the project and go to Integrations.
Choose GitHub and click Connect, then authorise the OAuth app.
Select up to five repositories to pin as project context.
Generate a spec sheet. The Context Gathered panel lists the files Spectr read.

Frequently asked questions

Can Spectr push code or open pull requests?

No. GitHub is read-only context. Spectr reads code and issues to write better specs; the only thing it ever creates is a ticket in your tracker, after you approve it.

Does this work with private repositories?

Yes, for repositories the authorising GitHub account can already access.

Will I have to reconnect GitHub?

Standard GitHub OAuth tokens do not expire. They can be revoked - including automatically by GitHub if a token is ever exposed in a public repo - and Spectr will flag the connection as needing a reconnect if that happens.

Use case