Table of Contents

Quick Start Guide

There are two ways to start:

  • Path A — Evaluate One Task. The minimal, reversible path for a first-time user trying BSW.DevSpark on one real task. Start on the Evaluate One Task page instead of this one if that's your goal.
  • Path B — Initialize the full workflow. For teams ready to establish repository-level configuration: a constitution, and ongoing specification, planning, task, implementation, review, and release workflows. This page covers Path B.

Both paths install the same files using the same bootstrap step below — the difference is what you do with them afterward. Nothing below writes to your repository until the agent has shown you what it plans to do and you have approved it (see Preview before you trust, at the end of Step 1).

Step 1: Bootstrap BSW.DevSpark

Open a chat with your AI agent inside the target repository and paste the bootstrap prompt for your agent:

GitHub Copilot

@workspace Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_copilot.md

Copilot loads DevSpark as native Agent Skills, each invoked with a /devspark-<command> slash command. Acceptance was observed in VS Code Insiders 1.142.0 with the built-in Copilot Chat, running locally on Windows: typing /devspark lists each of the 38 skills once, and text typed after the slash command (for example /devspark-specify add a login page) is passed as input to the skill. Older VS Code builds were not tested.

Claude Code

Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_claudecode.md

Cursor

Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_cursor.md

Codex

Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_codex.md

For Codex-specific workflow guidance, see BSW.DevSpark and Codex.

Antigravity

Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_antigravity.md

For Antigravity, prompt shims live in .gemini/commands/ and the context file is ANTIGRAVITY.md; stock prompts stay in .devspark/defaults/commands/.

Any Other Agent

Follow the instructions at https://bsw-devspark.bswhive.com/raw/quickstart/devspark_quickstart_generic.md

The agent first asks only the install-critical questions, checks for existing BSW.DevSpark or legacy layouts, and only asks for project name, tech stack, and core principles when a constitution still needs to be created. No CLI required.

Preview before you trust (trust but verify)

You should never run instructions you can't inspect. Every quickstart guide opens with a Preview Prompt section so you can see exactly what will happen before you decide to do it — nothing is written to your repository until you approve. Two ways to verify first:

  • Read it yourself (no agent, no changes). The guide, the manifest's full list of every file that would be installed, and the prompt instructions for any /devspark-* skill are all plain text you can print to your terminal and read before a single file is created.
  • Ask the agent for a dry run. Tell it: "Preview only — show me the mode you'd run, every file you'd create/modify/delete, and the actual skill prompt instructions you'd install. Make no changes and wait for my proceed." In this read-only Preview Prompt Mode the agent displays the plan and stops until you confirm.

See the Preview Prompt section at the top of your agent's quickstart guide for copy-paste bootstrap prompts.

Step 2: Build Your First Feature

Once bootstrapped, invoke these skills with their slash commands in your AI agent's chat. See Terminology for the distinction between a skill, a slash command, an agent, and a prompt.

2a. Define Your Constitution

/devspark-constitution Security-first. TDD required. All public APIs must have documentation.

2b. Start the Work

Describe what you want and why. Keep it product-focused.

/devspark-specify Build a photo album organizer. Albums grouped by date, drag-and-drop reordering, tile-based photo previews.

/devspark-specify establishes the outcome and the first useful increment, checks whether any material risk or mandatory obligation needs assurance, and creates a work branch. There is no route to choose and no planning file by default; a short work.md resume note appears only when intent or decisions would otherwise be lost. Use the same command for features, fixes, and refactors. In a later session, /devspark-next resumes where you left off.

Anti-pattern: /devspark-specify Build a React app with Redux and PostgreSQL for photo management -- this locks you into a solution before the problem is fully understood.

2c. Implement and Verify

The slash-command examples on this page use the DevSpark 9.0 convention, /devspark-<command>. If your repository still has 8.x installed, see Upgrading from 8.x.

/devspark-implement
/devspark-verify

/devspark-implement changes code, tests, and current knowledge together. /devspark-verify produces executable proof and decides whether the work is finished; repeat both until it is.

2d. Add Assurance Only When It Earns Its Place (Optional)

None of these is a required step, and none of them triggers another:

  • /devspark-plan Use Vite with vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. Images stored locally, metadata in SQLite. records design decisions when a material uncertainty justifies it. Implementation may follow it but never requires it.
  • /devspark-tasks persists dependency-ordered deliverables when work spans sessions or people.
  • /devspark-critic or /devspark-analyze examines one specific concern, then returns to implementation.

Existing v9.3 specifications keep their recorded route (plan, tasks, planning review); /devspark-next resolves them.

Step 3: Review and Release

After /devspark-verify decides the work is finished, draft the PR and review the durable delta. Any planning record stays live under .devspark.work/ until /devspark-release later archives it under .archive/{YYYY-MM-DD}/:

/devspark-create-pr
/devspark-pr-review

If you push more commits after review feedback or a rebase, refresh the description with /devspark-update-pr before re-reviewing.

The review checks code, tests, current knowledge, documentation, executable evidence, and the constitution. It does not require or recover planning files. Merge the PR after approval.

At the end of the release window, verify the durable delta, archive the completed planning bundle, and generate release notes:

/devspark-release

See How It Works for the one flow, finalization, and delta-based review.

What's Next

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