Dependencies & Epics¶

Dependencies¶

Specs can declare dependencies on other specs. Dependencies are declared in the FR front matter:

deps: [002, 003]

Managing Dependencies¶

nspec dep add --to S001 --dep S002    # S001 depends on S002
nspec dep remove --to S001 --dep S002

Via MCP:

add_dep(spec_id="S001", dep_id="S002")
remove_dep(spec_id="S001", dep_id="S002")

Validation¶

The dependency layer validates:

No circular references — Cycles are detected and reported
No dangling dependencies — References to non-existent specs are flagged
Ordering — Specs are ordered so dependencies come before dependents
Cross-epic resolution — Dependencies across epic boundaries are resolved correctly

Blocked Specs¶

A spec is blocked when any of its dependencies are not yet completed. The MCP tool blocked_specs lists all currently blocked specs with their blocking dependencies.

Epics¶

Epics group related specs. Epic membership is determined by ID ranges configured per epic.

Viewing Epics¶

# Via CLI
nspec dashboard

Via MCP:

epics()         # List all epics with progress
get_epic()      # Currently active epic

Epic Priorities¶

Epic priorities must be unique. Use swap_priority to reorder epics without conflicts:

swap_priority(epic_a="E001", epic_b="E002")

Moving Specs Between Epics¶

nspec dep move --to E002 --dep S042

Parking an Epic¶

Park all non-completed specs in an epic at once:

park_epic(epic_id="E005")

Dependency Graph¶

The dep_graph MCP tool returns the full dependency graph for an epic, showing which specs block which and the current completion status.

dep_graph(epic_id="E001")