SpecJudge for spec-kit

Right-size the model before you implement.

You finish /speckit.tasks. The spec, the plan and the task list exist, and not a token has been spent. This extension asks SpecJudge which model actually fits that work, and shows you the fragment of your own spec behind every level:

Budget envelope
   default: reasoning medium, size low
   reasoning: top — S:FR-001 (requirement)
   size: low — T:T002 (customary)

S:FR-001 is a line in your spec. If the recommendation looks too expensive, you can go and read the sentence that made it expensive.

The judge runs on your machine through Ollama. Your specs never leave it.

Install

uv tool install specjudge          # the CLI this wraps
specjudge --set-judge              # pick a local judge, once

specify extension add specjudge --from https://github.com/JoaquinRuiz/SpecJudge/releases/latest/download/spec-kit-specjudge.zip

Requires spec-kit 0.13.0 or newer, SpecJudge 0.5.0+, and Ollama 0.5.0+ with a local model. An 8B judge is enough; see choosing a judge.

"discovery only — not installable"

If you found this by searching the catalog, you will have seen that next to the name:

Catalog: community (discovery only — not installable)
⚠  Not directly installable from 'community'.

Nothing is wrong with the extension. spec-kit ships two catalogs: catalog.json, the one GitHub maintains, is installable by default; catalog.community.json, where every third-party extension lives, is discovery-only. That applies to all ~150 entries in it, not to this one. Catalog acceptance checks that the metadata is right and the archive downloads — it does not audit anyone's code — so installing from it by name is a decision each project makes for itself rather than a default.

The command above sidesteps it: --from <url> takes no position on catalogs, because you supplied the URL yourself.

To install by name instead, approve the community catalog once:

specify extension catalog add https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/spec-kit/main/extensions/catalog.community.json \
  --name community-approved --priority 5 --install-allowed

specify extension add specjudge

That approves the whole catalog, not just this extension — every third-party entry in it becomes installable by name in this project. Worth knowing before you run it; if you would rather not, the --from line stays the smaller commitment.

Tested against spec-kit 0.13.0 and 0.15.2. The manifest declares a floor and no ceiling: it uses only provides.commands and hooks, the most stable part of the extension format, and an upper bound would stop the extension installing every time spec-kit ships a minor release. If a future version does break it, that is a bug to fix, not a prediction to encode.

Use

It runs itself. After /speckit.tasks you are asked:

Recommend a model for these tasks? [y/N]

Say no and nothing happens. Or run it whenever you like:

/speckit.specjudge.recommend

What it does not do

• Writes nothing. effect: read-only. The recommendation is reported, not archived.
• Blocks nothing. No judge, no Ollama, too thin a spec — it says so in one line and gets out of the way. You came here to implement.
• Decides nothing. Price never overrides fit, and the tool says when it is unsure rather than picking anyway.

Licence

MIT, same as SpecJudge.