# Getting Started

#### Prerequisites

Before adopting the SDD workflow, ensure your development environment meets the following requirements:

* Node.js (v18 or higher recommended) installed on your system.
* A supported AI agent CLI configured and authenticated (e.g., GitHub Copilot CLI, Anthropic Claude CLI).
* Git installed and a repository initialized in your target directory.

#### Installation

The GitHub Spec-Kit toolchain is accessed via the `specify-cli`. Install it globally using npm to make the commands available across all your projects.

Bash

```
npm install -g specify-cli
```

#### Project Initialization

To set up Spec-Kit in an existing project, navigate to your repository root and initialize the framework. This command scaffolds the `.speckit` directory, which will house your foundational documents and configuration.

Bash

```
specify init . --ai copilot
```

*Why this matters:* Initialization connects your specific AI agent to the SDD pipeline, ensuring the prompts and context generation are optimized for the tool you are using.


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://shankar-lab.gitbook.io/mylearning/github-spec-kit/getting-started.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.