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Tares

How do I write a spec a Claude Code crew can build small features from in a monorepo?

Tares writes the spec with you. Run tares factory spec in your repo, and /tares:spec interviews you one question at a time, has a second model attack the plan, and saves a Tares project the crew can build from. The project holds the spec, milestones with acceptance checks, tickets with a working doc each, and an AGENTS.md. The command ends by asking whether to hand the project to the crew.

How it works

You do not write the spec file by hand. /tares:spec runs the planning conversation and records the result on Tares.

  • Start in your code. Run the command in the repo the project builds on, or in a folder that holds its repos. It opens Claude Code with /tares:spec.
  • One question at a time. The interview asks a single question, waits for your answer, then asks the next. Tares keeps your answers in your own words.
  • A second model attacks the plan. Before anything is saved, another model challenges the plan.
  • The plan lands on Tares. It is written into a Tares project as the spec, milestones with acceptance checks, tickets with a working doc each, and an AGENTS.md.
  • You decide on the hand-over. The command ends by asking whether to give the project to the crew. If you say yes, the orchestrator picks it up.

After the hand-over, the orchestrator starts builders, one per milestone and repo of the project. Each builder takes a ticket, works on its own branch and opens a pull request. It merges once the reviewer passes the pull request and CI is green. The record stays on Tares, so a crew that restarts carries on where it stopped.

Set it up

  1. Check that Claude Code is signed in on a plan that allows background sessions. Check that gh is signed in with write access to the repos the crew works in, and that git, jq and curl are installed.

    gh auth login
  2. Install the CLI.

    uv tool install tares # or: brew install glassflow/tap/tares
  3. On a local Tares, start it, then start the MCP endpoint in a second terminal. Every crew session reaches Tares through that endpoint, and crew up and spec stop and tell you when it does not answer.

    tares up
    tares mcp --transport streamable-http
  4. On Tares Cloud, sign in instead and pick your workspace in the browser. There is no MCP endpoint to start.

    tares login
  5. Give Tares access to GitHub, so it can read the pull request, CI and merge state of every ticket. Use Settings > GitHub on a local Tares, or Connect GitHub on Tares Cloud.

  6. Bring up the crew. The first run asks how far the crew may go, such as whether it merges on its own after review and green CI, and how many builders run at once.

    tares factory crew up
  7. Go to your repo, or the folder that holds its repos, and start the interview. Put what you want to build in the quoted idea, then answer each question as it comes.

    tares factory spec "what you want to build"
  8. When the interview ends, say yes to hand the project to the crew. Open the orchestrator to answer its questions.

    tares factory crew attach orchestrator

The Get started page has the full quickstart, including how tares factory doctor checks everything the crew needs.

What you get

  • A Tares project with a spec, milestones that carry acceptance checks, and tickets that each have a working doc.
  • An AGENTS.md that the crew’s sessions share.
  • A plan that a second model has already attacked before any builder starts.
  • A crew that builds the tickets into pull requests merged on main. The reviewer reviews every pull request to a fixed bar, and nothing merges until it passes.
  • A written record of the assumptions the crew made, the questions it asked and your answers. You check the crew’s own choices at the end of each milestone instead of during every step.
  • Questions from every project reach you in the orchestrator’s session, one at a time, each with a recommendation. The Crew page of the Tares console shows each project’s progress and builders.

When something else fits

  • For a project you want to build in your own Claude Code session instead of with the crew, run tares factory session with your idea. It asks a few questions, writes a short spec and a ticket list on Tares, and builds it there.
  • If you want your tickets in GitHub Issues, tell /tares:spec during the interview and name the repo. If you want them in Linear, connect Linear in Settings > Linear and click Use a Linear project on the project’s Tickets page.

Still stuck? Get help

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