Plan a project

Every project starts as a spec you write with Claude Code. The crew builds from it, so the time you put in here is the time you save later. Start the crew first with tares factory crew up, so it picks the project up as soon as you hand it over.

Start the spec

In the repo the project builds on, or a folder that holds its repos:

tares factory spec "what you want to build"

This opens Claude Code with /tares:spec. In a session that already has the Tares plugin, type /tares:spec yourself. New project in the console gives you the same command, with what you want to build filled in.

What the spec session does

1. Reads what is already decided. The AGENTS.md and memory every project shares, and the repos the project touches.
2. Interviews you, one question at a time. Each question comes with a recommended answer, so you can just say yes. It covers the goal, what is in and out of scope, the repos, how you will know it works, and how it ships.
3. Removes the unknowns. It researches what it is unsure of, proves a risky idea with a throwaway prototype, and shows a mock for a screen before planning around it.
4. Plans in milestones. Each milestone ships something you can check, with acceptance checks. Each ticket is one pull request in one repo, an hour or two of work.
5. Has a second model attack the plan. A different model looks for vague steps, oversized tickets, checks that cannot fail and missing build steps. You see what changed and why.
6. Asks where the tickets live: Tares, Linear or GitHub Issues. Where tickets live
7. Writes the project into Tares. The spec, the plan, the project’s AGENTS.md, the milestones with their checks, the tickets with a working doc each, and a starting prompt for every session that builds it.

Start now or keep it for later

At the end, the session asks whether to start the project now.

• Now: it hands the project to the crew, and the orchestrator starts the builders. If the crew is not running, start it with tares factory crew up and it picks the project up.
• Later: the project leaves your home and waits under Later on the Projects page. Choose Start now on its page when you are ready.

To build it yourself instead, start a session on it with tares factory session <project>. Build in one session

Milestone checks

When the last ticket of a milestone merges, the crew runs the milestone’s acceptance checks itself and records each one. A failing check becomes the crew’s work.

The spec can also mark a check for a person, for something you need to see or try, such as a screen. Only those reach you, on your home under Milestone to check, each with Works or Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong opens a fix ticket in the milestone with your words.

When a repo belongs to someone else

On a team, the spec knows who owns each repo. When a question depends on how another person’s repo works, it asks that owner instead of guessing, and carries on with what does not depend on the answer. Each ticket is assigned to the owner of its repo. The project is ready to start once every question is answered.

The owner answers from their own machine:

tares factory spec "<project>"

Teams has the details.