---
title: Unified Bolt Flow
description: specsmd v2 — intents, work items, and dynamic bolts under docs/specsmd
---

The **unified bolt flow** is specsmd v2: one skills-native flow for shaping work as intents and work items, then executing it in **bolts** that run data-defined **recipes** under a **ceremony dial**.

Specifications are the source of truth. Code is derived from them.

:::info
These pages document **v2**. Legacy AI-DLC, FIRE, Ideation, and Simple docs stay at their original URLs. Switch versions from the version menu, or open the [legacy documentation home](/).
:::

## Start here

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="play" href="/v2/quickstart">
    Install the plugin, capture an intent, complete a first bolt
  </Card>
  <Card title="Coming from v1" icon="map" href="/v2/coming-from-v1">
    Terminology mapping for AI-DLC and FIRE. Orientation only — no migration tooling
  </Card>
  <Card title="Concepts" icon="box" href="/v2/concepts">
    Bolt, recipe, ceremony dial, lenses, nlspec, memory model
  </Card>
  <Card title="Manual install" icon="folder-open" href="/v2/manual-install">
    Copy skills into a tool that has no plugin marketplace
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What you get

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Intent → work item → bolt" icon="layers">
    Capture an outcome, slice it into behavioral work items, execute when you are ready. Draft bolts are optional.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Recipes, not bolt types" icon="book">
    `default`, `ddd`, `spike`, and `simple` are data files. Add a project-local recipe by adding a file.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Ceremony dial" icon="sliders-horizontal">
    Complexity × autonomy bias → `autopilot`, `confirm`, or `validate`. Your choice at bolt start always wins.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Recommend, don't enforce" icon="message-square">
    Skills never force a sequence. Scripts refuse illegal state changes only — missing evidence, unmet gating criteria.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    I(Intent):::design --> W(Work items):::plan --> B(Bolt):::build --> D(Complete):::done
    classDef design fill:#fff,stroke:#A855F7,color:#7E22CE,stroke-width:1.5px,rx:8,ry:8
    classDef plan fill:#fff,stroke:#6366F1,color:#4338CA,stroke-width:1.5px,rx:8,ry:8
    classDef build fill:#fff,stroke:#0EA5E9,color:#0369A1,stroke-width:1.5px,rx:8,ry:8
    classDef done fill:#fff,stroke:#10B981,color:#047857,stroke-width:1.5px,rx:8,ry:8
```

## Reference

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Recipe reference" icon="list" href="/v2/recipes">
    Shipped stages, gates, constraints, and how to add your own
  </Card>
  <Card title="Skills reference" icon="sparkles" href="/v2/skills">
    Every skill, when to invoke it, and what it writes
  </Card>
  <Card title="Writing nlspecs" icon="pen" href="/v2/nlspec">
    Observable behavior, Definition of Done, no mechanism
  </Card>
  <Card title="Legacy home" icon="rotate-ccw" href="/">
    AI-DLC, FIRE, Ideation, and Simple — unchanged URLs
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Install in one step

v2 ships as the **`specsmd`** plugin. There is no v2 npm CLI. One marketplace install is the complete flow.

```text
/plugin install specsmd@specsmd
```

See the [quickstart](/v2/quickstart) for marketplace setup, or the [manual install path](/v2/manual-install) if your tool has no plugin marketplace.