Specs

Specs are editable proposals that turn product signals into shared intent. They record what should change, why it matters, the current decision state, and the discussion around it.

Create a spec

Organization members can create a spec directly from Specs → New spec, or select Create spec from a Forage item.

Every spec belongs to a project. A spec can also link to any domains associated with that project.

Provide:

• A title that states the proposed outcome.
• A Markdown body with the context, decision, and important constraints.
• A status that reflects where the proposal is in its lifecycle.
• Optional domains that help people discover related work.

Use statuses consistently

Hive supports these statuses:

• Draft while the proposal is still being shaped.
• Proposed when it is ready for a decision.
• Approved when the direction has been accepted.
• In progress while implementation is underway.
• Shipped when the outcome is available to users.
• Paused, Rejected, and Archived when work is no longer moving through the active path.

The status should describe the proposal, not an individual implementation task.

Review revisions and comments

Every saved edit creates a revision in Draft history. Readers can see who edited the spec, when it changed, and a summary of the change.

Signed-in users can comment on visible specs. Comment authors can edit or delete their own comments, and each comment has a stable link for sharing review context.

An organization member can select Ask for review once the instance has a way to deliver it. Followers receive the request by email, and Hive also posts the latest proposal and focused review prompts when Slack notifications are configured. With neither email nor Slack set up, Hive declines the request and says so instead of recording a review nobody would hear about.

Understand visibility

A spec inherits its project's visibility by default. A spec in a public project can be narrowed to private. A spec in a private project cannot be made public.

Private specs are visible only to organization members and administrators. Their content is excluded from public feeds and Slack link previews.

Subscribe

The Specs page exposes Atom 1.0 and Really Simple Syndication feeds for visible specs. See the feed reference for details.

Signed-in users can select Follow on a spec to receive its edits, comments, and review requests by email. Creating or commenting on a spec follows it automatically. Followers of a source Forage item also follow a spec created from it when they are allowed to view that spec.

Open Account → Notifications to choose immediate delivery, a daily summary, or to unfollow. The same page can subscribe to every new spec visible to the account.

Every message carries an unsubscribe link. On a message about a single spec it stops that one spec and leaves the rest of your follows in place, and the confirmation page also offers to stop spec updates altogether. A daily summary covers several specs at once, so its link stops the whole category.