OpenSpec adds Node-free binaries and a preview before instruction updates

OpenSpec has added a standalone distribution that runs without Node.js, alongside a preview of changes to its generated AI instructions. Version 1.15.0 was published as a stable release at 00:50:05 UTC on October 24. The release includes eight platform binaries and a SHA256SUMS file, according to its public GitHub assets.

The tool organizes proposals, requirements, designs and task lists in folders for individual changes. Its README illustrates a user reviewing a plan before an AI coding assistant implements it. Those planning artifacts and the assistant workflow already existed. The new distribution changes how the CLI runs; development work still takes place inside a supported coding tool.

Binaries cover Apple silicon and Intel Macs, x64 and arm64 Windows machines, and both Linux architectures with separate glibc and musl builds. The installer selects the matching file and checks its release checksum. During an incomplete release upload, it selects the previous release with all its files attached and reports that choice.

The documented minimums are macOS 13, Windows 10, glibc 2.17 or Alpine 3.17. Alpine also needs C++ runtime libraries. The npm distribution remains available and requires Node.js 20.19.0 or newer. Switching to the standalone edition is optional: existing settings and projects carry over, without another initialization.

The openspec install command installs the standalone copy and prints a removal command for the previous package-manager installation. It does not remove that copy itself. An older executable earlier on the command search path can therefore remain the one being used. From a standalone installation, the command replaces the executable in its existing location under its existing name.

The separate openspec update command refreshes generated instructions and command files. Its new --dry-run option plans a non-interactive refresh without writing files, checking for a CLI upgrade or asking questions. Adding --json produces a structured plan; combining it with --force previews a forced refresh of the configured tools.

The plan separates changed paths and their owning tools from migration notes and tool failures. The implementation tracks earlier proposed operations in memory, then compares final contents with the original disk state. Identical rewrites and newly created files subsequently removed do not count as changes. A permission failure stops planning for that tool while other tools remain in the report.

The release also updates verification guidance that confused a removed requirement with a similarly named replacement. Pull request #2114 requires an exact normalized name, with Git history supplying a missing baseline. This changes the instructions an agent reads; its author explicitly says the reproduction was not rerun with a live agent.