# Spec mode

> Agree what done means before anything changes: the agent proposes a spec, you accept, change or discard it, and only then does the work start.

For a request with more than one moving part, ask for a spec first. The agent reads the code and answers with what you will see when it is done, how each part will be checked and the decisions that are yours - and changes nothing until you accept.

## Ask for a spec

1. Write the request as usual.
2. Hold **Send** for a moment (or right-click it, or press the up arrow while it is focused) and switch on **Spec mode**.
3. Press **Send**. Spec mode switches itself off after each message.

:::prompt
Let customers pause their subscription for up to three months from the billing page, and email them a week before it restarts.
:::

## Read the proposal

![A spec proposed in Spec mode, waiting for you.](https://iterada.com/docs/shots/spec-proposal.png)

The proposal stands in the conversation:

- The outcome, in one sentence.
- **Requirements**: what you will be able to see or do, each one checkable.
- **Your decisions**: choices the agent will not make for you. Press **Keep** to accept its suggestion or **Change** to say what you want instead. Pressing again takes the answer back, and nothing is saved until you press a button below.
- **Technical considerations**, when there are trade-offs you should know about, and **Recorded decisions**, the smaller choices the agent made and noted.

## Accept, change or discard

- **Accept and implement** starts the work on exactly this spec, with every decision you kept.
- **Change** takes you to the message box, with a line for each decision you marked **Change**, to say what should be different; the agent sends a new version.
- **Discard** drops it, and nothing was changed.

## After you accept

The agent marks each requirement as it goes, with the evidence: the test that ran, or a screenshot of the screen. A requirement reads Verified, Differs, Failed or Not checked, and each piece of evidence says who produced it: Iterada ran it (your project's tests or product tests), a second agent checked it, or the agent reports it. A requirement with no evidence reads as Not checked, whatever the agent says, and only a check Iterada ran and saw fail reads as Failed.

In a session that began with Spec mode, a turn that changes the spec - a requirement added or reworded, a decision, a completion mark - shows a Spec note in the conversation with only what moved. A turn that changes nothing in it stays quiet. **Verification** on the note opens the evidence behind the marks.

Open the spec any time from the Spec label under the session's name, or from the session's menu on a phone; its earlier versions are listed there too. An agent can also write a spec on an ordinary request, when it wants your approval of the scope; it then stands in full beside its reply, the same way.

:::tip
Iterada suggests Spec mode by itself when a request looks substantial, among the **Suggested changes** before you send ([Ask for a change](https://iterada.com/docs/ask-for-a-change#choose-who-does-it)). The suggestion is never ticked for you.
:::