openspec show

Shows detailed information about a change or specification.

Usage

openspec show [item] [options]

Arguments

Argument	Description
item	Change or spec name (optional - interactive if omitted)

Options

Option	Description
--type <type>	Force type: change or spec
--json	Machine-readable output
--deltas-only	Show only delta specs (changes)
-r <num>	Show specific requirement by index

Interactive Mode

Without arguments, shows a selection menu:

$ openspec show

? Select item to show:
❯ add-user-auth (change)
  update-schema (change)
  cli-init (spec)
  user-auth (spec)

Change Output

$ openspec show add-user-auth

═══════════════════════════════════════════════
 add-user-auth
═══════════════════════════════════════════════

PROPOSAL
────────────────────────────────────────────────
## Why
Add user authentication to secure API endpoints.

## What Changes
- Add JWT-based authentication
- Implement login/logout endpoints

TASKS
────────────────────────────────────────────────
## 1. Backend
- [x] 1.1 Add auth middleware
- [ ] 1.2 Implement login endpoint

SPEC DELTAS
────────────────────────────────────────────────
specs/user-auth/spec.md:
  + 2 added requirements

Spec Output

$ openspec show cli-init --type spec

═══════════════════════════════════════════════
 cli-init
═══════════════════════════════════════════════

## Purpose
Initialize OpenSpec in a project.

## Requirements

### Requirement: Directory Creation
The command SHALL create the OpenSpec directory structure.

#### Scenario: Creating structure
- WHEN openspec init is executed
- THEN create openspec/ with required subdirectories

JSON Output

$ openspec show add-user-auth --json --deltas-only

{
  "name": "add-user-auth",
  "deltas": [
    {
      "spec": "user-auth",
      "added": 2,
      "modified": 0,
      "removed": 0
    }
  ]
}

Examples

View change proposal

openspec show my-change

View specific spec

openspec show auth --type spec

Debug delta parsing

openspec show my-change --json --deltas-only | jq '.deltas'

View specific requirement

openspec show cli-init --type spec -r 1

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Item not found