xspec ids and show: Inspect Requirements

Reference for xspec ids (list all requirement IDs with optional tree view) and xspec show (print full node detail including hashes, edges, and text).

ids and show are your primary human-readable inspection commands. Use ids to navigate the full set of requirement identifiers in your workspace, and show to examine every attribute of a single node in detail.

xspec ids

ids prints every requirement ID in your workspace. Without flags it produces a flat, sorted list; with --tree it renders the hierarchy.

xspec ids [--tree] [--file <glob>] [--unreferenced]

Flags

--tree · flag

Render IDs as a nested tree that reflects the containment hierarchy of your spec files.

--file · glob

Restrict output to nodes defined in files whose workspace-relative paths match the given glob pattern.

--unreferenced · flag

Show only nodes that have no incoming dependency edges. Containment edges (contains) are not counted — a node is considered unreferenced only if nothing declares a depends, embeds, or references edge pointing to it.

Tree output example

$ xspec ids --tree
specs/AUTH.mdx
  auth
    auth.login
      auth.login.valid
      auth.login.invalid
    auth.lockout

Flat output example

$ xspec ids
auth
auth.login
auth.login.invalid
auth.login.valid
auth.lockout

JSON output

Pass --json to receive a JSON array of identity strings, suitable for piping into other tools.

$ xspec ids --json
["auth","auth.login","auth.login.invalid","auth.login.valid","auth.lockout"]

xspec show

show prints the complete record for a single node: its identity, source byte range, tags, coverage attribute, all four content hashes, every incoming and outgoing edge grouped by kind, the node’s own text, and its full subtree text.

xspec show <node>

<node> is either path#id for a specific node, or a bare path to refer to the file root node.

Output example

$ xspec show "specs/AUTH.mdx#auth.login.valid"
specs/AUTH.mdx#auth.login.valid
source range: bytes 104-202
tags: happy-path
coverage: required
hashes:
  ownHash: b235263b…
  subtreeHash: bc3ccfe3…
  effectiveHash: 08b71bba…
  metadataHash: d2d935c3…
edges:
  incoming:
    contains from specs/AUTH.mdx#auth.login
    references from src/auth.ts#login
    embeds from test/auth.test.ts#testValidLogin
    references from test/auth.test.ts#testValidLogin
  outgoing:
own text:
  A user submitting valid credentials is signed in.
subtree text:
  A user submitting valid credentials is signed in.

Hash meanings

Hash	What it covers
ownHash	The node’s own text and metadata, excluding descendants
subtreeHash	The node and all descendants
effectiveHash	The subtree hash plus all transitively depended-on content
metadataHash	Tags, coverage attribute, and structural position

show vs query node

xspec show and xspec query node return the same information. show is formatted for human reading; query node always emits JSON. Use show when you are working interactively at the terminal and query node when you need machine-readable output for scripts or CI tooling.