Spectacular is a free open-source functional specification builder.
Spectacular puts the functional specification back at the center of software development. It replaces tickets and conversations with a single, living source of truth that is clear enough for humans and structured enough for AI. Even after launch, changes are integrated into the specification ready for the code to follow.
- Maintain the specification as change requests come in
- Estimate effort and track progress
- Document ambiguities and highlight blockers
- Effortlessly export to Markdown and HTML
- More export formats
- Dark mode for working late
- External documentation
- Browsable changelog (changes are already being stored!)
- Versioning, including a comparison tool
- Presence indicators and live updates
- Obligatory AI integration
- Desktop app
Tip
Skip setup, updates, and backups with Spectacular Cloud.
Spectacular is installed and configured like any other Laravel application.
git clone https://github.com/syntheticminds/spectacular.git
cd spectacular
composer setup
php artisan serveTo upgrade, simply grab the latest code and run composer setup again.
If you don't have PHP available, you can run the app with Docker. Once ready, you'll find Spectacular running at http://localhost:8000.
docker compose up --buildUpgrades are simple too - just grab the latest code and rebuild the container. The database will be preserved.
Spectacular defaults to a standalone solo mode so you can get started immediately. If you're self hosting, you probably want to enable the authentication and collaboration features. To do this, simply remove SPECTACULAR_MODE=solo from the .env file.
Thank you for considering contributing to Spectacular!
Spectacular has been designed with simplicity in mind so you can customise it for your own needs. If you've made something you think everyone could benefit from, please consider sharing it back.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.
If you discover a security vulnerability within Spectacular, please send an e-mail to Matthew White via [email protected]. All security vulnerabilities will be promptly addressed.
Spectacular - an open-source functional specification manager
Copyright (C) 2026 Matthew White
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.