Tombstone a drafted or in-flight spec. Sets status to `cancelled`; the file stays in place for audit. Refuses on shipped or already-cancelled specs. Invoked as /shipwrights-spec-cancel <S-id>.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: shipwrights-spec-cancel
description: Tombstone a drafted or in-flight spec. Sets status to `cancelled`; the file stays in place for audit. Refuses on shipped or already-cancelled specs. Invoked as /shipwrights-spec-cancel <S-id>.
---
# /shipwrights-spec-cancel — abandon a spec
Use this when:
- The drafted spec is wrong-direction and revising won't fix it
- Priorities changed and the work isn't needed anymore
- The spec was created by mistake
## What you do
1. Validate spec exists.
2. Refuse if `status` is `shipped` or already `cancelled` (terminal states).
3. Flip frontmatter to `status: cancelled`.
4. Commit: `chore(spec): cancel <id>`.
5. If the spec was past `approved`, note that scratch branches may exist (`<feature>--backend`, `--frontend`, `--qa`) and need manual cleanup.
## Hard rules
- The file is **not deleted**. It stays as an audit trail.
- After `cancel`, the orchestrator (`/shipwrights-spec`, `/shipwrights-spec-approve`, `-revise`) refuses to act on this id.
- Cancelling mid-build leaves scratch branches; the user cleans them up.
## Output
```
✓ Spec <id> cancelled.
The file stays in place as an audit trail.
```
If past `approved`:
```
Note: status was "<previous-status>" — scratch branches may still exist.
Clean them up manually with: git branch | grep -- '--' | xargs git branch -D
```
CLI implementation: `lib/commands/spec-cancel.mjs`.
