Tutorials
SPARC 1.0 turns a methodology into an enforced state machine
SPARC was a way of working: specification, pseudocode, architecture, refinement, completion. Version 1.0 makes the five phases executable in TypeScript with deterministic gates, signed receipts, npm skills and both local and remote MCP transports.
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What SPARC is
SPARC is an evidence gated engineering method. The difference in version 1.0 is that the five phases are enforced by code rather than suggested by a prompt: you cannot advance without passing the gate.
What changed
The August work packaged registered ChatGPT plugin apps and, immediately before it, shipped the deterministic SPARC metaharness and MCP plugins. Version 1.0 adds the TypeScript state machine, an npm CLI, local and remote MCP transports, shared Claude and OpenAI skills, principal isolation, exact idempotency and tamper evident receipts.
The established Python CLI stays available as a compatibility surface.
Get started
Node.js. Check the environment, then initialise:
npx --yes @ruvnet/sparc@1.0.0 doctor
npx --yes @ruvnet/sparc@1.0.0 initExpected result: a doctor report and an initialised SPARC state store in the project.
Install the skills for your host:
npx --yes @ruvnet/sparc@1.0.0 skills install --host both --target .Claude skills land in .claude/skills; Codex and ChatGPT Work skills land in .agents/skills.
npx --yes @ruvnet/sparc@1.0.0 mcp stdioInstalling a skill does not register an MCP server. The skill's JSON result names the exact launcher to register; do that explicitly, or the skill will have guidance but no tools.
Use it today
Practical case: a change that must not skip review. Start a run, submit the phase artefact, run the gate, advance only if it passes.
npx --yes @ruvnet/sparc@1.0.0 gate --run-id change-001Acceptance test: try to advance a run whose gate failed. The state machine should refuse, and the refusal should be recorded in the receipt.
Push it further
Experimental commentary. Signed evidence makes agent work auditable in a way review comments never were. The dependency is key management: the attestation is only as meaningful as the verifier key map you configure in every process.
Falsifiable test: submit evidence signed with an unconfigured key. It should be rejected rather than quietly accepted.