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docs: add guide for handling complex features#3004

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docs: add guide for handling complex features#3004
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mnriem/docs-handling-complex-features

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@mnriem

@mnriem mnriem commented Jun 16, 2026

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Summary

Adds a Concepts documentation page describing strategies for handling large or complex features, where context window exhaustion degrades agent performance during /speckit.implement.

This transfers the guideline Manfred shared in discussion #2914 into the docs, as requested in the issue.

Changes

  • New page docs/concepts/complex-features.md covering:
    • Why context exhaustion degrades agents mid-implementation
    • Option 1: Limit tasks/phases per run (resumes via [X] markers in tasks.md)
    • Option 2: Delegate [P] tasks to sub-agents for focused context
    • Option 3: Combine scoping + delegation
    • Option 4: Decompose into smaller specs ("spec of specs")
    • A "Which approach to choose" guideline table
  • Registered the page in docs/toc.yml under the Concepts section

Closes #2986

Add a Concepts page documenting strategies for dealing with large or
complex features where context window exhaustion degrades agent
performance during implementation. Covers limiting tasks per run,
sub-agent delegation, combining both, and decomposing into smaller
specs, with a guideline table for choosing an approach.

Closes #2986

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings June 16, 2026 15:25

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Pull request overview

Adds a new Concepts documentation page that explains practical strategies for implementing large/complex features when agent context windows become saturated, and links the page from the documentation table of contents.

Changes:

  • Added docs/concepts/complex-features.md describing four approaches to keep /speckit.implement runs within context limits (scoping, delegation, hybrid, and decomposition).
  • Registered the new Concepts page in docs/toc.yml so it appears in the site navigation.
Show a summary per file
File Description
docs/toc.yml Adds the new “Handling Complex Features” page under the Concepts section.
docs/concepts/complex-features.md New guide page documenting strategies to avoid context exhaustion during long implementations.

Copilot's findings

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  • Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
  • Comments generated: 2

Comment thread docs/concepts/complex-features.md
Comment thread docs/concepts/complex-features.md
Use task IDs (T001-T010) instead of bare numbers to match the tasks.md
template format, and add the combined scoping + delegation approach to
the selection table for completeness.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@mnriem

mnriem commented Jun 16, 2026

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Addressed both review comments in 0cd4e0b:

  • Changed the task-range example to use task IDs (T001-T010) to match the tasks.md template format.
  • Added the combined scoping + delegation approach (Option 3) to the "Which Approach to Choose" table for completeness.

Posted on behalf of @mnriem by GitHub Copilot (model: Claude Opus 4.8).

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Copilot's findings

  • Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
  • Comments generated: 3

Comment on lines +14 to +16
The `implement` command accepts free-form user input that the agent is required
to honor before proceeding. This means you can scope each run without any
tooling changes.
Comment on lines +20 to +21
Instead of letting implement run through every task at once, tell it to stop
early:
Comment on lines +39 to +40
If your coding agent supports sub-agents (for example, Copilot CLI or VS Code
Copilot), you can instruct implement to delegate individual tasks:
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[Feature]: Add documentation how to handle complex features

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