IBM Bob

Install IBM Bob before setup. The integration key is bob; no separate CLI is required.

Multi-Install Safety

This integration is not declared multi-install safe. See the shared multi-install rules.

Setup

specify init my-project --integration bob

For an existing Spec Kit project, use specify integration install bob. See integration management for activation, upgrades, and removal.

Default Skills Layout

Skills are installed as .bob/skills/speckit-<command>/SKILL.md. Bob's skills are intent-activated: ask Bob to use the speckit-specify skill, or speckit-bug-assess for the installed bug extension. Spec Kit renders /speckit-<command> references for skills-mode command dispatch, but that does not mean each skill is a separately registered IDE slash command.

Legacy Commands and Migration

Pass --integration-options="--legacy-commands" to scaffold the deprecated Bob 1.x layout (.bob/commands/*.md) instead. This flag will be removed in a future release.

Existing legacy installations can migrate with:

specify integration upgrade bob --integration-options="--skills"

This converts the installation to the skills layout and removes the old command files. If preset overrides are installed, migration is rejected because preset artifacts cannot yet be reconciled across a layout change. Remove the presets, migrate, then reinstall them.

--skills and --legacy-commands are mutually exclusive. Without an explicit selector, managed legacy command files keep an existing installation in legacy mode unless managed Spec Kit skills are present. Merely creating an unrelated .bob/skills/ directory does not migrate it. Legacy command references retain the dotted /speckit.<command> form.

Workflow Permissions

Workflow dispatch additionally requires the bob CLI, even though IDE setup does not. It uses bob run --trust --accept-license with a positional prompt, selecting -f pretty for streamed output or -f json for captured output. The trust and license flags apply to this non-interactive invocation.

The adapter does not forward the workflow model setting; Bob selects its model through session.model in its own settings.