fission-ai__openspec/openspec/changes/archive/2025-08-19-add-interactive-show-command/proposal.md

Why

Users frequently need to view changes and specs but must know in advance whether they're looking at a change or spec. The current subcommand structure (change show, spec show) creates friction when:

• Users want to quickly view an item without remembering its type
• Exploring the codebase requires switching between different show commands
• Show commands without arguments return errors instead of helpful guidance

What Changes

• Add new top-level show command for displaying changes or specs with intelligent selection
• Support direct item display: openspec show <item> with automatic type detection
• Interactive selection when no arguments provided
• Enhance existing change show and spec show to support interactive selection (backwards compatibility)
• Maintain all existing format options (--json, --deltas-only, --requirements, etc.)

Impact

• New specs to create: cli-show
• Specs to enhance: cli-change, cli-spec (for backwards compatibility)
• Affected code: src/cli/index.ts, src/commands/show.ts (new), src/commands/spec.ts, src/commands/change.ts