---
title: "Comment by Dmitry Yurkin on \"How much specification does an agent need?\" | Hashnode"
description: "I'd scope the spec to the behavior being changed and the contracts it must preserve. In your caching example, a rule such as \"reads may be 30 seconds stale, but"
url: "https://hashnode.com/posts/how-much-specification-does-an-agent-need/6aa46924a9b5f506090a6413/comment/6adb4bdf5ae06650eaeec2bb"
---

[Discussion](https://hashnode.com/posts/how-much-specification-does-an-agent-need/6aa46924a9b5f506090a6413)

Comment [How much specification does an agent need?](https://hashnode.com/posts/how-much-specification-does-an-agent-need/6aa46924a9b5f506090a6413)

[Dmitry Yurkin](https://hashnode.com/@dmitry-yurkin)

[Oct 23](https://hashnode.com/posts/how-much-specification-does-an-agent-need/6aa46924a9b5f506090a6413/comment/6adb4bdf5ae06650eaeec2bb)

I'd scope the spec to the behavior being changed and the contracts it must preserve. In your caching example, a rule such as "reads may be 30 seconds stale, but a successful write invalidates the entry" gives the agent a boundary while leaving implementation choices open. Decisions that change those boundaries need review and a corresponding specification update.

In Reqode, we've made the change itself the handoff: a Change Request groups affected specification revisions, and the coding agent retrieves the relevant context through MCP. The task can stay short because it points to the agreed specifications.

[Arvind Menon](https://hashnode.com/@arvindand)

[Oct 31](https://hashnode.com/posts/how-much-specification-does-an-agent-need/6aa46924a9b5f506090a6413/comment/6adb4bdf5ae06650eaeec2bb#reply-6ae664a2fb66ed37b336da7f)

Makes sense! Stating the boundary (how stale, what invalidates it) and leaving the mechanism open is roughly where I’d want the spec to stop. Anything that moves the boundary then needs a discussion and a spec update.

Grouping the spec revisions under the change makes sense to me, as long as the reasoning also ends up with the system’s documentation.