fix(scripts): prioritize .specify over git for repo root detection

[mbachorik]

Summary

• Fixes bug where spec-kit uses parent git repo instead of .specify directory as root
• Adds find_specify_root() / Find-SpecifyRoot functions to search upward for .specify directory
• Updates get_repo_root() / Get-RepoRoot to check .specify first, then fall back to git
• Updates has_git() / Test-HasGit to verify git exists at the spec-kit root level (not parent)

Problem

When spec-kit is initialized in a subdirectory that doesn't have its own .git, but a parent directory does, git rev-parse --show-toplevel finds the parent's git repo and uses that as root. This causes specs to be created in the wrong location.

Example:

• Parent /work/ has .git
• Child /work/my-project/ has .specify (spec-kit initialized here)
• Before: specs created in /work/specs/ (wrong)
• After: specs created in /work/my-project/specs/ (correct)

Test plan

• Verified bash syntax with bash -n
• Verified PowerShell syntax with parser
• Tested: child with .specify, parent with .git → returns child
• Tested: project with both .specify and .git → returns project, has_git=true
• Tested: only .git, no .specify → falls back to git correctly
• Tested: deeply nested .specify → found correctly
• Tested: .specify in parent, working in child → finds parent .specify
• Tested: .specify as file (not directory) → correctly ignored

Fixes #1932

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes repo-root detection in the bash and PowerShell helper scripts by prioritizing the presence of a .specify directory over git rev-parse, preventing spec-kit from mistakenly using a parent Git repo as the project root in nested-directory setups.

Changes:

• Added upward-search helpers (find_specify_root / Find-SpecifyRoot) to locate the nearest .specify directory.
• Updated root resolution (get_repo_root / Get-RepoRoot) to prefer .specify, then fall back to Git, then script location.
• Updated Git-availability checks (has_git / Test-HasGit) to be root-scoped instead of inheriting parent Git repos.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

File	Description
scripts/powershell/common.ps1	Adds .specify-first root discovery and updates Get-RepoRoot/Test-HasGit behavior.
scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1	Switches root detection + git detection to rely on shared common.ps1 functions.
scripts/bash/common.sh	Adds .specify-first root discovery and updates get_repo_root/has_git behavior.
scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh	Switches root detection + git detection to rely on shared common.sh functions.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

scripts/powershell/common.ps1:111

• Test-HasGit correctly scopes git detection to the spec-kit root, but Get-CurrentBranch still runs git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD from the current working directory. In a .specify project nested under a parent git repo, that git call can succeed (via the parent) even though Test-HasGit returns false, which bypasses the non-git fallback (scanning specs/) and yields the wrong branch name. Consider updating Get-CurrentBranch to only call git when Test-HasGit is true, and run it as git -C $repoRoot ... using Get-RepoRoot.

# Check if we have git available at the spec-kit root level
# Returns true only if git is installed and the repo root is inside a git work tree
# Handles both regular repos (.git directory) and worktrees/submodules (.git file)
function Test-HasGit {
    $repoRoot = Get-RepoRoot
    # First check if git command is available
    if (-not (Get-Command git -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
        return $false
    }
    # Check if .git exists (directory or file for worktrees/submodules)
    if (-not (Test-Path (Join-Path $repoRoot ".git"))) {
        return $false
    }
    # Verify it's actually a valid git work tree
    try {
        $null = git -C $repoRoot rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>$null
        return ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)
    } catch {
        return $false
    }
}

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

scripts/powershell/common.ps1:72

• In Get-CurrentBranch, Test-Path $specsDir can interpret wildcard characters in $repoRoot/$specsDir as globs, which can break branch fallback logic for repos located in paths containing [, ], *, or ? (the same edge case Find-SpecifyRoot was updated to handle). Prefer Test-Path -LiteralPath $specsDir -PathType Container (and consider using Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath too for consistency).

    # For non-git repos, try to find the latest feature directory
    $specsDir = Join-Path $repoRoot "specs"
    
    if (Test-Path $specsDir) {
        $latestFeature = ""

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Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1:126

• Set-Location $repoRoot uses the -Path parameter positionally, which means PowerShell can interpret wildcard characters (e.g. [, ], *, ?) in $repoRoot. Since this PR explicitly adds -LiteralPath handling for root detection, switching to Set-Location -LiteralPath $repoRoot (and similarly using -LiteralPath for subsequent filesystem ops rooted at $repoRoot) would prevent misnavigation when the repo lives under a path containing wildcard characters.

Set-Location $repoRoot

$specsDir = Join-Path $repoRoot 'specs'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $specsDir -Force | Out-Null

scripts/powershell/common.ps1:76

• In Get-CurrentBranch, $specsDir can contain wildcard characters if the repo path contains [, ], *, or ?. Using Test-Path $specsDir and Get-ChildItem -Path $specsDir will treat those as globs and may fail to detect an existing specs directory. Consider using Test-Path -LiteralPath $specsDir and Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $specsDir to be consistent with the new literal-path handling in Find-SpecifyRoot / Test-HasGit.

    $specsDir = Join-Path $repoRoot "specs"
    
    if (Test-Path $specsDir) {
        $latestFeature = ""
        $highest = 0
        
        Get-ChildItem -Path $specsDir -Directory | ForEach-Object {
            if ($_.Name -match '^(\d{3})-') {

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[mbachorik]

A small fix of annoying edge case.