Quick start guide for the Tessl Spec Registry

Install Tessl

Follow the Installation steps. You can ignore the authentication step. It is not needed to use the Spec Registry. To confirm Tessl is installed, type tessl in the command line. Once you've done this, create a new directory for your project and navigate to it. We'll use quickstart for this example, and will refer to it as the root directory.

    cd quickstart

Initialize Tessl project

Next, run the following command to set up tessl in your project.

tessl init

You will now be able to install usage specs in your project.

Set up agent integration (recommended)

If you plan to use Tessl with an AI agent, you can set up the integration now:

tessl setup agent

You'll be asked if you want to automatically configure the MCP server for your preferred agent. This step is optional, but recommended for the best experience using Tessl.

Your agent should connect to the MCP server once it's initialized.

If your agent isn't listed, or if your agent doesn't pick up the server when initialized, you may need to configure the MCP server manually. Refer to your agent's documentation for precise instructions. Run tessl setup mcp --client other to print the raw configuration:

{
  "tessl": {
    "type": "stdio",
    "command": "tessl",
    "args": ["mcp"]
  }
}

Search and install a usage spec

Search for an open source library usage spec, and once you've found it in the Spec Registry, go ahead and install it. In our example, we'll search for express.js and select the version tessl/npm-express 4.21.2

Agent

Tessl CLI

Copy

Search for a usage spec for Express.js in the Spec Registry and install it.

Copy

tessl registry search express

Now you have your first spec installed in .tessl/usage-specs/

Next steps

You now have your first usage spec installed on your local file system to guide your agent. Now you can build with your agents more effectively.

If you have access to the full Tessl Framework, try our framework quickstart to build a new application with a spec-driven approach.