Quick start

This walks through the whole loop: set up a repository, write a requirement, prove it with a test, and watch it go Suspect when it changes.

1. Initialise

In a git repository:

rqtk init

This creates .rqtk/config.toml with a starter policy, named after your project. Add --agents to also install the agent skills, --hook for a pre-commit hook that lints before every commit, and --example for an example stakeholder and need. Everything except history (impact, diff, log, baseline) works outside a git repository too.

2. Add a requirement

rqtk add --category SYS --type Functional \
  --title "Fast boot" \
  --statement "The system shall boot in under 5 seconds." \
  --rationale "Operators restart the unit during a pass." \
  --criteria "Boot completes in under 5 s on reference hardware." \
  --activity "Boot time test"

rqtk assigns the next free ID (here REQ-SYS-0001) and writes .rqtk/requirements/SYS/REQ-SYS-0001.toml, with a verification activity VA-SYS-0001-01:

[verification]
method = "Test"
level = "Unit"
phase = "Development"
success_criteria = "Boot completes in under 5 s on reference hardware."

[[verification.activities]]
id = "VA-SYS-0001-01"
name = "Boot time test"

--parent and --satisfies link it to the requirement it derives from and the need it serves; rqtk add-activity adds more activities later. Then check it:

rqtk lint

3. Link a test

Put the activity ID above the test that proves it:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// rqtk: verifies VA-SYS-0001-01
#[test]
fn boots_in_under_five_seconds() {
    // …
}
}

rqtk scan lists every link it finds, and the test each one is attached to.

4. Record the results

Run your tests with JUnit output, then hand the report to rqtk:

cargo nextest run          # writes target/nextest/default/junit.xml
rqtk verify --results target/nextest/default/junit.xml
rqtk coverage

The requirement is now Verified, and .rqtk/evidence.toml records which test passed, at which commit, against which version of the requirement. Commit it with the code.

5. Change the requirement

Tighten the statement to “under 3 seconds” and run rqtk coverage again. The requirement is now Suspect: its tests passed for the old wording, and nothing has proven the new one.

Rerunning the same test doesn’t settle it: it passed for 5 seconds and says nothing about 3. Update the test for the new limit, run it, and rqtk verify again. (If a test already checks the new wording, record that with rqtk review REQ-SYS-0001 --note "…".)

rqtk coverage --strict exits 1 until every requirement is Verified, so it works as a CI gate.