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Coverage in xspec is not a matter of labeling requirements as “done” — it is a graph reachability question. A requirement is covered when a path exists in the dependency graph from a boundary node (typically a test or implementation) to that requirement. This approach means your coverage report is always derived from the actual relationships between code and specs, not from manually maintained metadata.

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Coverage Profiles

You define coverage rules as profiles in xspec.config.ts. Each profile specifies four things: A typical profile named tested might declare that every leaf requirement in your specs/ group must be reachable from a node in your test/ code group via any edge kind transitively.

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Building the Required Set

Not every node in the target group ends up in the required set. xspec applies these filters in order:
  1. Leaves only — only leaf nodes (sections with no children) are required, unless you set targets: "all" in the profile.
  2. Exclude coverage="none" — sections marked <S id="..." coverage="none"> are excluded and reported as ignored.
  3. Exclude root nodes — implicit file root nodes are never required.
The result is the set of nodes your boundary must reach for the profile to pass.

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Direct vs. Transitive Mode

direct mode requires a single edge from a boundary node directly to the requirement being covered. This is strict: an intermediary requirement does not pass coverage through to a deeper one. transitive mode allows a path of one or more permitted edges. A test can cover a high-level requirement, which in turn covers lower-level ones through depends or embeds edges — as long as every step in the path uses a permitted edge kind.
contains edges never grant coverage in either mode. Structural parent-child nesting is not treated as a semantic dependency.

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Running Coverage

Run xspec coverage to see the full report for all profiles:
Example output:
The report tells you:
  • required — total nodes that must be covered
  • covered — nodes with a valid path, including the shortest path found
  • uncovered — your work list; these nodes need a covering boundary node
  • ignored — nodes excluded from the required set, with the reason (e.g. coverage="none", root node)

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CI Gating with --check

Pass --check to make xspec coverage exit with code 1 if any required node is uncovered. This turns coverage into a hard CI gate:
Use the profile name as the first argument to check a specific profile. Omit it to check all profiles.
Add xspec coverage --check as a step in your CI pipeline alongside your test run. Because xspec refreshes graph data automatically, you do not need a separate build step before the check.