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Migrating Bikeshed HTTP API usage to spec‐generator

Vivien Lacourba edited this page Mar 9, 2026 · 3 revisions

spec-generator 3.0 now supports processing Bikeshed documents and issues lists in addition to ReSpec documents.

Authors of Bikeshed documents may be familiar with the legacy "CSS Spec Preprocessor" page previously available at https://api.csswg.org/bikeshed/. spec-generator 3.0 is functionally equivalent, but the UI and HTTP parameters sometimes differ. The tables below enumerate features found in the "CSS Spec Preprocessor" page, and note their equivalents in spec-generator.

UI Elements

CSS Spec Preprocessor feature spec-generator equivalent
"Input type" select (Specification / Issues List) "Document type" radio buttons (Bikeshed Spec / Bikeshed Issues List)
"Output" radio buttons (Errors & Warnings / HTML / Both) "Output type" radio buttons (HTML / Messages; Both is not currently an option)
"Die on" select "Die on" select
"Error handling: Force HTML output" checkbox "Die on" select value: "Nothing (force)"
"Default time" input "Date" input (Specification only, N/A for Issues List)
"Load from URL" input "Spec URL" input
"Upload file" input "Upload file" input
"Enter text" textarea No equivalent (URL or upload only)

HTTP API

CSS Spec Preprocessor parameter spec-generator equivalent
url url (no change)
file file (no change)
input=spec, input=issues type=bikeshed-spec, type=bikeshed-issues-list
output=html, output=err output=html, output=messages.
die-on die-on (no change)
force die-on=nothing
md-{key} md-{key} (no change)
time md-date

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