`lean-spec create` fails with `Error: Invalid template format` right after successful init on Windows 11

[alitekdemir]

Summary

On Windows 11, lean-spec init completes successfully in a fresh project, but the next command fails:

npx.cmd lean-spec create jira-issue-worklog-ingestion

Error:

Error: Invalid template format

Environment

• Windows 11
• PowerShell
• Python 3.14.3
• Node v24.14.0
• npm / npx 11.9.0

Reproduction

$env:Path = "C:\Tools\node;" + $env:Path
node -v
npm.cmd -v
npx.cmd -v

npx.cmd lean-spec init
npx.cmd lean-spec create jira-issue-worklog-ingestion

Verified setup

The environment is working correctly before running LeanSpec:

node -v     => v24.14.0
npm.cmd -v  => 11.9.0
npx.cmd -v  => 11.9.0

lean-spec init also reports successful initialization and creates the expected project structure, including:

• specs/
• .lean-spec/config.json
• .lean-spec/templates/

Expected behavior

lean-spec create jira-issue-worklog-ingestion should create a new spec successfully.

Actual behavior

It fails with:

Error: Invalid template format

Likely area

This appears to be related to the generated default template or template configuration created during init.

Additional info

I can provide:

• .lean-spec/config.json
• contents of .lean-spec/templates/
• output of npx.cmd lean-spec templates
• output of npx.cmd lean-spec validate

[alitekdemir]

(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> node -v
v24.14.0
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> npm.cmd -v
11.9.0
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> npx.cmd -v
11.9.0
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> npx.cmd lean-spec init
Project name (detected: jira): jira
Enable draft status for human review workflow? yes
Install LeanSpec agent skills? (recommended) yes
✓ Created specs directory: C:\py\jira\specs
✓ Created configuration directory: C:\py\jira\.lean-spec
✓ Created specs README
✓ Created config: C:\py\jira\.lean-spec\config.json
✓ Created templates directory: C:\py\jira\.lean-spec\templates
✓ Created spec template
✓ Created AGENTS.md (SKILL.md provides SDD workflow)

Detected AI tools:
  • Codex CLI
    └─ ~/.codex directory found
  • GitHub Copilot
    └─ 'copilot' command found
    └─ ~/.copilot directory found
  • Gemini CLI (GEMINI.md)
    └─ ~/.gemini directory found
  • Kilo Code
    └─ kilocode.kilo-code extension installed
Create symlinks for AI tools?: GEMINI.md (Gemini CLI), CLAUDE.md (Claude Code)
✓ GEMINI.md (copy): created as copy (Windows)
✓ CLAUDE.md (copy): created as copy (Windows)

Detected MCP-compatible tools:
  • Claude Code: CLAUDE.md found
  • VS Code: .vscode/ directory found
Configure MCP server entries for which tools?: VS Code
✓ VS Code: Created .vscode/mcp.json

Installing agent skills...
• Installing to detected tools: codex, github-copilot, gemini-cli
⚠ Failed to install agent skills: Failed to run npx (is Node.js installed?): program not found
• You can retry with: lean-spec skill install

LeanSpec initialized successfully! 🎉

Next steps:
  1. Create your first spec: lean-spec create my-feature
  2. View the board: lean-spec board
  3. Read the docs: https://leanspec.dev
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec create jira-issue-worklog-ingestion
Error: Invalid template format

(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec templates       

=== Available Templates ===

  spec-atd (0.3 KB)
  spec-template copy (0.8 KB)
  spec-template (0.8 KB)

Use templates with: lean-spec create <name> --template=<template-name>

(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec validate
✓ All 0 specs passed validation
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec create test-spec
Error: Invalid template format
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec validate        
✓ All 0 specs passed validation
(.venv) PS C:\py\jira> lean-spec templates show default
error: unexpected argument 'default' found

Usage: lean-spec.exe templates [OPTIONS] [NAME]

For more information, try '--help'.

[alitekdemir]

Update / Workaround:

I found the root cause and a temporary workaround for this issue. The Error: Invalid template format occurs because lean-spec init generates the default template files using Windows-style line endings (CRLF). The internal parser seems to strictly expect Unix-style line endings (LF) for the YAML frontmatter, which causes it to fail on Windows.

Workaround for other users:

1. Open the generated template file (e.g., .lean-spec/templates/spec.md) in an editor like Notepad++ or VS Code.
2. Change the End of Line (EOL) sequence from CRLF to LF.
3. Save the file.

After doing this, running lean-spec create works perfectly.

Suggested Fix:
It would be great if the template parser could be updated to handle CRLF line endings gracefully, or alternatively, if the init command could be forced to write template files using LF regardless of the host operating system.