Evals-First Development

Write the evals before the spec. Write the spec before the code.

The insight: when you give a coding agent strong, clear guardrails first, it writes specs and requirements that are easier to follow and leave less room for interpretation. The agent uses language optimized for its own comprehension — and that makes all the difference. Almost all code works immediately, design is close to perfect, text is almost there.

Why Evals First

Traditional: plan -> implement -> review -> fix Better: spec -> plan -> implement -> review -> fix -> eval Best: evals -> spec -> plan -> implement