Spec-Driven Development

A gated, six-phase workflow for shipping real software with an AI coding agent. Each phase has a goal, exit criteria, and a rationalization table for the excuses an agent will invent to skip it. Do not advance until the current gate is closed.

When to Use

• Starting a new project, service, or significant feature
• Requirements arrive as a paragraph, screenshot, or vague idea
• The change touches more than one file or subsystem
• You are about to make an architectural decision
• An agent is about to write more than ~100 lines without a plan
• Picking up half-finished work from another session

When NOT to Use