Spec-driven development
Write the spec before the agent runs—acceptance checks, scope, and review gates for agentic delivery.
Spec-driven development means the agent (and humans) share a written contract before large diffs land: goals, non-goals, files likely touched, test commands, and rollback.
Minimum spec sections
- Problem — user-visible outcome
- Constraints — frameworks, style, performance, security
- Acceptance — commands that must pass (
test,lint,build) - Out of scope — what the agent must not change
- Review — who signs off and when
Why it matters with agents
Models optimize for plausible code, not your roadmap. A spec gives reviewers a straight pass/fail checklist and reduces drive-by refactors.
Operational detail lives on methodology and in AGENTS.md guide for repo conventions.