Spec-Driven Development: A structured framework for AI-assisted software engineering
Spec-Driven Development (SDD) applies classical software development lifecycle principles to AI-assisted coding, addressing the shortcomings of informal 'vibe coding' approaches. The methodology organizes work around four key artifacts: a constitution file for technical rules, a spec file for requirements, a plan file for architecture, and a tasks file for incremental implementation steps. SDD defines three adoption levels — spec-first, spec-anchored, and spec-as-source — each determining how closely the specification is kept in sync with the codebase. A core principle of SDD is that AI agents must not independently decide project scope or architecture; specifications must be agreed upon before implementation begins. The framework is particularly suited to projects that grow beyond quick prototypes, where unstructured AI prompting tends to produce context loss, hallucinations, and unverifiable outputs.
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