Spec-Driven Development: Writing Specs Before Code to Guide AI Agents

A developer on DEV Community has outlined a methodology called Spec-Driven Development (SDD), which requires writing a formal specification before instructing an AI coding agent to build software. The approach separates work into three distinct artifacts: a specification defining what must be built and why, a technical plan covering how it will be built, and a task breakdown for implementation. The author demonstrated SDD by building a React Native MVP using Expo that displays recent global earthquake data, a deceptively simple request that conceals numerous product decisions. Key decisions such as minimum earthquake magnitude, time range, and offline behavior are resolved in writing upfront, rather than being silently defaulted by the AI agent mid-session. GitHub's open-source Spec Kit tool can automate this workflow, though the author notes that three markdown files and consistent discipline are sufficient to apply the method.
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