gsd-spike

A spike is a focused, throwaway experiment used for rapid feasibility validation of early-stage ideas. You should create a spike when you need to test a single research question or design concept and capture practical evidence before committing to full implementation.

To run a feasibility spike, create a self-contained experiment in the .planning/spikes directory that answers one specific question. The directory is auto-created if needed, and you capture observable results to validate your idea quickly without project setup.

Yes, throwaway spikes integrate directly with GSD commit patterns, state tracking, and handoff workflows. This ensures your rapid validation experiments remain traceable and connected to your broader software engineering process.

The best way to structure design validation is using single-question spikes stored in .planning/spikes. This ensures experiments are self-contained and traceable via GSD commit patterns, linking your exploration directly to your state tracking system.

No project setup or dependencies are required to start testing ideas with spikes. The system auto-creates the .planning/spikes directory if it does not exist, allowing you to immediately begin rapid validation of your research questions.

You should not use a throwaway spike for feasibility testing when your goal is building production-ready features rather than answering a single, focused research question. Spikes are designed for early-stage exploration and design validation, not final implementation.