spec-driven-development

To prevent wasted engineering time, you create a structured software specification before any implementation begins. This process surfaces key unknowns early and produces a SPEC.md containing objectives, success criteria, testing strategy, and boundaries.

Defining measurable success criteria for vague requirements involves generating a structured specification document. This document forces clear requirements by establishing boundaries and a testing strategy, ensuring stakeholders agree on measurable outcomes before implementation planning.

You surface project assumptions early by generating a SPEC.md that explicitly identifies and confirms key unknowns. This structured specification forces stakeholders to resolve ambiguities and evolving decisions before any code is written.

Spec-driven development requires explicit human-gated approval before proceeding to implementation planning. This gatekeeping ensures a thorough review of the SPEC.md, maintaining a strict separation of responsibilities before handing off to the planning phase.

You need to write a SPEC.md when starting a new feature where requirements are vague, stakeholders disagree, or success criteria are not yet measurable. It transforms ambiguity into a testable plan before coding begins.

You hand off a specification to the planning phase via writing-plans after securing explicit human-gated approval. This ensures the structured SPEC.md, including objectives and testing strategy, is reviewed before implementation planning begins.