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Intermediate · 7 lessons

Spec-driven development: the spec is the prompt

Why ad-hoc prompting does not scale: executable specs built from intent, constraints, and acceptance criteria, GitHub Spec Kit in practice, the spec as a single source of truth, fighting drift, and team review workflows.

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  1. 01Why ad-hoc prompting breaks downWe dissect the prompt → result → re-prompt loop and its ceiling: lost intent, irreproducibility, and code nobody can review.40 min
  2. 02Writing an executable specThe three layers of a spec — intent, constraints, acceptance criteria: Given/When/Then and EARS templates, the spec-as-novel antipattern, and language an agent understands.50 min
  3. 03GitHub Spec Kit hands-onThe full Spec Kit pipeline: constitution, /specify, /clarify, /plan, /tasks, and /implement — from project principles to a verified feature.60 min
  4. 04Spec, PRD, and tests: a single source of truthSeparating three artifacts by role: the PRD answers "why", the spec answers "what", tests answer "is it proven" — plus tracing criteria into tests.40 min
  5. 05Iterating specs with agentsWhere drift between spec and code comes from, the re-sync ritual with an auditor agent, and choosing between regeneration and a targeted patch.45 min
  6. 06Team workflows: specs in code reviewSpec review before code review: a PR template linked to the spec, accepting generated code against criteria, and process health metrics.45 min
  7. 07Capstone: rebuilding a feature spec-firstFinal project: extract the behavior of a tangled feature into an as-is spec, write the to-be spec, and drive it through the full pipeline to acceptance.60 min

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Spec-driven development: the spec is the prompt · VORCL