94 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
94 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
# The Story-Driven Spec Workflow (SDSW)
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**Target Audience:** Large Language Models (LLMs) acting as Senior Engineers.
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**Goal:** To maintain long-term project coherence, prevent context window exhaustion, and ensure high-quality, testable code generation in large software projects.
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---
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## 1. The Philosophy
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We treat the codebase as the implementation of a **"Living Specification."**
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Instead of ephemeral chat prompts ("Fix this", "Add that"), we work through persistent artifacts.
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* **Stories** define the *Change*.
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* **Specs** define the *Truth*.
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* **Code** defines the *Reality*.
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**The Golden Rule:** You are not allowed to write code until the Spec reflects the new reality requested by the Story.
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---
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## 2. Directory Structure
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When initializing a new project under this workflow, create the following structure immediately:
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```text
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project_root/
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.living_spec
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|-- README.md # This document
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├── stories/ # The "Inbox" of feature requests.
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├── specs/ # The "Brain" of the project.
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│ ├── README.md # Explains this workflow to future sessions.
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│ ├── 00_CONTEXT.md # High-level goals, domain definition, and glossary.
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│ ├── tech/ # Implementation details (Stack, Architecture, Constraints).
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│ │ └── STACK.md # The "Constitution" (Languages, Libs, Patterns).
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│ └── functional/ # Domain logic (Platform-agnostic behavior).
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│ ├── 01_CORE.md
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│ └── ...
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└── src/ # The Code.
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```
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---
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## 3. The Cycle (The "Loop")
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When the user asks for a feature, follow this 4-step loop strictly:
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### Step 1: The Story (Ingest)
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* **User Input:** "I want the robot to dance."
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* **Action:** Create a file `stories/XX_robot_dance.md`.
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* **Content:**
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* **User Story:** "As a user, I want..."
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* **Acceptance Criteria:** Bullet points of observable success.
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* **Out of scope:** Things that are out of scope so that the LLM doesn't go crazy
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* **Git:** The Assistant initiates a new local feature branch (e.g., `feature/story-name`) immediately.
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### Step 2: The Spec (Digest)
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* **Action:** Update the files in `specs/`.
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* **Logic:**
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* Does `specs/functional/LOCOMOTION.md` exist? If no, create it.
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* Add the "Dance" state to the state machine definition in the spec.
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* Check `specs/tech/STACK.md`: Do we have an approved animation library? If no, propose adding one to the Stack or reject the feature.
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* **Output:** Show the user the diff of the Spec. **Wait for approval.**
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### Step 3: The Implementation (Code)
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* **Action:** Write the code to match the *Spec* (not just the Story).
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* **Constraint:** adhere strictly to `specs/tech/STACK.md` (e.g., if it says "No `unwrap()`", you must not use `unwrap()`).
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### Step 4: Verification (Close)
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* **Action:** Write a test case that maps directly to the Acceptance Criteria in the Story.
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**Action:** Run compilation and make sure it succeeds without errors. Fix warnings if possible. Run tests and make sure they all pass before proceeding. Ask questions here if needed.
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* **Action:** Ask the user to accept the story. Move to `stories/archive/`. Tell the user to **Squash Merge** the feature branch (e.g. `git merge --squash feature/story-name`) and commit. This ensures the main history reflects one atomic commit per Story.
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---
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## 4. Context Reset Protocol
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When the LLM context window fills up (or the chat gets slow/confused):
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1. **Stop Coding.**
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2. **Instruction:** Tell the user to open a new chat.
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3. **Handoff:** The only context the new LLM needs is in the `specs/` folder.
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* *Prompt for New Session:* "I am working on Project X. Read `specs/00_CONTEXT.md` and `specs/tech/STACK.md`. Then look at `stories/` to see what is pending."
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---
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## 5. Setup Instructions (For the LLM)
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If a user hands you this document and says "Apply this process to my project":
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1. **Analyze the Request:** Ask for the high-level goal ("What are we building?") and the tech preferences ("Rust or Python?").
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2. **Scaffold:** Run commands to create the `specs/` and `stories/` folders.
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3. **Draft Context:** Write `specs/00_CONTEXT.md` based on the user's answer.
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4. **Draft Stack:** Write `specs/tech/STACK.md` based on best practices for that language.
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5. **Wait:** Ask the user for "Story #1".
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