The central artifact: spec.md and the field tests-first never had
The article introduces spec.md as a central artifact in the Grounded Code architecture, designed to keep AI agents aligned with codebases across time and developers. This markdown file contains structured frontmatter and prose to define a feature's purpose, API, invariants, scope, and verification steps. The spec serves as a persistent, readable anchor that improves consistency and reduces errors in agent-driven development.
- ▪The spec.md file is a structured markdown document that lives alongside code and tests in the codebase.
- ▪It includes frontmatter fields like purpose, public_api, invariants, in_scope, out_of_scope, and verification, along with prose sections explaining the feature.
- ▪The out_of_scope section is emphasized as critical for preventing uncontrolled feature expansion.
- ▪Specs are typically 60 to 120 lines; shorter indicates under-specification, longer suggests the feature should be split.
- ▪The spec enables AI agents to maintain context across sessions and code changes, reducing drift and errors.
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try { if(localStorage) { let currentUser = localStorage.getItem('current_user'); if (currentUser) { currentUser = JSON.parse(currentUser); if (currentUser.id === 2185235) { document.getElementById('article-show-container').classList.add('current-user-is-article-author'); } } } } catch (e) { console.error(e); } jucelinux Posted on May 17 The central artifact: spec.md and the field tests-first never had #ai #claudecode #agents #architecture Grounded Code (6 Part Series) 1 Grounded Code: Your codebase has a new primary reader. And it’s paying 7.5x more. 2 The primary reader changed ... 2 more parts...
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