Spec-Driven Development
Spec-driven development is a workflow in which a written specification — acceptance criteria, edge cases, interfaces, validation rules, and explicit non-goals — is produced before any code, and AI coding agents work from that spec rather than from informal conversational requests. The spec reduces ambiguity, gives reviewers a clear contract to evaluate the agent's output against, and doubles as durable documentation after the work ships. Spec-driven development sits at the opposite end of a stakes-versus-velocity spectrum from vibe coding: it is slower at the front but produces output that holds up under maintenance, security review, and third-party audit. Most teams adopt spec-driven development for production paths and reserve looser workflows for prototypes.
Example
Instead of asking an agent to "build me a login form," a developer writes a short spec: required fields are email and password; email must validate against RFC 5322; password must be 12+ characters with at least one number; the form must show inline error messages, support keyboard navigation, meet WCAG AA contrast, and pass a listed set of acceptance tests. The agent implements directly to the spec; the reviewer evaluates the diff against the same spec rather than against memory of an earlier conversation.
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