tlc-spec-driven

# Tech Lead's Club - Spec-Driven Development

Plan and implement projects with precision. Granular tasks. Clear dependencies. Right tools. Zero ceremony.

```
┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐
│ SPECIFY  │ → │  DESIGN  │ → │  TASKS  │ → │ EXECUTE │
└──────────┘   └──────────┘   └─────────┘   └─────────┘
   required      optional*      optional*     required

* Agent auto-skips when scope doesn't need it
```

## Auto-Sizing: The Core Principle

**The complexity determines the depth, not a fixed pipeline.** Before starting any feature, assess its scope and apply only what's needed:

| Scope       | What                     | Specify                                                 | Design                                          | Tasks                         | Execute                                               |
| ----------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Small**   | ≤3 files, one sentence   | **Quick mode** — skip pipeline entirely                 | -                                               | -                             | -                                                     |
| **Medium**  | Clear feature, <10 tasks | Spec (brief)                                            | Skip — design inline                            | Skip — tasks implicit         | Implement + verify                                    |
| **Large**   | Multi-component feature  | Full spec + requirement IDs                             | Architecture + components                       | Full breakdown + dependencies | Implement + verify per task                           |
| **Complex** | Ambiguity, new domain    | Full spec + [discuss gray areas](references/discuss.md) | [Research](references/design.md) + architecture | Breakdown + parallel plan     | Implement + [interactive UAT](references/validate.md) |

**Rules:**

- **Specify and Execute are always required** — you always need to know WHAT and DO it
- **Design is skipped** when the change is straightforward (no architectural decisions, no new patterns)
- **Tasks is skipped** when there are ≤3 obvious steps (they become implicit in Execute)
- **Discuss is triggered within Specify** only when the agent detects ambiguous gray areas that need user input
- **Interactive UAT is triggered within Execute** only for user-facing features with complex behavior
- **Quick mode** is the express lane — for bug fixes, config changes, and small tweaks

**Safety valve:** Even when Tasks is skipped, Execute ALWAYS starts by listing atomic steps inline (see [implement.md](references/implement.md)). If that listing reveals >5 steps or complex dependencies, STOP and create a formal `tasks.md` — the Tasks phase was wrongly skipped.

## Project Structure

```
.specs/
├── project/
│   ├── PROJECT.md      # Vision & goals
│   ├── ROADMAP.md      # Features & milestones
│   └── STATE.md        # Memory: decisions, blockers, lessons, todos, deferred ideas
├── codebase/           # Brownfield analysis (existing projects)
│   ├── STACK.md
│   ├── ARCHITECTURE.md
│   ├── CONVENTIONS.md
│   ├── STRUCTURE.md
│   ├── TESTING.md
│   ├── INTEGRATIONS.md
│   └── CONCERNS.md
├── features/           # Feature specifications
│   └── [feature]/
│       ├── spec.md     # Requirements with traceable IDs
│       ├── context.md  # User decisions for gray areas (only when discuss is triggered)
│       ├── design.md   # Architecture & components (only for Large/Complex)
│       └── tasks.md    # Atomic tasks with verification (only for Large/Complex)
└── quick/              # Ad-hoc tasks (quick mode)
    └── NNN-slug/
        ├── TASK.md
        └── SUMMARY.md
```

## Workflow

**New project:**

1. Initialize project → PROJECT.md + ROADMAP.md
2. For each feature → Specify → (Design) → (Tasks) → Execute (depth auto-sized)

**Existing codebase:**

1. Map codebase → 7 brownfield docs
2. Initialize project → PROJECT.md + ROADMAP.md
3. For each feature → same adaptive workflow

**Quick mode:** Describe → Implement → Verify → Commit (for ≤3 files, one-sentence scope)

## Context Loading Strategy

**Base load (~15k tokens):**

- PROJECT.md (if exists)
- ROADMAP.md (when planning/working on features)
- STATE.md (persistent memory)

**On-demand load:**

- Codebase docs (when working in existing project)
- CONCERNS.md (when planning features that touch flagged areas, estimating risk, or modifying fragile components)
- TESTING.md (when creating tasks or executing — drives test type assignment and gate checks)
- spec.md (when working on specific feature)
- context.md (when designing or implementing from user decisions)
- design.md (when implementing from design)
- tasks.md (when executing tasks)

**Never load simultaneously:**

- Multiple feature specs
- Multiple architecture docs
- Archived documents

**Target:** <40k tokens total context
**Reserve:** 160k+ tokens for work, reasoning, outputs
**Monitoring:** Display status when >40k (see [context-limits.md](references/context-limits.md))

## Sub-Agent Delegation

Use sub-agents (the Task tool or equivalent) to keep the main context window lean and enable
parallel execution. The orchestrating agent plans and coordinates; sub-agents do the heavy lifting.

**When to delegate to a sub-agent:**

| Activity | Delegate? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Research (design phase, brownfield mapping) | Yes | Research output is large; only the summary matters to the main context |
| Implementing a task | Yes | File reads, edits, test output consume context; only the result matters |
| Parallel `[P]` tasks | Yes (one per task) | The only way to actually run tasks in parallel |
| Sequential tasks with no `[P]` | Yes | Keeps implementation artifacts out of the main context |
| Planning, task creation, validation reports | No | These require the full accumulate