The Problem
Your AI is already writing code. Who governs it?
With AI in the loop, the real choice was never AI vs. hand-coding. It’s vibecoding vs. spec-driven.
| VIBECODING | SPEC-DRIVEN |
|---|
| Source of truth | Chat history and developer memory | A versioned, reviewed specification |
| Consistency | Varies by prompt, session, and person | One constitution — same gates, every run |
| Audit trail | Can't reconstruct why code exists | Business intent → model → code → test |
| Scale | Bottlenecks on whoever prompted it | New contributors inherit the rules |
| Governance | Little to none | Human checkpoints + automated gates |
Vibecoding produces working code — and no durable asset. Six months on, nobody can say why a behavior exists.
The Model
You own intent. Agents own labor.
YOU AUTHOR · with my help
Business spec — Plain-language intent + Given/When/Then acceptance criteria
Visual model — A committed prototype + design intent — the visual law
Domain model & API contract — One source of truth; the API contract is generated from it
Constitution — A short set of binding rules every build must obey
AGENTS BUILD
Frontend + backend — React/TypeScript UI and API services, end to end
Tests & docs included — Auth, error handling, layering — built in, not bolted on
Gates run by the agent — The agent verifies its own work against your specs
"Nothing is made up" — Unclear spec? The agent stops and asks.
Every feature runs the same four stages:specify→plan→tasks→implement
Governance
Agent speed. Human-defined correctness.
TIER 1 · BUILD-TIME GUARDRAILS
Binding specs — Acceptance criteria are requirements; contracts can't be contradicted
Human checkpoints — The run pauses at defined points — no code until you approve the intent
Conformance checks — Architecture and model conformance verified mechanically, every run
Fidelity checks — Visual parity to the design; requirement-to-test traceability
TIER 2 · EVERY AGENT PR CLEARS THE SAME BAR AS HUMAN CODE
AI code review — A second model reviews every pull request
Quality & security scan — Static analysis on every change
License & dependency check — No surprise licenses in your stack
API security conformance — Contract-level security checks
Wired to your stack — these map to whatever scanners and review tools you already run. Nothing ships that your specs and your gates didn’t approve.
Proof
This runs in production today.
Designed and ran this operating model for an engineering platform at a Fortune-100 automotive OEM — two production applications, built by agents, governed by specs.
≈10×
leverage on human effort
28,600
lines of production code
3,000
lines of spec govern it all
300
acceptance criteria traced
Application 1 · Web UI
9 business specs → 12 live screens
React / TypeScript · workflow management, authoring, publishing, dashboards — pixel-parity to the committed design.
Application 2 · API services
5 business specs → 19 endpoints
FastAPI / SQLAlchemy · domain-model-driven, generated API contract, full audit trail from intent to test.
Not a pilot. Not a demo. This is how both applications are built and shipped, feature after feature.
The Engagement
Three phases. A real feature ships in the pilot.
01
FOUNDATION
Weeks 1–2
- ·Constitution written for your product and stack
- ·Spec templates + worked examples for your team
- ·Pipeline scaffold in your repo, gates configured
- ·Pilot feature selected from your real backlog
02
PILOT
Weeks 3–5
- ·Your first feature: spec → plan → tasks → implement
- ·Human checkpoints live — you approve intent, not diffs
- ·PR gates enforced on the agent's pull requests
- ·Feature lands in production, fully traced
03
SCALE
Week 6+
- ·Your team trained to author specs independently
- ·Backlog throughput at machine speed
- ·Playbook + runbook handed over — documented, versioned
- ·Optional retainer for reviews and pipeline evolution
Fixed-scope foundation + pilot, then scale on your terms. If the pilot doesn’t ship, you keep every artifact anyway.
Deliverables
What you walk away with
Everything lives in your repos, under your accounts. The system doesn’t depend on me.
Constitution & spec templates
Versioned rules + templates your team authors against from day one
Working spec→code pipeline
The four-stage agent pipeline, running in your CI, on your repos
Quality gates, enforced
Checkpoints and PR gates wired so a red gate blocks a merge
Domain model + API contract
One source of truth; the contract is generated, never hand-drifted
A team that can run it
Your PMs and designers trained to author specs without me
Full traceability
Every shipped line answers: which spec, which criterion, which test
The Ask
The deliverable isn’t code.
It’s a code factory you own.
Six weeks from kickoff, a real feature from your backlog is in production — specified by your team, built by agents, cleared through gates you control. Everything after that is throughput.
Start with a 45-minute working session — We pick the pilot feature from your actual backlog
Get a fixed-scope proposal in 48 hours — Foundation + pilot, one price, defined exit criteria
Ship, then decide — Scale phase only if the pilot earns it