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I use speckit, and while I like the spec/clarify/plan/task/analyze/implement loop (although it can get a bit overwhelming at times), I don't like that I have to start with writing a spec and implement it to begin with. I am looking for a more of a design phase before the spec phase, where I can talk about the overall application architecture, and then start writing specs for implementing pieces of it.

For instance, let's say I want to build a github repo provisioner that 1. creates repos with desired setup, and 2. bulk edit repos with secret updates, yaml updates, etc. I don't want to build both the features at the beginning. I want to first build only the create portion, and then do the bulk edit feature later on. With speckit, I can do this by only telling it to create the spec for the build portion, but later if I want to build the bulk edit portion, the whole application might need to be changed in important places, because it wasn't a 'planned' feature when it was first designed. I want instead to have a design phase where I describe and maintain a doc with the whole application, and when I start the spec for the create portion, the agent can understand that this create portion is only part of a bigger application and can design/implement the create portion accordingly.

Have you come across a situation like this? how do you handle your big applications? Please advise.

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[-] PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Openspec has an “explore” command you can use to give some thoughts and have agent spit out a high level plan, some back and forth, then create the proposal once you’re happy. I’ve also generated markdown documentation for a subsystem or thought so I can check it in, then continue improving that later, then when ready to turn it into a proposal and implement I start by referencing that document.

It sounds like a big part of what you’re talking about is just pre-feeding future concerns into one proposal for work that you plan to do in the future, also nothing wrong with that. I’ve used “in the future we will need … so design in that direction without implementing in this first iteration” sort of wording.

And not sure if this applies but I’ve found big monolithic code bases become too large for AI to work well in… enforcing some boundaries by breaking code into technical foundation and vertical slice functional modules really helps decouple code and focus on cross-module boundaries and interfaces, similarly to how they help reduce cognitive load for developers, helps for AI too

[-] nieceandtows@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

How is open spec for Greenfield apps? I've heard it's best suited for existing code. I'll try the 'in the future' heads up, thanks

[-] PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

It works pretty well for greenfield, that’s where I’ve been using it. A pretty involved monorepo with a decent bit of code and things are still going reasonably well.

Also, leaning on documents as deliverable artifacts for people and for AI awareness / consumption helps me.

Like put together an architecture document for either the entire application or specific parts and subsystems (or multiple documents with different granularity) those can list future considerations.

I pretty often will include those documents when generating proposals / specs to make sure the AI is building in the right direction. It’s not perfect, there are some rough edges and these are the early days of this whole process.

this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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