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📐Design Assistant

Repository-aware specification-driven development workflow

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Specification-Driven Development

Design Assistant automates specification-driven development workflows. It creates comprehensive planning documents that serve as the source of truth for your project, guiding both human developers and AI coding assistants.

Why Specification-First Matters

Research shows 37% of software projects fail due to unclear or wrong requirements. Writing specifications before code reduces miscommunication, reveals technical gaps early, and provides clear direction for implementation.

In AI-assisted development, specifications become even more critical. AI coding assistants excel at implementation but need clear requirements and architecture to build the correct solution.

Without Specifications

  • AI agents make assumptions about requirements
  • Implementation may not match actual needs
  • Rework required when misalignment discovered
  • Team members work from different assumptions

With Specifications

  • AI agents follow documented requirements
  • Implementation aligns with design
  • Clear acceptance criteria for validation
  • Shared understanding across team

Five-Stage Workflow

Click the DESIGN button to start. Describe what you want to build, and Design Assistant guides you through each stage.

0

Repository Analysis

Analyzes your codebase structure, dependencies, patterns, and architecture

Output: context.md - Complete repository understanding

1

Requirements Documentation

Creates Product Requirements Document with user stories and acceptance criteria

Output: requirements.md - What to build and why

2

Architecture Design

Designs system components, data models, API interfaces, and integration points

Output: design.md - How the system works

3

Task Breakdown

Breaks implementation into specific, actionable development tasks

Output: tasks.md - Step-by-step development plan

4

Implementation Planning

Provides detailed file-by-file implementation guidance

Output: implementation.md - How to execute

What You Get

Five production-ready markdown documents that provide a comprehensive governance framework for your development work.

Source of Truth

Clear, documented requirements and architecture that everyone references. No more assumptions or misalignment.

AI Agent Governance

AI coding assistants like Claude Code reference these documents to understand context, follow your architecture, and validate their work against your requirements.

Team Alignment

Shared understanding of requirements, architecture decisions, and implementation approach across your entire team.

Validation Framework

Clear acceptance criteria for each task. Verify AI-generated code matches specifications before merging.

How AI Agents Use Specifications

AI coding assistants reference your Design Assistant output to ensure implementation matches your requirements.

Before Writing Code

AI agents read context.md to understand your tech stack, patterns, and architecture. This ensures generated code follows your conventions.

During Implementation

AI agents reference requirements.md and design.md to validate their approach matches your specifications. This prevents building the wrong solution.

During Validation

AI agents check their work against acceptance criteria in tasks.md. This ensures completeness and correctness.

Getting Started

1. Click the DESIGN Button

Open Design Assistant panel in the Hive Consensus IDE

2. Describe What You Want to Build

Tell Design Assistant your project goals. Repository analysis begins automatically.

3. Interactive Workflow

Design Assistant guides you through each stage, asking clarifying questions before creating each specification document. This interactive process ensures specifications match your needs.

4. Use Specifications to Guide Development

Reference the five documents when working with AI coding assistants like Claude Code to ensure alignment with your specifications.

Session Management

Smart Session Detection

When you reopen Design Assistant, it detects existing analysis from the current day and offers to resume or start fresh. This prevents redundant repository analysis.

Session Storage

Sessions are saved in: design-session-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS/

All five documents persist automatically for future reference.

Model Configuration

Design Assistant uses Claude Sonnet 4.5 by default. Change the model in Settings → Design Assistant → Model Selection.

All five stages use the same model for consistency. Choose models with large context windows (100k+ tokens) for repository analysis.

Start Planning Your Next Feature

Use Design Assistant to create specification documents that govern AI development and ensure implementation aligns with requirements.

Download Hive Consensus