"Plan first, act second. Every great building starts with a blueprint. Every successful software project starts with a plan."
Specflow is a structured but flexible process methodology for building software with AI SWE agents. It transforms the often chaotic process of agent-first development into a systematic, repeatable methodology that consistently delivers results aligned with your vision.
Building software with AI agents today often results in:
- 🎯 Intent Gap - What you envision vs. what AI produces
- 💭 Context Loss - AI forgets where you are between prompts
- 🧩 Coordination Chaos - Fragmented, incompatible outputs
- ⚡ Efficiency Paradox - Fast generation, extensive rework
Specflow provides structure through five interconnected phases:
graph LR
A[Intent<br/>Capture] --> B[Roadmap<br/>Creation]
B --> C[Task<br/>Decomposition]
C --> D[Collaborative<br/>Execution]
D --> E[Continuous<br/>Refinement]
E --> |Iterate| D
style A fill:#e0f2fe
style B fill:#e0f2fe
style C fill:#e0f2fe
style D fill:#e0f2fe
style E fill:#d1fae5
Phase | Focus | Description |
1️⃣ Intent | What & Why | Start with clarity about what you're building and why it matters. |
2️⃣ Roadmap | Milestones | Break your vision into manageable phases with clear goals. |
3️⃣ Tasks | Human + AI | Convert roadmap items into specific tasks, optimally distributed. |
4️⃣ Execute | Systematic | Work through tasks methodically with your swe agent. |
5️⃣ Refine | Improve | Review outputs against intent and continuously improve. |
- 👩💻 Software Developers - Build features faster while maintaining quality
- 📊 Product Managers - Bridge vision and execution effectively
- 🚀 Technical Leaders - Scale team capacity with AI assistance
- 🤖 AI Enthusiasts - Master structured prompting techniques
Without Structure: Chaos | With Specflow: Clarity |
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- Visit the website: www.specflow.com
- Read the guide: Start with our Getting Started Guide
- Learn by example: Explore Project Examples
- Watch tutorials: Check out our Video Library
We welcome contributions to improve the Specflow methodology:
- Share your experience - How has Specflow helped your development?
- Suggest improvements - Open an issue with your ideas
- Create examples - Share your Specflow project examples
- Improve documentation - Submit PRs to enhance clarity
This is not SpecFlow.org (the retired .NET testing framework). While they flowed specs into tests, we flow specs into working software through structured AI collaboration.
- Website: www.specflow.com
- GitHub: github.com/specstoryai/specflow
- Created by: SpecStory - Intent is the new source code
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.
Specflow: structure for building with software agents