Direction before execution
A Quality Brief — visual direction, three defining words, constraints, references — must be explicitly approved before a single line of code is written.
A design-first AI workflow / v1.0 / MIT
Design is the quality gate.
01
The inversion
The designer's creative judgment is the system's quality gate — not one input among many.
Conventional AI dev
- Prompt
- Generate
- Ship
Design review (if there's time)
Taste arrives last. Rework is the norm.
PDS Stack
- Direction
- Approve the brief
- Build to spec
- Score & learn
Taste leads. Code is the execution.
Scope is sacred
Scope freezes the moment a spec hits VALIDATED. Additions require a fresh RAY cycle. No silent creep, no moving targets.
System memory
ANALYZER writes a learning after every verdict. RAY reads the three most recent before the next spec — improvements compound.
02
The crew — five agents
A small studio
that never sleeps.
-
01
RAY
Architect & StrategistChallenges the idea before it grows. Tiers every spec T1 / T2 / T3, locks scope, and reads the latest learnings first.
/ray -
02
BOB
Builder & Quality DirectorWrites the Quality Brief, then implements through a 6-step Ralph Loop. No code without an approved direction.
/bob -
03
ANALYZER
Product QA & CXGrades every feature /20 — spec, design system, technical quality & CX — then writes the learnings that feed the next cycle.
/analyzer -
04
EVE
Discovery · optionalValidates that the problem is real before any brief is drafted. Kills bad ideas cheaply.
/eve -
05
SHIP
Delivery · optionalRuns the deployment checklist and coordinates the hand-off so nothing slips between done and live.
/ship
03
The cycle
-
EVE
DISCOVERY
Find a real problem
Validate the need before spending a single token on a solution.
→ Problem brief -
RAY
PLAN
Tier & lock the spec
Right-size the work, define what's out of scope, freeze it.
→ Spec · VALIDATED -
BOB
BUILD
Brief, then build
Quality Brief approved up front; atomic commits per step after.
→ Quality Brief + code -
ANALYZER
REVIEW
Score & learn
Graded out of 20 against the brief. The verdict gates release.
→ Score /20 + learning
04
The contract
The Quality Brief is a creative contract.
Before BOB writes anything, the direction is set in writing — and approved. It's the difference between hoping the output has taste and guaranteeing it.
Read the spec on GitHub →
quality-brief.md
awaiting approval
- Type
- Aesthetic
- Direction
- Editorial, restrained, confident
- 3 defining words
- Sharp · Quiet · Deliberate
- Typography
- Grotesk display / mono labels
- Palette
- Out of scope
- Decoration for its own sake
05
What you gain
Less rework.
More of the work that matters.
0
T1 micro-feature, briefed & built
0
T2 standard feature with full flow
0
T3 complex feature, architecture incl.
0+/20
Score required to ship — gated, not optional
ANALYZER scorecard /20
- Spec conformance5
- UX & design system5
- Technical quality5
- CX5
The verdict gates release
- 18–20Shipped
- 14–17Shipped with notes
- 10–13Rework → back to BOB
- < 10Re-spec → back to RAY
- ✓ Creative judgment becomes enforceable architecture, not a suggestion.
- ✓ Frozen specs kill scope creep before it starts.
- ✓ A cumulative learnings database makes every cycle sharper.
- ✓ Direction validated before development burns hours.
- ✓ Atomic, per-step commits cut ambiguity and rollbacks.
- ✓ Works with your stack — Next, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Remix.
Five minutes. Seven questions.
Put taste
back in charge.
Generates STACK.md · CLAUDE.md · agent-system/ · the ANALYZER scoring framework