AI Coding Agents & Skills Auto-verified translation
Tests Are the Spec in the Only Language the Builder Can't Argue With
Third installment in the ADLC series: Williams turns testing into the specification in the only language the builder cannot contest. Where TDD is an optional quality practice for human-written code, it becomes the load-bearing trust mechanism of the entire lifecycle once agents write the code. Three "rail discipline" rules: separated authoring contexts (specs-only before implementation), mechanical freezing at the tool level (not the prompt), and adversarial audits ("does a test fail if the feature is deleted?"). Mutation testing is preferred over coverage percentage, which is Goodhart-able at machine speed.
#ADLC#tests as spec#agentic TDD
Chris Williams (@voodootikigod)