AIDD Framework

The standard framework for AI Driven Development

Includes:

AIDD CLI – project bootstrap and automation
Agent Runtime – workflows from product discovery to commit and release
SudoLang Prompt Language – typed pseudocode for AI orchestration
Server Framework – composable backend for Node and Next.js
Utilities & Component Library – common patterns and reusable recipes to accelerate your app development

About AIDD Framework
🚀 Quick Start with AIDD CLI
- 📋 Requirements
- Detailed Installation Instructions
Development Workflow
Why SudoLang?
What's Included
🚀 AIDD Server Framework
- Authentication Middleware
🛠️ AIDD CLI Reference
📁 AI System Structure
- Key Components
🎯 AI Integration
🔧 Cursor Editor Setup
📄 License
🤝 Contributing

About AIDD Framework

AI-Driven Development (AIDD) is a methodology where AI systems take primary responsibility for generating, testing, and documenting code, automating most of the software creation process so humans can focus on the big picture and 10× their productivity.

AIDD Framework is a collection of reusable metaprograms, agent orchestration systems, and prompt modules that put high-quality software engineering processes on autopilot rails. It implements time-tested workflows including specification-driven development, systematic task planning with Test Driven Development (TDD), and automated code review with best practices enforcement.

SudoLang is a pseudocode language for prompting large language models with clear structure, strong typing, and explicit control flow.

AI Workflow Commands - Use these in your AI assistant chat (Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.):

/discover - what to build
/task - plan a task epic to implement a user story from the discovery
/execute - task epics with TDD
/review - the results
/log - log the changes to the activity log
/commit - commit the changes to the repository

🚀 Quick Start with AIDD CLI

npx aidd --help

To install for Cursor:

# In your project folder
npx aidd --cursor

Install without Cursor integration:

# You can also specify a project folder:
npx aidd my-project

📋 Requirements

Node.js: 16.0.0+ (requires ESM support)
Environment: Unix/Linux shell (bash, zsh) or Windows with WSL
Editors: Works with any editor; optimized for Cursor
LLM: Works with any sufficiently advanced LLM. As of this writing, we recommend Claude 4.5 Sonnet.
Agents: You can ask most agent systems to use this system.

Detailed Installation Instructions

Install SudoLang syntax highlighting: Visit the SudoLang Github Repository and install syntax highlighting for your editor.

Clone the AI system:

# Recommended: Creates ai/ folder + .cursor symlink for automatic integration
npx aidd --cursor my-project

# Alternative: Just the ai/ folder (manual integration required)
npx aidd my-project

Create a Vision Document (important!):

Create a vision.md file in your project root. This document serves as the source of truth for AI agents. See Vision Document for details.

Explore the structure:

cd my-project
ls ai/                    # See available components
cat ai/rules/please.mdc   # Read the main orchestrator

Start using AI workflows:
- Reference ai/rules/ in AI prompts for better context
- Use ai/commands/ as workflow templates
- Customize rules for your specific project needs

This gives you immediate access to:

🤖 Agent orchestration rules (ai/rules/)
⚙️ AI workflow commands (ai/commands/)
📋 Development best practices (JavaScript, TDD, UI/UX)
🎯 Product management tools (user stories, journey mapping)

Development Workflow

For features or bug fixes spanning more than a few lines:

Create a branch: git checkout -b your-branch-name
Discover what to build with /discover: Set up your project profile and discover key user journeys to create a user story map
Plan execution with /task: Create a structured epic with clear requirements
Review with /review: Eliminate duplication, simplify without losing requirements
Execute with /execute: Implement using TDD, one requirement at a time
Push and PR: git push origin your-branch-name then open a Pull Request

Note: We use this process to build the aidd framework. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Why SudoLang?

For most simple prompts, natural language is better. Use it. But if you need the AI to follow a program, obey constraints, keep track of complex state, or implement complex algorithms, SudoLang can be extremely useful.

Because of the natural language emphasis, SudoLang is easier to learn than programming languages like JavaScript or Python.
Pseudocode can improve reasoning performance vs natural language prompts, and create shorthands for many prompting styles, such as chain-of-thought reasoning, decision trees, etc.
SudoLang is a declarative, constraint-based, interface-oriented programming language, which makes it one of the most expressive and compact programming languages in the world. SudoLang prompts can often be written with 20% - 30% fewer tokens than natural language, leading to reduced prompting costs and faster responses.
Structured pseudocode provides scope blocks, indentation, and visual encapsulation which makes it easier to navigate and maintain complex prompts than natural language.
Structured templates and queries using predefined types and interfaces can reduce the probability of malformed responses and dramatically reduce the number of tokens required to interact with the language model, particularly when requesting data in yaml or csv formats.

Please read the SudoLang documentation for more information about the language.

What's Included

Modules include:

🧠 Metaprograms for LLMs (programs that build programs)
🧭 Product discovery and story mapping
🤖 Agent behaviors and workflows
🧪 Test generators
🛠️ Development process automation scripts
🚀 Optional composable server framework (lightweight Express alternative)

Coming soon:

🎨 UI sketch prompts
📄 Documentation generators
🔌 API design

🚀 AIDD Server Framework

A lightweight alternative to Express, built for function composition and type-safe development.

Why AIDD Server?

Function composition - Clean asyncPipe patterns instead of middleware chains
Type-safe - Complete TypeScript definitions included
Secure by default - Sanitized logging, explicit CORS, fail-fast configuration
Production-ready - Comprehensive test coverage, battle-tested patterns

Quick Example:

import { createRoute, withRequestId, createWithConfig, loadConfigFromEnv } from 'aidd/server';

// Load API keys from environment with fail-fast validation
const withConfig = createWithConfig(() =>
  loadConfigFromEnv(['OPENAI_API_KEY', 'DATABASE_URL'])
);

export default createRoute(
  withRequestId,
  withConfig,
  async ({ request, response }) => {
    // Throws immediately if OPENAI_API_KEY is missing
    const apiKey = response.locals.config.get('OPENAI_API_KEY');

    response.status(200).json({
      message: 'Config loaded securely',
      requestId: response.locals.requestId
    });
  }
);

Core Features:

createRoute - Compose middleware with automatic error handling
createWithConfig - Fail-fast configuration with config.get()
withRequestId - CUID2 request tracking for logging
createWithCors - Explicit origin validation (secure by default)
withServerError - Standardized error responses
createWithAuth / createWithOptionalAuth - Session validation with better-auth

Authentication Middleware

AIDD Server includes optional auth middleware that wraps better-auth for session validation.

1. Install better-auth:

npm install better-auth

2. Configure better-auth (see better-auth docs):

// lib/auth.server.js
import { betterAuth } from 'better-auth';

export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: yourDatabaseAdapter,
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
});

3. Create auth API route (framework-specific):

// Next.js: app/api/auth/[...all]/route.js
import { toNextJsHandler } from 'better-auth/next-js';
import { auth } from '@/lib/auth.server';

export const { GET, POST } = toNextJsHandler(auth);

4. Use AIDD auth middleware in protected routes:

import { createRoute, withRequestId, createWithAuth } from 'aidd/server';
import { auth } from '@/lib/auth.server';

const withAuth = createWithAuth({ auth });

// Protected route - returns 401 if not authenticated
export default createRoute(
  withRequestId,
  withAuth,
  async ({ response }) => {
    const { user } = response.locals.auth;
    response.json({ email: user.email });
  }
);

Optional auth for public routes that benefit from user context:

import { createWithOptionalAuth } from 'aidd/server';

const withOptionalAuth = createWithOptionalAuth({ auth });

// Public route - user attached if logged in, null otherwise
export default createRoute(
  withOptionalAuth,
  async ({ response }) => {
    const user = response.locals.auth?.user;
    response.json({
      greeting: user ? `Hello, ${user.name}` : 'Hello, guest'
    });
  }
);

Passkey authentication (passwordless):

npm install @better-auth/passkey

// lib/auth.server.js
import { betterAuth } from 'better-auth';
import { passkey } from '@better-auth/passkey';

export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: yourDatabaseAdapter,
  plugins: [passkey()],
});

// API route: Register passkey (requires authentication)
import { createRoute, createWithAuth } from 'aidd/server';
import { auth } from '@/lib/auth.server';

const withAuth = createWithAuth({ auth });

export default createRoute(
  withAuth,
  async ({ request, response }) => {
    const { user } = response.locals.auth;
    
    // User is authenticated, register their passkey
    const result = await auth.api.addPasskey({
      body: { name: `${user.email}'s passkey` },
      headers: request.headers,
    });
    
    response.json(result);
  }
);

// API route: List user's passkeys
export default createRoute(
  withAuth,
  async ({ request, response }) => {
    const passkeys = await auth.api.listPasskeys({
      headers: request.headers,
    });
    response.json({ passkeys });
  }
);

📖 See complete Server Framework documentation →

🛠️ AIDD CLI Reference

The AI Driven Development (AIDD) CLI tool clones the complete AI agent orchestration system to any directory.

Installation & Usage

# Recommended: Use npx (no installation required)
npx aidd [target-directory] [options]

# Alternative: Global installation
npm install -g aidd
aidd [target-directory] [options]

Command Options

Option	Description
`target-directory`	Directory to create `ai/` folder in (defaults to current)
`-f, --force`	Overwrite existing `ai/` folder
`-d, --dry-run`	Show what would be copied without copying
`-v, --verbose`	Provide detailed output
`-c, --cursor`	Create `.cursor` symlink for Cursor editor integration
`-i, --index`	Generate `index.md` files from frontmatter in `ai/` subfolders
`-h, --help`	Display help information
`--version`	Show version number

Examples

# Basic usage
npx aidd                    # Current directory
npx aidd my-project        # Specific directory

# Preview and force options
npx aidd --dry-run         # See what would be copied
npx aidd --force --verbose # Overwrite with details

# Cursor editor integration
npx aidd --cursor          # Create .cursor symlink
npx aidd my-project --cursor --verbose

# Generate index files
npx aidd --index           # Regenerate ai/ index.md files
npx aidd --index --verbose # Show all generated files

# Multiple projects
npx aidd frontend-app
npx aidd backend-api

📁 AI System Structure

After running the CLI, you'll have a complete ai/ folder:

your-project/
├── ai/
│   ├── commands/              # Workflow commands
│   │   ├── help.md           # List available commands
│   │   ├── plan.md           # Project planning
│   │   ├── review.md         # Code reviews
│   │   ├── task.md           # Task management
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── rules/                # Agent orchestration rules
│   │   ├── agent-orchestrator.mdc
│   │   ├── javascript/       # JS/TS best practices
│   │   ├── frameworks/       # Redux, TDD patterns
│   │   ├── productmanager.mdc
│   │   ├── tdd.mdc
│   │   ├── ui.mdc
│   │   └── ...
│   └── ...
└── your-code/

Key Components

Agent Orchestrator (ai/rules/agent-orchestrator.mdc) - Coordinates multiple AI agents
Development Rules (ai/rules/javascript/, ai/rules/tdd.mdc) - Best practices and patterns
Workflow Commands (ai/commands/) - Structured AI interaction templates
Product Management (ai/rules/productmanager.mdc) - User stories and journey mapping
UI/UX Guidelines (ai/rules/ui.mdc) - Design and user experience standards

🎯 AI Integration

This system is designed to work with AI coding assistants:

Cursor - AI-first code editor
GitHub Copilot - AI pair programmer
ChatGPT - General AI assistance
Claude - Advanced reasoning and code review

The rules provide context and structure for more effective AI interactions.

📋 Vision Document

The vision document (vision.md) is a critical component of AIDD that serves as the source of truth for AI agents working on your project.

Why You Need a Vision Document

AI agents are powerful but need context to make good decisions. Without a clear vision:

Agents may make architectural choices that conflict with your goals
Features might be implemented in ways that don't align with your product direction
Different agents working on the same project may take inconsistent approaches

Creating Your Vision Document

Create a vision.md file in your project root with the following sections:

# Project Vision

## Overview
Brief description of what this project does and who it's for.

## Goals
- Primary goal 1
- Primary goal 2
- ...

## Non-Goals (Out of Scope)
Things this project explicitly will NOT do.

## Key Constraints
- Technical constraints (e.g., must use specific frameworks)
- Business constraints (e.g., must be GDPR compliant)
- Performance requirements

## Architectural Decisions
Major technical decisions and their rationale.

## User Experience Principles
How the product should feel to users.

## Success Criteria
How we measure if the project is successful.

How Agents Use the Vision Document

The AIDD system instructs agents to:

Read the vision first - Before creating or running any task, agents read vision.md to understand project context
Check for conflicts - When given a task, agents compare it against the vision to identify potential conflicts
Ask for clarification - If a task conflicts with the vision, agents will stop and ask you how to resolve the conflict rather than proceeding blindly

This ensures that all AI-generated code and decisions align with your project's goals.

AGENTS.md File

When you run the AIDD installer, it automatically creates (or updates) an AGENTS.md file in your project root. This file contains directives that help AI agents:

Navigate the ai/ directory structure efficiently
Use index.md files to understand folder contents without reading every file
Practice progressive discovery (only reading folders relevant to the current task)
Respect the vision document as the source of truth
Handle conflicts appropriately

🔧 Cursor Editor Setup

The AIDD CLI can automatically set up the AI agent system for Cursor editor users.

Automatic Setup (Recommended)

# Creates both ai/ folder AND .cursor symlink
npx aidd --cursor

# This creates:
# ai/           <- The complete AI system
# .cursor -> ai <- Symlink for Cursor integration

When to Use `--cursor`

✅ New projects: No existing .cursor configuration
✅ Cursor editor users: Want automatic agent orchestration
✅ Quick setup: Want everything working immediately

When NOT to Use `--cursor`

❌ Existing .cursor folder: You already have Cursor rules
❌ Custom setup: You want to manually integrate with existing rules
❌ Non-Cursor editors: Using VS Code, Vim, etc.

Manual Integration

If you already have a .cursor folder or use a different editor:

# 1. Clone without symlink
npx aidd my-project

For Cursor users with existing rules:

Reference the rules in your prompts or add to .cursor/rules:

See ai/rules/javascript/javascript.mdc for JavaScript best practices
See ai/rules/tdd.mdc for test-driven development
See ai/rules/productmanager.mdc for product management

For other editors (VS Code, Vim, etc.):

Reference rules directly in your AI assistant prompts:

Please follow the guidelines in ai/rules/javascript/javascript.mdc
Use the workflow from ai/commands/task.md

Troubleshooting

Verify Installation

# Check that ai/ folder was created
ls ai/

# Verify key files exist
ls ai/rules/please.mdc
ls ai/commands/

Common Issues

# If .cursor already exists, use --force
npx aidd --cursor --force

# Preview what --cursor will do
npx aidd --cursor --dry-run --verbose

# Clear npx cache if installation fails
npx clear-npx-cache
npx aidd --cursor

# Check Node version (requires 16.0.0+)
node --version

Updating

# Simply run aidd again to get latest version
npx aidd --force

Uninstalling

# Remove the ai/ folder
rm -rf ai/

# Remove .cursor symlink if it exists
rm .cursor

📄 License

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Follow the Development Workflow above, and see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Start building with AI orchestration today:

npx aidd --cursor

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 197 Commits
.github		.github
.husky		.husky
ai		ai
bin		bin
docs		docs
lib		lib
src/server		src/server
tasks		tasks
utils		utils
.cursor		.cursor
.gitignore		.gitignore
.release-it.json		.release-it.json
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
activity-log.md		activity-log.md
eslint.config.mjs		eslint.config.mjs
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
plan.md		plan.md
release.js		release.js
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
vitest.config.js		vitest.config.js

License

paralleldrive/aidd

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AIDD Framework

Table of Contents

About AIDD Framework

🚀 Quick Start with AIDD CLI

📋 Requirements

Detailed Installation Instructions

Development Workflow

Why SudoLang?

What's Included

🚀 AIDD Server Framework

Authentication Middleware

🛠️ AIDD CLI Reference

Installation & Usage

Command Options

Examples

📁 AI System Structure

Key Components

🎯 AI Integration

📋 Vision Document

Why You Need a Vision Document

Creating Your Vision Document

How Agents Use the Vision Document

AGENTS.md File

🔧 Cursor Editor Setup

Automatic Setup (Recommended)

When to Use --cursor

When NOT to Use --cursor

Manual Integration

Troubleshooting

📄 License

🤝 Contributing

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