What Is Spec-first?
5.0BRAINROT SCORESpec-First An engineering approach where writing the specification is treated as the primary act of software design, with code generation — whether by AI or by hand — following as a downstream, largely mechanical step.
Origin:Companion framing to Spec-Driven Development, naming the mindset shift specifically: the spec is the design artifact worth deliberating over, not the code it produces.
First Seen:2025
Peak Era:2026 (AI Coding)
Aura Impact:+1 Aura (A Spec-First Team That Actually Argues Over the Spec Instead of the Code) / -1 Aura (Calling It Spec-First While Still Reviewing Code Line by Line)
EXAMPLE USAGE
"We're spec-first now, code review is basically just checking it matches the doc."
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