AI-DLC Adaptive Workflow Overview

Purpose: Technical reference for AI model and developers to understand complete workflow structure.

Note: Similar content exists in core-workflow.md (user welcome message) and README.md (documentation). This duplication is INTENTIONAL - each file serves a different purpose:

• This file: Detailed technical reference with Mermaid diagram for AI model context loading
• core-workflow.md: User-facing welcome message with ASCII diagram
• README.md: Human-readable documentation for repository

The Three-Phase Lifecycle:

• INCEPTION PHASE: Planning and architecture (Workspace Detection + conditional phases + Workflow Planning) • CONSTRUCTION PHASE: Design, implementation, build and test (per-unit design + Code Planning/Generation + Build & Test) • OPERATIONS PHASE: Placeholder for future deployment and monitoring workflows

The Adaptive Workflow:

• Workspace Detection (always) → Reverse Engineering (brownfield only) → Requirements Analysis (always, adaptive depth) → Conditional Phases (as needed) → Workflow Planning (always) → Code Generation (always, per-unit) → Build and Test (always)

How It Works:

• AI analyzes your request, workspace, and complexity to determine which stages are needed • These stages always execute: Workspace Detection, Requirements Analysis (adaptive depth), Workflow Planning, Code Generation (per-unit), Build and Test • All other stages are conditional: Reverse Engineering, User Stories, Application Design, Units Generation, per-unit design stages (Functional Design, NFR Requirements, NFR Design, Infrastructure Design) • No fixed sequences: Stages execute in the order that makes sense for your specific task

Your Team's Role:

• Answer questions in dedicated question files using [Answer]: tags with letter choices (A, B, C, D, E) • Option E available: Choose "Other" and describe your custom response if provided options don't match • Work as a team to review and approve each phase before proceeding • Collectively decide on architectural approach when needed • Important: This is a team effort - involve relevant stakeholders for each phase

AI-DLC Three-Phase Workflow:

flowchart TD
    Start(["User Request"])
    
    subgraph INCEPTION["🔵 INCEPTION PHASE"]
        WD["Workspace Detection<br/><b>ALWAYS</b>"]
        RE["Reverse Engineering<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        RA["Requirements Analysis<br/><b>ALWAYS</b>"]
        Stories["User Stories<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        WP["Workflow Planning<br/><b>ALWAYS</b>"]
        AppDesign["Application Design<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        UnitsG["Units Generation<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
    end
    
    subgraph CONSTRUCTION["🟢 CONSTRUCTION PHASE"]
        FD["Functional Design<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        NFRA["NFR Requirements<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        NFRD["NFR Design<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        ID["Infrastructure Design<br/><b>CONDITIONAL</b>"]
        CG["Code Generation<br/><b>ALWAYS</b>"]
        BT["Build and Test<br/><b>ALWAYS</b>"]
    end
    
    subgraph OPERATIONS["🟡 OPERATIONS PHASE"]
        OPS["Operations<br/><b>PLACEHOLDER</b>"]
    end
    
    Start --> WD
    WD -.-> RE
    WD --> RA
    RE --> RA
    
    RA -.-> Stories
    RA --> WP
    Stories --> WP
    
    WP -.-> AppDesign
    WP -.-> UnitsG
    AppDesign -.-> UnitsG
    UnitsG --> FD
    FD -.-> NFRA
    NFRA -.-> NFRD
    NFRD -.-> ID
    
    WP --> CG
    FD --> CG
    NFRA --> CG
    NFRD --> CG
    ID --> CG
    CG -.->|Next Unit| FD
    CG --> BT
    BT -.-> OPS
    BT --> End(["Complete"])
    
    style WD fill:#4CAF50,stroke:#1B5E20,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
    style RA fill:#4CAF50,stroke:#1B5E20,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
    style WP fill:#4CAF50,stroke:#1B5E20,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff

    style CG fill:#4CAF50,stroke:#1B5E20,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
    style BT fill:#4CAF50,stroke:#1B5E20,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
    style OPS fill:#BDBDBD,stroke:#424242,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style RE fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style Stories fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style AppDesign fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000

    style UnitsG fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style FD fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style NFRA fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style NFRD fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style ID fill:#FFA726,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:3px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5,color:#000
    style INCEPTION fill:#BBDEFB,stroke:#1565C0,stroke-width:3px, color:#000
    style CONSTRUCTION fill:#C8E6C9,stroke:#2E7D32,stroke-width:3px, color:#000
    style OPERATIONS fill:#FFF59D,stroke:#F57F17,stroke-width:3px, color:#000
    style Start fill:#CE93D8,stroke:#6A1B9A,stroke-width:3px,color:#000
    style End fill:#CE93D8,stroke:#6A1B9A,stroke-width:3px,color:#000
    
    linkStyle default stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

Stage Descriptions:

🔵 INCEPTION PHASE - Planning and Architecture

• Workspace Detection: Analyze workspace state and project type (ALWAYS)
• Reverse Engineering: Analyze existing codebase (CONDITIONAL - Brownfield only)
• Requirements Analysis: Gather and validate requirements (ALWAYS - Adaptive depth)
• User Stories: Create user stories and personas (CONDITIONAL)
• Workflow Planning: Create execution plan (ALWAYS)
• Application Design: High-level component identification and service layer design (CONDITIONAL)
• Units Generation: Decompose into units of work (CONDITIONAL)

🟢 CONSTRUCTION PHASE - Design, Implementation, Build and Test

• Functional Design: Detailed business logic design per unit (CONDITIONAL, per-unit)
• NFR Requirements: Determine NFRs and select tech stack (CONDITIONAL, per-unit)
• NFR Design: Incorporate NFR patterns and logical components (CONDITIONAL, per-unit)
• Infrastructure Design: Map to actual infrastructure services (CONDITIONAL, per-unit)
• Code Generation: Generate code with Part 1 - Planning, Part 2 - Generation (ALWAYS, per-unit)
• Build and Test: Build all units and execute comprehensive testing (ALWAYS)

🟡 OPERATIONS PHASE - Placeholder

• Operations: Placeholder for future deployment and monitoring workflows (PLACEHOLDER)

Key Principles:

• Phases execute only when they add value
• Each phase independently evaluated
• INCEPTION focuses on "what" and "why"
• CONSTRUCTION focuses on "how" plus "build and test"
• OPERATIONS is placeholder for future expansion
• Simple changes may skip conditional INCEPTION stages
• Complex changes get full INCEPTION and CONSTRUCTION treatment