Outcomes
- In production across my own client work — the same prompt chain scoped the grounded RAG chatbot engagement
- Nine ADRs (0001–0009) document every architecture decision, including the one that killed the MCP server
- Public and installable via the Clownware plugin marketplace
Stack
Context
A Claude Code plugin that walks a fuzzy product idea through the full early funnel — problem definition, personas, hypothesis, user flows, screens, technical spec — and compiles the answers into a spec package an implementation agent can build from. Shipped publicly as a Clownware product.
The Problem
Implementation agents don’t fail because they can’t code — they fail because they guess. AI prototyping without UX rigor produces plausible junk; UX process without AI is slow. Neither failure mode is acceptable when the prototype is the thing that decides whether a project gets funded.
My Role
Designer and builder — the process encoded is the one I run on real client engagements.
Approach
- Encode the rigor into the workflow. Each phase is a skill with defined inputs, outputs, and quality gates; subagents handle the specialized passes.
- The artifact is a spec package, not a chat transcript. A manifest, context (the why), specification (the what), and a docs layer recording what was decided — and what was explicitly excluded — topped with a CLAUDE.md handoff any implementation agent can pick up cold.
- A package that doesn’t hold together doesn’t compile. The compile step cross-checks every entity, flow, screen, and endpoint reference across the spec files, so broken handoffs surface at spec time instead of build time.
- One spec, any starter. The package is implementation-agnostic: the same spec hands off to the Astro or Go performance starter, and the implementing agent builds under that starter’s constitution. The spec says what to build; the starter enforces how.
- Earn the complexity. The first architecture was an MCP server. It was premature infrastructure — a plugin was the right weight. The reversal is documented in the ADR log, not hidden.
- Real-world validation. The same prompt chain scoped the grounded RAG chatbot engagement — the system is exercised by paying work, not demos.
The discipline running through this approach is the site’s thesis: Architecture Is the Interface Now.
What I’d Do Differently
Start with the plugin. The MCP detour cost a rewrite — a useful scar, and the reason “earn the complexity” is now a rule I apply before choosing any infrastructure.