DevSpark

Build high-quality software faster with AI-driven lifecycle management.

Current Release: v2.5.0

An Adaptive System Life Cycle Development (ASLCD) Toolkit — agent-agnostic, multi-user, and full-lifecycle. DevSpark combines specification-driven development with constitution-powered quality assurance and right-sized workflows for tasks of any complexity.

Three Pillars

🔀 Agent-Agnostic by Default

Every AI coding assistant is a first-class citizen. Stock command prompts live in .devspark/defaults/commands/, repository overrides live in .documentation/commands/, and each platform receives only thin shims. Switch agents, use multiple agents on the same project, or onboard new team members on different tools.

👥 Multi-User Personalization

Teams share prompts, but individuals can customize any command via /devspark.personalize. Personalized overrides live in .documentation/{git-user}/commands/, are committed to git, and take priority over shared defaults. Delete the override to revert.

🔄 Full Lifecycle Coverage

From greenfield creation through brownfield discovery, ongoing maintenance, documentation cleanup, release management, and constitution evolution — every phase of the SDLC is supported.

⚙️ Optional Harness Runtime

For teams that want terminal-driven execution, DevSpark also ships an additive CLI runtime for declarative workflow specs, adapter management, validation, tracing, and environment diagnostics. See Harness Engineering for the runtime model and operator guidance.

About DevSpark

Live Site: https://dev.makeboldspark.com

DevSpark is a structured development process for AI coding assistants — 28 slash-command prompts plus helper templates and scripts that give any AI agent a repeatable workflow from requirements through release. Built by Mark Hazleton — Mark Hazleton, Solutions Architect DevSpark is part of the Make Bold Spark portfolio of technical demonstrations.

The ASLCD Vision

Traditional spec-driven development works well for greenfield projects with major features. But real-world development includes bug fixes, hotfixes, brownfield codebases, and documentation that drifts over time. Adaptive System Life Cycle Development addresses these gaps:

Challenge ASLCD Solution
Greenfield bias /devspark.discover-constitution generates constitutions from existing code
Task overhead /devspark.quickfix provides lightweight workflow for small tasks
Documentation drift /devspark.release archives artifacts and maintains living documentation
Repo clutter /devspark.harvest consolidates knowledge and archives obsolete artifacts
Constitution staleness /devspark.evolve-constitution proposes amendments from PR findings
Context management Right-sized workflows optimize AI agent effectiveness

What's Included

Feature Status
Core SDD Workflow ✅ Full support
/devspark.constitution ✅ Included
/devspark.discover-constitution ✅ Brownfield discovery
/devspark.pr-review ✅ Constitution-based PR review
/devspark.address-pr-review ✅ Author-side PR review remediation with commit isolation
/devspark.site-audit ✅ Full codebase auditing
/devspark.critic ✅ Adversarial risk analysis
/devspark.quickfix ✅ Lightweight workflow
/devspark.release ✅ Release documentation
/devspark.evolve-constitution ✅ Constitution evolution
/devspark.harvest ✅ Knowledge harvest and cleanup
Agent-agnostic architecture ✅ Stock prompts + repo overrides + thin shims
Multi-user personalization ✅ /devspark.personalize per-user overrides
Multi-agent support ✅ 17+ AI agents
Multi-app monorepo support ✅ Optional — profile-based inheritance, scoped commands
Harness runtime ✅ devspark harness, devspark adapter, devspark doctor

Getting Started

Follow the Quick Start Guide to bootstrap DevSpark with a single prompt -- no CLI required. For updates, see the Upgrade Guide.

Guides

Full Development → Release Cycle

The recommended command order from first requirements through a tagged release:

Phase 1 — Feature Development

Step Command Purpose
1 /devspark.specify Define requirements (route-aware: quickfix, quick-spec, or full-spec)
2 /devspark.plan Technical architecture and stack choices
3 /devspark.tasks Break the plan into actionable implementation tasks
4 /devspark.analyze Cross-artifact consistency check
5 /devspark.implement Execute tasks — spec status moves to In Progress, then Complete

CLI shortcut: devspark run create-spec chains steps 1–4 automatically and pauses after analyze. Requires the DevSpark CLI.

Phase 2 — Pull Request

Step Command Purpose
6 /devspark.create-pr Draft the pull request with spec and gate context
7 /devspark.pr-review Constitution-based review
8 /devspark.address-pr-review Remediate review findings with enforced commit isolation
9 /devspark.pr-review UPDATE Focused re-review against the fix iteration, then merge

CLI shortcut: devspark run execute-plan chains steps 5–7 automatically and pauses after create-pr. Requires the DevSpark CLI.

Phase 3 — Release

Step Command Purpose
10 /devspark.site-audit Optional final compliance and quality audit
11 /devspark.release --dry-run Preview artifacts to archive and documentation to generate
12 /devspark.release {version} Archive complete specs, generate CHANGELOG, release notes, and bump version
13 /devspark.harvest Post-release cleanup of stale artifacts

Prerequisites before /devspark.release:

  • All tasks.md items checked [x]
  • All spec.md statuses set to Complete
  • All PRs merged and branch synced with main (git fetch origin && git status)
  • Markdownlint passes — the release command blocks on lint errors

See Implementation Lifecycle Guide for sprint cadence, spec status rules, and right-sizing guidance.

Core Concepts

The Constitution

The constitution is the foundational document defining your project's architecture, coding standards, and development guidelines. All DevSpark commands reference the constitution for validation.

  • Create: /devspark.constitution - Define principles for new projects
  • Discover: /devspark.discover-constitution - Generate from existing code
  • Evolve: /devspark.evolve-constitution - Propose amendments
  • Learn More: Constitution Guide

Right-Sized Workflows

Match process overhead to task complexity:

Task Type Workflow When to Use
Major Feature Full Spec Multiple files, architectural impact
Bug Fix Quickfix Single file, clear root cause
Hotfix Quickfix (expedited) Production emergency
Minor Feature Quick Spec or Quickfix Depends on scope

/devspark.specify is the default intake command for new work. It recommends the right route first, then asks the user to confirm or override that recommendation.

Adaptive Documentation

Documentation evolves with your system:

  1. Development: Specs, plans, tasks guide implementation
  2. Release: Artifacts archived, decisions extracted as ADRs
  3. Maintenance: Constitution updated as architecture evolves

Command Categories

Constitution Commands

Command Purpose Guide
/devspark.constitution Create/update constitution Constitution Guide
/devspark.discover-constitution Generate from existing code Constitution Guide
/devspark.evolve-constitution Propose amendments Constitution Guide

Full Spec Workflow

For major features and architectural changes.

Command Purpose Next Step
/devspark.specify Define requirements /devspark.plan
/devspark.plan Technical planning /devspark.tasks
/devspark.tasks Task breakdown /devspark.critic
/devspark.critic Risk analysis /devspark.implement
/devspark.implement Execute tasks /devspark.create-pr
/devspark.create-pr Draft or update the PR with workflow context /devspark.pr-review
/devspark.update-pr Refresh an existing PR description after new commits or review fixes /devspark.pr-review
/devspark.address-pr-review Address open review findings and commit review updates in isolation /devspark.pr-review UPDATE

Lightweight Workflow

For bug fixes, hotfixes, and small features.

Command Purpose
/devspark.quickfix Create, validate, and track quick fixes

Quality Assurance

Constitution-powered quality commands that work independently.

Command Purpose Guide
/devspark.pr-review Review PRs against constitution PR Review Guide
/devspark.site-audit Codebase compliance audit Site Audit Guide
/devspark.critic Adversarial risk analysis Critic Guide

Lifecycle Commands

Command Purpose Guide
/devspark.release Archive artifacts, generate release docs
/devspark.harvest Canonical knowledge-preserving cleanup and archival workflow Harvest Guide
/devspark.repo-story Evidence-based repository narrative generation Repo Story Guide
/devspark.commit-audit Analyze commit history for workflow, hygiene, and delivery signals
/devspark.address-pr-review Address open PR review findings with enforced commit isolation
/devspark.taskstoissues Convert tasks.md into GitHub issues
/devspark.clarify Clarify specification requirements
/devspark.checklist Generate quality checklists Checklist Guide
/devspark.analyze Artifact consistency checking
/devspark.personalize Create per-user prompt customizations
/devspark.upgrade Check installed version and guide safe upgrade Upgrade Guide

/devspark.harvest is the only lifecycle cleanup command documented for ongoing use. /devspark.archive remains as a deprecated compatibility alias.

Optional CLI Runtime

These are terminal commands, not slash commands. They are available when you install devspark via the optional CLI or work from a compatible source checkout.

Command Purpose Guide
devspark harness run Execute a declarative harness workflow spec Harness Engineering
devspark harness validate Validate a harness spec without executing steps Harness Engineering
devspark harness trace Inspect persisted events from a prior run Harness Engineering
devspark adapter list Show built-in adapters and local availability Harness Engineering
devspark adapter default Persist the default adapter in user config Harness Engineering
devspark doctor Check the current machine for harness prerequisites Harness Engineering

Multi-App Commands (Optional)

For repositories containing multiple applications with different platforms or governance rules. Single-app repositories can skip these entirely.

Command Purpose
/devspark.add-application Register a new application in the multi-app registry
/devspark.list-applications Display all registered applications and profiles
/devspark.validate-registry Validate registry schema, references, and consistency

Opt-in only: Multi-app support is activated by creating a registry at .documentation/devspark.json. Without it, DevSpark operates in standard single-app mode with no behavior changes.

Harness Runtime at a Glance

The harness runtime lets you author a YAML or JSON spec, execute it through the CLI, and collect a structured audit trail under .documentation/devspark/runs/.

Typical flow:

devspark doctor
devspark harness validate sample.harness.yaml
devspark harness run sample.harness.yaml --dry-run
devspark harness trace latest

Built-in adapters are noop, manual, claude_code, copilot, and cursor. The saved default adapter is stored in the user config directory, not in .devspark/ or .documentation/, so upgrades do not overwrite it.

Future Direction

DevSpark is actively developed with plans for:

  • Enhanced Debt Tracking - Structured metrics storage and visualization
  • Business Value Alignment - Link features to business goals
  • CI/CD Integration - Run audits as pipeline steps
  • Cross-Project Governance - Organizational-level consistency

Contributing

DevSpark welcomes contributions:

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions.

Credit & Attribution

DevSpark is maintained by Mark Hazleton and the open-source community.

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