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AKILI mascot logo — Dante the dog

AKILI

Cut development time in half without sacrificing quality: constitution-first, spec-driven development for AI agents across Claude Code, OpenCode, and Google Antigravity.

SDD (Spec-Driven Development) is the principle behind AKILI: before any code is written, you agree on a specification — requirements, design, and acceptance criteria — and both people and AI agents build from that contract. It turns AI-assisted work into something traceable, auditable, and repeatable, instead of relying on one-off prompts.

Most developers use AI reactively — pasting prompts and hoping for working code. AKILI replaces that with a disciplined, constitution-first process: durable product context, traceable requirements, and governed releases, all kept in 100% local methodology files. Every change moves through an explicit lifecycle, from constitution to archive, so velocity never costs quality or accrues technical debt.

Version 2.1.0 takes AKILI to enterprise level. A multi-agent harness replaces the single-agent loop: a Leader plans the work, an Implementer writes the code, and a Reviewer audits the result blind — with no access to the Implementer's reasoning — catching hallucinations before they merge. When a review fails, the harness aborts fast and rolls back automatically (git restore), so your repository is never left dirty. Native MCP integrations pull business requirements from Jira and design tokens from Figma straight into your specs, while advanced prompt caching and diff-only reviews cut your team's AI token bill dramatically.

AKILI is portable across Claude Code, OpenCode, and Google Antigravity, is CodeGraph-aware, runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows (Node.js 18+), and ships under the MIT license. Install it from NPM and be productive in seconds: akili init runs an interactive setup wizard, the --local flag installs agents isolated per project, and the classic akili install, update, list, and doctor commands keep your setup healthy.

Continuous improvement · 改善

Kaizen: the methodology that learns

Other methodologies execute specs. AKILI learns from every one.

AKILI embeds the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen (改善 — kai, change; zen, better) as an executable step, not a slogan. Every time a spec is archived, AKILI automatically runs a bounded retrospective: it measures the waste (MUDA) in the spec's own evidence — Reviewer rework, pivots, bugs, and severe findings — and distills lessons with a named root cause and real evidence (Gemba), never speculation.

Those lessons are standardized into the constitution, templates, and agent guides — always human-approved, always in small steps — and recorded in an accumulative log that the next specs read before they start. The team stops repeating mistakes and the methodology improves with every delivery. This is the meaning of its name: akili is Swahili for intelligence, and intelligence that does not learn is not intelligence.

  1. 1

    Measure

    Hunt the waste (MUDA) in the spec's evidence: rework, pivots, bugs, and validation warnings.

  2. 2

    Learn

    Distill lessons with a named root cause and real evidence (Gemba). Generic lessons are banned.

  3. 3

    Standardize

    Propose small edits to the constitution, templates, and guides — always human-approved.

  4. 4

    Repeat

    The next spec reads the active lessons before it starts, so mistakes don't come back.

And starts over on every spec

Juan Carlos Cadavid at an innovation strategy workshop, writing on a wall of sticky notes
AKILI in practice

The same structured process I apply to code, applied to strategy: collaborative discovery, framed problems, and traceable decisions.

Innovation strategy workshop · Rome

The spec lifecycle

  1. Constitution

    Establish the project-wide foundation — PRD, system design, and detailed design as the durable source of truth.

  2. Propose

    Capture the intent for one bounded change as a lightweight, reviewable proposal.

  3. Specify

    Turn approved intent into full requirements, technical design, and traceable tasks.

  4. Execute

    Implement each task with a Leader → Implementer → Reviewer harness — the Reviewer audits the Implementer blind, and any fail-fast abort rolls back cleanly with git restore.

  5. Validate

    Human review, automated tests, and validation evidence recorded against every requirement.

  6. Archive

    Consolidate documentation, sync the design system, and close the spec.

FAQs

  • How does a project start?

    With my AKILI methodology: a discovery session to understand the problem, then an agreed specification (requirements + design) you approve before any code, followed by verifiable incremental delivery. Nothing gets built without an approved spec.

  • What is SDD (Spec-Driven Development)?

    SDD is a way of building software where you first agree on a specification — what will be built, how, and with what acceptance criteria — and then humans and AI agents implement from that contract instead of one-off prompts. The result is traceable, reviewable, and needs far less rework. AKILI is my open-source implementation of SDD.

  • What is AKILI, your methodology?

    AKILI (AKILI-SPECS) is my open-source methodology that puts SDD into practice with an explicit lifecycle — from constitution to archive — and a multi-agent harness where a Leader plans, an Implementer codes, and a Reviewer audits blind. It installs from NPM as akili-specs and is portable across Claude Code, OpenCode, and Google Antigravity.