pattern-test-driven-development

Pattern: Test-driven development (red-green-refactor)

Write a failing test first (red), make it pass with the simplest code (green), then refactor — repeat. Gives the agent ground-truth feedback before it commits to an implementation, a direct answer to “the code doesn’t work.”

Applied by (backlinks)

Matt Pocock — Skills for Real Engineers:

• mp-tdd — dedicated red-green-refactor skill.

GSD:

• gsd-plan-phase — --tdd mode plans test-first RED-GREEN cycles.

Addy Osmani — Agent Skills:

• addy-tdd — dedicated red-green-refactor skill.
• addy-test-engineer — writes and drives the tests.

Spec Kit:

• speckit-implement — TDD is “NON-NEGOTIABLE”: tests are written and must fail (Red) before implementation code.

BMAD:

• bmad-dev-story — implements each story test-first; its persona bmad-dev (Amelia) is “disciplined in Kent Beck’s TDD.”

gstack:

• gstack-qa — auto-generates a regression test for every fix; /ship bootstraps a test framework and audits coverage (100% goal).

Superpowers:

• sp-test-driven-development — the dedicated RED-GREEN-REFACTOR skill; Iron Law “no production code without a failing test first,” enforced by delete-and-restart.
• sp-writing-plans — bakes the test-first micro-loop directly into every plan task’s steps.
• sp-writing-skills — applies red-green-refactor to skill authoring itself (baseline subagent failure → write skill → watch it comply).

Now a strong multi-framework cluster. Spec Kit is the strictest by mechanism — test-first is mandated by the project constitution (Article III) — while Superpowers matches its non-negotiability by rhetoric: any production code written before its test must be deleted and rewritten from the test.

See Also

• pattern-systematic-debugging — the sibling feedback loop for bugs.
• stage-implement — the stage where this applies.