Design and define company-wide AI-augmented development workflow, aligned with the Coherence Model

[rozagerardo]

General Goal

Design and establish a multi-level AI-augmented development workflow for Hypha that:

• Gives the technical/dev layer a structured, SDD-based workflow any contributor can adopt
• Connects that technical layer to the organizational context layer (shared living knowledge)
• Aligns both with the V3 Coherence Model so the workflow isn't a separate system — it's an expression of how Hypha already says it works

Background

As Hypha's technical team grows and the platform matures, there is an opportunity — and a need — to formalize how technical work is structured and executed: from how a feature is first specified, through implementation, to review and delivery.

Hypha has the V3 Coherence + Knowledge Models as its operating framework, but no defined workflow that connects day-to-day technical work to that framework.

This matters on two levels:

1. Quality: AI-augmented development (Cursor, Claude, Copilot) produces inconsistent results without a disciplined workflow. Spec-Driven Development (SDD) is an emerging methodology specifically designed to address this — write a clear spec first, derive tests from it, implement against it, review against it.
2. Coherence: the how of building should reflect and reinforce Hypha's own operating model. Technical work structured around specs, commitments, and iterative validation maps naturally to the V3 Coherence Loop (Coherence ↔ Commitments ↔ Action). If we're building a platform for coherent organizations, our own technical process should embody it.

This issue initiates the design of that workflow — and investigates whether prior efforts exist that this work should connect to or build on.

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Concrete Goals

1. Audit existing state — does a formal technical workflow already exist, formally or informally? Prior discussions, Notion docs, internal async threads, anything already started on this?
2. Define the development lifecycle — a repeatable workflow covering:
   • Feature specification (spec-first, with explicit data contracts, acceptance criteria, integration boundaries)
   • Implementation (AI-augmented, with quality guardrails: iteration caps, static analysis gates, dependency verification)
   • Review (structured and boundary-first, not line-by-line-first)
   • Delivery, iteration, and knowledge capture
3. Connect to the Coherence Model — map workflow phases explicitly to the Coherence Loop so technical work is legible within Hypha's organizational operating model, not siloed from it. Specifically: where does spec-writing sit in the loop? Where does the Commitment Gate apply? Where does Action end and Coherence feedback begin?
4. Identify tooling and process gaps — what is missing in current tooling, templates, or documentation to support this workflow at the team level?

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Scope

• This is a design and analysis issue. The output is a workflow document + recommendations, not implementation code.
• Scope: the development workflow (spec → implement → review → ship). Not product roadmap or governance decisions.
• Forward-compatible with the platform's own features (MCP, coherence package, agreements) where relevant — the workflow should be able to use the platform it helps build.

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Questions to Investigate Before Designing

• Is there an existing internal workflow definition or prior art on this (even partial)?
• What is the current thinking on connecting technical work to the Coherence Model from the tech team's perspective?
• How does the current way technical work is initiated (quests, proposals, agreements on the platform) connect to — or diverge from — how specs and features are actually built day-to-day?
• Where does SDD (spec-driven development) naturally plug into Hypha's existing structures?

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Acceptance Criteria

• Existing workflow efforts identified and reviewed (or confirmed absent)
• Draft company-wide development workflow defined, covering the full spec → ship lifecycle
• Explicit mapping of workflow phases to the V3 Coherence Loop
• Workflow documented and shared for team feedback
• Gaps, open questions, and next steps identified

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Notes

This work connects to the V3 Coherence and Knowledge Models, and to the broader question of how Hypha operates internally using the platform it builds for others. If a parallel effort on this already exists, the goal is to connect the technical workflow to it rather than duplicate it.

Note: this issue lives in hypha-web for now as there is no dedicated repo for process/organizational work yet — establishing that repo is part of the broader effort this issue initiates.