v1.1 - Discovery-First Development¶

Released: November 2025

This release transforms DevEnv into a discovery-first development system where requirements extraction precedes all implementation.

Highlights¶

New Skill: discovery-interviewer - 90-minute structured requirements interviews
New Skill: test-generator - BDD/Gherkin test scenario generation
Updated: saas-project-orchestrator now begins with discovery as Phase 0
New Methodology: Scenarios serve as requirements, tests, and documentation

New: Discovery Interviewer Skill¶

The discovery-interviewer skill conducts comprehensive 90-minute structured interviews that extract complete requirements before any code is written.

What It Does¶

Guides you through 8 sections in 90 minutes:

Section	Duration	Focus
Product Vision	10 min	Elevator pitch, value proposition, business model
User Personas	10 min	User types, goals, pain points, journeys
Core Workflows	20 min	Step-by-step actions, data, decisions, errors
Data & Entities	15 min	Things the system manages, relationships
Edge Cases	10 min	Boundaries, concurrent operations, deletions
Success Criteria	10 min	Acceptance criteria, performance targets
Constraints	10 min	Tech requirements, compliance, integrations
Review	5 min	Completeness check, prioritization

Dual Persona Mode¶

The skill operates in two modes:

Interviewer Mode: When you know the answer, it extracts and documents
Product Expert Mode: When you don't know, it provides industry best practices and guides you to decisions

Output¶

A 15-25 page discovery document containing:

Complete workflows with every step documented
Full data model with entity definitions
Edge cases and boundary conditions
Success criteria and acceptance definitions
Technical constraints and integration requirements

New: Test Generator Skill¶

The test-generator skill creates comprehensive BDD/Gherkin test suites from discovery output.

Three-Layer Testing¶

Layer	Coverage	Focus
API Tests	40%	Backend endpoints, business logic
UI Tests	45%	Components, forms, interactions
E2E Tests	15%	Complete user workflows

What It Creates¶

Gherkin .feature files organized by layer
TypeScript step definitions
Cucumber configuration
Traceability matrix (task to test mapping)

Tag System¶

@api @crud @smoke
Scenario: Create project with valid data
  Given I have a valid project payload
  When I send a POST request to "/api/projects"
  Then the response status should be 201

Tags organize tests by:

Layer: @api, @ui, @e2e
Priority: @smoke, @critical, @regression
Type: @positive, @negative, @edge-case, @security

Updated Workflow¶

Before v1.1¶

Orchestrator → Brief → Schema → Backend → Frontend → Features

After v1.1¶

Phase 0: discovery-interviewer → Complete discovery doc
   |
Phase 1: test-generator → Gherkin scenarios from workflows
   |
Phase 2: schema-architect → Extract from discovery + scenarios
   |
Phase 3: product-brief-writer → Synthesize all artifacts
   |
Phase 4: roadmap-planner → Phase scenarios into delivery waves
   |
Phase 5+: Implementation (backend, frontend, features)

Why This Order?¶

Discovery First: Quality here determines quality everywhere
Scenarios Second: Workflows become both acceptance criteria AND automated tests
Schema Third: Extracted from discovery entities + scenario data needs
Brief Fourth: Synthesizes and references other artifacts
Roadmap Fifth: Groups scenarios by priority into delivery phases

Triple-Duty Gherkin¶

Gherkin scenarios now serve three purposes simultaneously:

1. Requirements Specification¶

Feature: Team Invitations

  Scenario: Admin invites new team member
    Given I am an admin of organization "Acme Corp"
    When I invite "newuser@example.com" to the team
    Then an invitation email should be sent
    And the invitation should expire in 7 days

This documents: who can invite (admins), what happens (email sent), business rules (7-day expiration).

2. Acceptance Tests¶

The same scenario becomes an automated test that validates implementation.

3. Living Documentation¶

Scenarios serve as always-current documentation because they're verified by tests.

Coverage Standards¶

Feature Type	Minimum Tests	API	UI	E2E
CRUD Entity	15-20	8-10	5-7	2-3
Authentication	17-22	6-8	8-10	3-4
Payment Flow	15-19	5-6	6-8	4-5

Getting Started¶

Start Discovery¶

"I want to build a SaaS for [your idea]"

The orchestrator automatically calls discovery-interviewer as Phase 0.

Generate Tests¶

"Generate tests for [feature name]"

The test-generator creates Gherkin scenarios with full coverage.

Benefits¶

For Builders¶

Clear target with no ambiguity
Test-driven with automated validation
Less rework from correct requirements upfront

For Quality¶

Complete requirements lead to complete implementation
Edge cases handled from the start
70-80% test coverage standard

For Business¶

Build it right once instead of iterating forever
Clear scope prevents endless scope creep
Validated assumptions early in the process