Specifications

Think it through before code is written.

Grow a tree of specifications with your AI coding agent. It researches the code, asks what you did not think of, splits the work into stages and builds them one stage at a time.

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21 MCP tools

athenode.lan/p/shop-platform/specifications

shop-platform

- Overview
Specs
- Specifications42
- ToDos6
Agent plugins
- Plugins
- Library
- Imports
SSH Gateway
- Connections
- Live
- History
- Project settings

shop-platform

Catalogue, Completed
Checkout flow, Processing
Cart, Completed
Payment, Prepared
Shipping, Draft
Accounts, Completed

Payment

Prepared

Content
Plan
Questions6

Is the order created before or after the payment?: After the payment succeeds. A failed payment keeps the cart.
Do we need 3-D Secure?: Yes, for every card that asks for it.
What does a guest see after paying?: An order page by link, and the receipt by email.

The workflow

From an idea to a completed specification.

/atn:mindmap, /atn:decompose and /atn:apply come with the standard atn plugin. The apply run also reviews each stage and completes the tree.

Part of /atn:apply: reviewed stages are completed, then their parents and the root.

Your AI coding tool/atn:apply

›/atn:mindmap I want to add a checkout flow

•Find the best place in the tree · Done

•Check feasibility against the code · Done

•Look for dependencies and overlaps · Done

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Should guest checkout skip account creation entirely, or offer it as an optional step? → Optional account step└· Do we need saved payment methods for returning users, or only one-time card entry for now? → One-time card entry└· Should the order be created once the payment succeeds, or before it as a pending order? → Once the payment succeeds

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Which topic should we explore next? → Addresses & shipping

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Should shipping and billing addresses share one form, or stay as two separate steps? → Two separate steps└· Should shipping cost be a flat rate, or live carrier rates? → Flat rate, but free shipping over $50└· Should we ship within the home country only at launch, or internationally too? → Home country only

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Which topic should we explore next? → Discounts & promo codes

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Should a promo code be entered in the cart, or at the payment step? → In the cart└· Can one order use several promo codes, or only one? → One code per order└· Should the free-shipping threshold count the total after discounts, or before them? → After discounts

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Which topic should we explore next? → Finish the mind map

•Wrote the spec "Checkout flow" from your answers and set it to Prepared.

•User answered the agent's questions:└· What should happen with "Checkout flow" next? → Decompose into stages

•Propose stages for "Checkout flow" · Done

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Split "Checkout flow" into 3 stages: Cart, Payment, Shipping? → Yes, create these as drafts

•Created 3 draft stages with their clarifying questions.

•User answered the agent's questions:└· Should quantity changes update totals live, or only on an explicit "Update cart" click? → Update totals live└· Should a declined card retry in place, or send the user back to the cart? → Retry in place└· Should each order ship to a single address, or allow split shipments? → Single address

•Write 3 stages from your answers · Done

•3 stages are Prepared and linked in build order: Cart, Payment, Shipping.

•User answered the agent's questions:└· What should happen with "Checkout flow" next? → Apply now

•Applying the 3 stages of "Checkout flow" in build order.

•Plan and implement "Cart" · Done

•Plan and implement "Payment" · Done

•Plan and implement "Shipping" · Done

•The same run reviews each stage

•Cart · Reviewed against its specification: approved

•Payment · 1 finding: a declined card must keep the cart

•Shipping · Reviewed against its specification: approved

•Payment · Fixed in a second round, then approved

•Each approved stage is Completed

•"Checkout flow" is Completed.└CartTotals update live as quantities change; guests can create an account as an optional step.└PaymentOne-time card entry; a declined card retries in place without losing the cart.└ShippingSeparate shipping and billing steps, one address per order, flat rate with free shipping over $50.└GitThe work is on feature/checkout-flow

›Describe the next thing you want to build

Status after this stepCompleted

A tree that grows in depth

From the whole product down to a stage an agent can finish.

Specifications nest as deep as the work needs. A status shows where each one is, and blocked-by links turn the tree into an order of work.

DraftBeing shaped, with questions still open
PreparedAnswered and ready to build
ProcessingAn apply run is building it
CompletedBuilt, with the review your settings ask for

ApplicationOnline shop

FeatureCheckout flow

StagesCartPaymentShipping

Deeper3-D SecureWebhooks

Order of work

1 Cart
2 Payment
3 Shipping

ToDo cards

What comes up along the way is not lost.

Bugs, follow-ups and ideas found while building go to one list, and the next session takes them up by priority.

Anyone can add a card
What an agent finds outside its task can become a ToDo card. Add your own with New card in the console, or ask your agent with /atn:todo-enqueue.
Typed and prioritised
Bug, follow-up, tech debt or idea, with high, medium or low priority. A card keeps the specification it came from.
Dequeue picks the route
/atn:todo-dequeue takes the open cards one by one and asks what to do with each: turn it into a specification, carry it out directly or leave it for later.

athenode.lan/p/shop-platform/todos

shop-platform

- Overview
Specs
- Specifications42
- ToDos6
Agent plugins
- Plugins
- Library
- Imports
SSH Gateway
- Connections
- Live
- History
- Project settings

ToDos

New card

Open6
Done23
Dismissed5

High priority2

BugRestarts in a loopFrom an agent
/atn:todo-dequeueCarry out directly
BugCheckout drops guestsFrom an agent
/atn:todo-dequeueCreate a specification

Medium priority2

Tech debtTwo money formattersYouConvert to specification
Follow-upRefunds for partial ordersFrom an agent

Low priority2

IdeaSave the cart for laterYou
IdeaGift cards at checkoutYou

Routes of /atn:todo-dequeue

A card without a specification

Create a specification
Carry out directly
Skip
Dismiss
Stop

A card with a specification

Continue the mind map on that specification
Skip
Dismiss
Stop

Queue order: priority from high to low, then bug, tech debt, follow-up, idea, then the oldest card first.

Find the specification that already covers it.

Search the tree by words and phrases. Agents search it before they write, so a new specification lands in the right place and links what it depends on.

guest

Checkout flowCartCompleted
Checkout flowPaymentPrepared

Search by meaningAthenode Pro adds search by meaning, with an embeddings service you connect.Pro

For your agent

Specifications and ToDo cards over MCP

Your AI coding tool reads and writes specifications and ToDo cards through the MCP server of the athenode daemon on your machine, or of your Athenode Pro server.

21 tools

specs_blockers_add
specs_blockers_list
specs_blockers_remove
specs_create
specs_delete
specs_get
specs_get_plan
specs_list
specs_qa_add
specs_qa_answer
specs_qa_list
specs_search
specs_set_plan
specs_set_status
specs_tree
specs_update
todos_create
todos_get
todos_list
todos_qa_answer
todos_set_status

Start with one mind map.

Free on your machine, with no account. Run athenode init in your repository, then /atn:mindmap with your first idea.

npm i -g athenode

Install for free

Think it through before code is written.

From an idea to a completed specification.

From the whole product down to a stage an agent can finish.

What comes up along the way is not lost.

Anyone can add a card

Typed and prioritised

Dequeue picks the route

Find the specification that already covers it.

Specifications and ToDo cards over MCP

Start with one mind map.