ASDLC: the Agentic Software Development Lifecycle▌
A structured method for shipping agent systems. Five stages, each with an exit gate, so agentic pace never outruns engineering rigour.
Five stages, five gates
Pin the problem
Define the job, its inputs and outputs, success criteria, and failure modes before a single token is spent.
Design the system
Map boundaries, data flows, failure modes, and security posture before a line is built.
Agents + engineers
Build at agentic pace with human judgement on every change.
Prove it works
Test, eval, and audit as first-class work - not an afterthought at handover.
Run in production
Deploy with observability, then hand over with your team trained to operate it.
# Skipping steps is how impressive demos become unmaintainable liabilities. We have audited enough vibecoded codebases to know.
Inside each phase
Pin the problem
Define the job, its inputs and outputs, success criteria, and failure modes before a single token is spent.
agents draft and stress-test requirements; a human signs off the spec. Clarity first - agents amplify clarity, and chaos.
- exit gate: a specification the whole system can be tested against
Design the system
Map boundaries, data flows, failure modes, and security posture before a line is built.
agents generate and compare architecture options; a human picks the seams and approves the guardrails.
- exit gate: an architecture with defined seams, tools, and guardrails
Agents + engineers
Build at agentic pace with human judgement on every change.
agents scaffold, implement, and iterate; humans review every change and every decision stays traceable.
- exit gate: a working system with a traceable, versioned history
Prove it works
Test, eval, and audit as first-class work - not an afterthought at handover.
agents generate evals and edge cases; humans run red-teaming and audits.
- exit gate: evidence the system is safe and correct before it ships
Run in production
Deploy with observability, then hand over with your team trained to operate it.
agents monitor, flag, and draft runbooks; your team owns the system without us on speed dial.
- exit gate: a production system your team operates confidently
ASDLC vs vibe coding
| ASDLC | vibe coding | |
|---|---|---|
| structure | five explicit stages, each with an exit gate | none - prompt, paste, pray |
| testing | evals, tests, and audits as first-class work | rarely - "it worked on my machine" |
| review | human review on every change, traceable decisions | none or superficial |
| handover | documented, observed, your team operates it | no one is sure how it works |
| failure mode | predictable delivery, an operated asset | impressive demo becomes an unmaintainable liability |
$ book --type discovery --duration 30m --cost $0
Thirty minutes.
Zero dollars. Real answers.
Bring the problem, the half-built prototype, or just the hunch that agents could change how you work. We’ll tell you straight what’s worth building — and what isn’t.
Book a free 30-min discovery call-># no deck, no pressure, no obligation. exit code 0 either way.