Show HN: AI SDLC Scaffold, repo template for AI-assisted software development

A repository template for AI-first software development with Claude Code that organizes the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) into four phases — Objectives, Design, Code, Deploy — each with folder structure, artifacts, and agent instructions that encode what to check, when to check it, and what to do, so that all project knowledge lives inside the repository and a human can supervise at a high level.

It is not a tool, a library, or an application. It is a starting scaffold — you clone or copy it, then fill it in as your real project takes shape.

The scaffold is built on four core principles:

AI-first development model— designed for AI agents doing the work while a human supervises, defines objectives, and steers direction.Everything-in-repo— objectives, requirements, architecture, decisions, and task tracking all live alongside the source code, versioned and always accessible to agents without external tools.Context-window efficiency— hierarchical instructions, two-file decision records, and phase-level indexes minimize how many tokens an agent must load.Decision capture, not suppression— agents decide autonomously within established patterns; all decisions are recorded in the repository for human review and consistency.

For a deeper discussion of the rationale, core principles, and design choices see RATIONALE.md.

npx degit pangon/ai-sdlc-scaffold my-project
cd my-project
rm -f CONTRIBUTING.md CONTRIBUTORS.md LICENSE NOTICE RATIONALE.md README.md
git init && git add -A && git commit -m "Initial scaffold"

degit copies the repository contents without carrying over git history, giving you a clean starting point. It requires Node.js but does not install any dependency in your project. The rm step removes repo-specific files that are not part of the scaffold.

• Download or clone this repository.
• Copy all files and directories (including hidden ones like .claude/) into your new project folder.
• Remove the .git/ directory to start with a fresh history.
• Remove repo-specific files: rm -f CONTRIBUTING.md CONTRIBUTORS.md LICENSE NOTICE RATIONALE.md README.md.
• Initialize a new repository: git init && git add -A && git commit -m "Initial scaffold".

Run in Claude Code: the initialization skill sets up the project description in /SDLC-init CLAUDE.md so agents have the right context from the start. Work through the phases (Objectives → Design → Code → Deploy) using the built-in skills — type / followed by a skill name to automate each step, from requirements gathering to deployment. Alternatively, you can use custom prompts: the CLAUDE.<phase>.md hierarchy provides all the context the agent needs to operate correctly in each phase.