swingerman/atdd

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# ATDD — Acceptance Test Driven Development for Claude Code

[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-blue.svg)](LICENSE)
[![Claude Code Plugin](https://img.shields.io/badge/Claude%20Code-Plugin-blueviolet)](https://github.com/swingerman/atdd)
[![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-0.4.0-green)](https://github.com/swingerman/atdd)

A [Claude Code](https://code.claude.com) plugin that enforces the **Acceptance Test Driven Development** (ATDD) methodology when building software with AI. Write human-readable Given/When/Then specs before code, generate project-specific test pipelines, and maintain the discipline of two-stream testing.

**Inspired by [Robert C. Martin's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Martin) (Uncle Bob) acceptance test approach from [empire-2025](https://github.com/unclebob/empire-2025).** The ideas, methodology, and key insights in this plugin come directly from his work and public writings on Spec Driven Design (SDD) and ATDD.

## Why ATDD with AI?

When using AI to write code, two problems emerge:

1. **AI writes code without constraints** — without acceptance tests anchoring behavior, AI can "willy-nilly plop code around" (Uncle Bob's words) and write unit tests that pass but don't verify the right behavior.
2. **Implementation details leak into specs** — AI naturally tries to fill Given/When/Then statements with class names, API endpoints, and database tables instead of domain language.

This plugin solves both problems by enforcing the ATDD workflow and guarding against implementation leakage. The result: **two test streams** (acceptance + unit) that constrain AI development, producing better-structured, more reliable code.

> "The two different streams of tests cause Claude to think much more deeply about the structure of the code. It can't just willy-nilly plop code around and write a unit test for it. It is also constrained by the structure of the acceptance tests."

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