The tutorial
4Notice, zero to App Store: one real app built with plans, tickets, atomic commits, skills, fastlane, and App Store Connect automation.
Agent Fundamentals
A terminal agent, a kanban board, and plain files in the repository — the complete workflow behind a real software project, from plan to App Store.
The workflow at a glance
Section titled “The workflow at a glance”The project carries its own operating manual in the repository: a
.agent/ folder holds plan, board, skills, and tools as plain
markdown and JSON. The agent reads and writes these files from the
terminal; the apps render the same files for the owner. One state, no
synchronization, everything reviewable in a diff.
| Building block | Role |
|---|---|
| Agent | A terminal agent (e.g. Claude Code) implements tickets, writes tools, and commits — bound by the workflow contract .agent/AGENT.md. |
| Plans | Intent as markdown in .agent/plans/; exactly one plan is active. The agent slices it into tickets on the board (.agent/board/: Backlog → Doing → Done, append-only history per ticket). |
| Skills | Reusable procedures in .agent/skills/ — a trigger description plus checklist-style steps with Verify: lines. |
| Tools | Small programs in .agent/tools/ under a JSON contract (TOOL.md): schema-typed input and output, examples as machine-checked acceptance tests. |
| MCPs | Model Context Protocol servers declared in .mcp.json — capabilities in running processes, such as the allowlisted exec server that runs project commands. |
Two applications orchestrate this state:
- iKanban AI (macOS) — the owner’s cockpit: board, plans, skills, and toolbar actions over the exec server; question protocol and ticket history included.
- Speccify (cross-platform) — source and lifecycle management for
skills and tools: expand → execute → evaluate, provenance in
expansions.yaml— plus its own plans/skills/tools management, so the workflow continues on Windows, where iKanban AI does not run.
Both operate on the same repository. Remove either — the files remain valid, the project remains workable.
Where to go
Section titled “Where to go”Fundamentals
Skills, tools and tool specs, MCPs — the building blocks in detail.
Speccify
Expand, execute, evaluate: from a source of skills and tools to checked implementations.
iKanban AI
The file-based kanban board: plans, tickets, history, and the question protocol between owner and agent.
Practiced, not theorized
Every example on this site comes from a real project running this workflow daily — including this site.