Essential Steps for Starting a New Project in the Age of AI-Driven Development

Feeding Documents to AI Editors

AI-driven development has become mainstream.

In AI-driven development, while referencing external sites can improve expected outputs, maintaining project-specific rules in markdown documentation helps achieve more consistent and cohesive outputs.

Here are some recommended documents to prepare and maintain:

cursorrules
ADR
Design Doc

cursorrules

Share rules for cursor in the project to make sure Cursor output is consistent with the project's style.

Directory structure
Technology stack
Project rules and conventions

ref: awesome-cursorrules

ADR (Architecture Decision Records)

Documents important architectural decisions and their rationale.

Changes in implementation approach
Introduction of new technologies

# Purpose  
The problem we aim to solve is XXX.  

# Background  
The background of the problem and the team's situation or strategy for addressing it.  

# Constraints  
Trade-offs and limitations in changing libraries or designs, along with the reasons why certain things cannot be done.  

# Details  
- **Adopted solution**  
- **Alternatives considered but not adopted**  

# Impact  
The potential impact of the ADR decision.  

# References  
Links to related information or resources used as references for the ADR.  

# Author  
The individual or team who proposed and created the ADR.

Design Doc

Design
Implementation strategy
Impact

# Purpose  
The problem we aim to solve is XXX.  

# Goals  
The objectives we want to achieve with this design.  

# Non-Goals  
XXX is out of the scope of this document.  

# Background  
The background of the problem and the team's situation or strategy for addressing it.  

# Constraints  
Trade-offs and limitations in changing libraries or designs, along with the reasons why certain things cannot be done.  

# Problems to Solve  
Specific issues that need to be addressed.  

# Solutions to the Problems  
- **Adopted Solution**  
  - Details including API design, database design, etc.  
- **Alternatives Considered but Not Adopted**  

# References  
Links to related information or resources used as references for the Design Doc.  

# Author  
The individual or team who proposed and created the Design Doc.

Conclusion

Documents that are easy for AI to understand become easy for humans to understand as well.
I want to explore ways to leverage AI's capabilities to achieve faster and higher quality development.

Resources

https://tech.layerx.co.jp/entry/chocoyama/2024/12/23
https://qiita.com/SoarTec-lab/items/c50a931e5cc1a4cb0b59
https://x.com/fukubaka0825/status/1880883230196597065