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The Engineering Cadence

A committed scope, designed once, built in waves, and verified against the plan.

Last updated 2026-08-22

Four seasons, and only two of them are about code. That is the point of the cadence: Plan and Design are where scope stops moving, so that Implement and Test can be about building rather than re-deciding.

The two halves want different tools. Planning and design work is Leefy's — growing the tree, producing the briefs, locking the decisions. Implementing and verifying is your coding agent's, and Leefy's job there is to hold the order: one wave, one slice at a time, each briefed from what the earlier seasons settled.

  1. 1

    Pin down the scope

    Produce

    Say what gets built and why, and bear the season its product brief. Scope that is still moving in Implement is scope that was never really pinned.

    You’re here when: The trunk holds an intent, but nothing yet states what is in and what is out.

  2. 2

    Decide how it works

    Plan session

    Settle interfaces, data and structure before code. A plan session grounds this in the repo and returns briefs you can accept — this is the season where a coding agent plans and does not build.

    You’re here when: Scope is agreed, but how it will actually work is still open.

  3. 3

    Build it in one wave

    Code Mode

    Press Code Mode. Your coach groups everything ready to build into one ordered wave, and the rail then walks it — brief, hand off, paste back, next — so you are never hunting the tree for what comes after what.

    You’re here when: The design is settled and several nodes are ready to build.

  4. 4

    Verify against the plan

    Code Mode

    Run a second wave for what verification needs — the failures, the gaps, the fixes. Watch each session’s premise check: anything the brief got wrong is where the plan and the repo actually disagreed.

    You’re here when: The increment exists and the question is whether it does what the plan said.