Summary
Founders using AI coding tools either drown in process frameworks that generate a dozen design docs before any code, or get confidently-wrong CDK/CloudFormation from stale training data that fails at deploy. This skill (aidlc-lite) is a lightweight AI development lifecycle — understand → sketch → build → iterate — that verifies constructs against current AWS docs via the toolkit's MCPs before generating, keeping the align-before-building value of AI-DLC without the ceremony.
Motivation
Founders want working AWS code fast, not a stack of design documents. Full-process AI development frameworks are overkill for a solo founder, and generating IaC from stale LLM memory produces deprecated CDK/CloudFormation that fails at synth or deploy.
Proposed Solution
A process skill at skills/aidlc-lite/SKILL.md: a four-phase loop (understand → sketch → build → iterate) that asks max 3 clarifying questions, sketches services + trade-offs before coding, and verifies constructs with the awsiac/awsknowledge/awspricing MCPs before generating. Opinionated anti-patterns discourage over-process and generating IaC from memory.
Alternatives Considered
customer-ideation covers idea → architecture (service selection); this skill is the downstream build loop once services are chosen. Full AI-DLC fits regulated/enterprise contexts but is too heavy for a founder shipping today.
Open Questions
Whether to add a references/ file with a longer worked example, or keep it single-file.
Drawbacks
Conceptual overlap with customer-ideation on the "ask good questions, don't over-engineer" philosophy — the description must keep the ideation-vs-build-loop distinction clear.
Summary
Founders using AI coding tools either drown in process frameworks that generate a dozen design docs before any code, or get confidently-wrong CDK/CloudFormation from stale training data that fails at deploy. This skill (
aidlc-lite) is a lightweight AI development lifecycle — understand → sketch → build → iterate — that verifies constructs against current AWS docs via the toolkit's MCPs before generating, keeping the align-before-building value of AI-DLC without the ceremony.Motivation
Founders want working AWS code fast, not a stack of design documents. Full-process AI development frameworks are overkill for a solo founder, and generating IaC from stale LLM memory produces deprecated CDK/CloudFormation that fails at
synthor deploy.Proposed Solution
A process skill at
skills/aidlc-lite/SKILL.md: a four-phase loop (understand → sketch → build → iterate) that asks max 3 clarifying questions, sketches services + trade-offs before coding, and verifies constructs with theawsiac/awsknowledge/awspricingMCPs before generating. Opinionated anti-patterns discourage over-process and generating IaC from memory.Alternatives Considered
customer-ideationcovers idea → architecture (service selection); this skill is the downstream build loop once services are chosen. Full AI-DLC fits regulated/enterprise contexts but is too heavy for a founder shipping today.Open Questions
Whether to add a
references/file with a longer worked example, or keep it single-file.Drawbacks
Conceptual overlap with
customer-ideationon the "ask good questions, don't over-engineer" philosophy — the description must keep the ideation-vs-build-loop distinction clear.