Hands-on Coding Assistants

A Developer's Workflow for AI-Assisted Engineering

AI coding tools can write code for you. But writing code was never the bottleneck — making the right decisions, catching bad suggestions before they compound, and maintaining quality across a real codebase is. Most developers use these tools on autopilot. This series shows you how to use them with intention.

Across 19 chapters, 6 modules, and a references appendix, you'll learn a repeatable workflow built on three practices: Spec-Driven Development, the Plan → Build mode of AI agents, and a portable harness of skills, instructions, and agent profiles — then apply it hands-on to every stage of the development cycle: from writing your first spec to shipping a full feature with multi-agent collaboration, automated code review, security hooks, and measurable impact.

What you'll walk away with

  • A spec-first workflow — Spec-Driven Development + Plan→Build mode — that prevents the "accept all" trap and keeps you in control of quality.
  • A portable harness: custom agents, instruction files, and skills tailored to your codebase so the AI knows your conventions before you even type a prompt.
  • Practical workflows for test generation, code review, debugging, refactoring, and documentation — the daily tasks where AI delivers the most measurable value.
  • MCP integrations and hooks that extend what the AI can access and automate, from external APIs to pre-execution security validation.
  • Governance, security, and impact measurement strategies so you can adopt AI tools at team and org level with confidence.
  • An end-to-end final project where you run the complete spec-first workflow on a real codebase, measured from start to finish.

Every chapter is hands-on: real repos, real tools, real trade-offs. No filler, no hype — just the engineering discipline that makes AI assistants actually useful.

Module 00 — Foundations & Philosophy

Core concepts, the spec-first workflow, setup, and the harness overview.

Module 01 — Agent Customization

Custom agents, AGENTS.md, repository instructions, and agent skills.

Module 02 — AI in the Daily Development Cycle

Test generation, code review, debugging, refactoring, and documentation.

Module 03 — Extensibility & Integrations

MCP (Model Context Protocol), hooks, validation, and agent automation.

Module 04 — Security, Governance & Impact Measurement

AI-first security, governance, IP policy, impact metrics, and continuous improvement.

Module 05 — Full Cycle

End-to-end final project applying the complete spec-first workflow on a real codebase.

Appendix

  • References
    All external references cited throughout the Hands-on Coding Assistants series, organized by category.

License & Attribution
This series content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) . You are free to share and adapt this material for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you give appropriate credit.

Please cite as: "Hands-on Coding Assistants" by William Oliveira — woliveiras.com