Outline-Driven Development

Vibes are too shallow. Specs are too complex. Let there be the outline.

Beyond specs. Beyond vibes. A versioned outline becomes the contract for every agentic act.

What is Outline-Driven Development
Implementation
Install
Comparison
Status
Contributing
License

What is Outline-Driven Development

Outline-Driven Development is a coding methodology for LLM code agents. It occupies the space between two failure modes: vibes (too shallow, non-reproducible) and specs (too rigid, too expensive to maintain). The unit of truth is a versioned outline whose hash anchors every diff, every test, and every diagram.

The outline is harness-agnostic. One implementation carries it to every agent, and the methodology itself lives here as prompt files that any agent can consume. See PHILOSOPHY.md for the full design rationale and traceability model.

Implementation

odin-claude-plugin is the single source: 613 skills in 28 plugins, authored once and discovered by Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and any Agent Plugins client from the same tree. There is no separate per-agent repository to install or track.

Install

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin
/plugin install odin-core@odin-marketplace

Codex

codex plugin marketplace add OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin
codex plugin add odin-core@odin-marketplace

Cursor

Add the OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin marketplace in Cursor, then:

/plugin install odin-core

Cursor reads the Agent Plugins manifest at each plugin root.

Devin

Devin has no marketplace step. It reads project skills from .devin/skills/<skill>/SKILL.md, and this repository carries every skill there as a flat, generated mirror of the plugin tree. .devin/skills/index.json records the plugin each skill came from and the release it mirrors. See .devin/skills/README.md.

Pick your plugins

odin-core is the base installed above. The other 27 plugins are optional, so add the domains you work in and skip the rest. Every one installs the same way, for example /plugin install odin-security@odin-marketplace. Three common additions:

Working on	Add
Everyday code changes	`odin-code`, `odin-run`
Security review and hardening	`odin-security`, `odin-security-advanced`
Research and technical writing	`odin-research`, `odin-writing`

The full domain-to-plugin table, with the skill count per plugin, is in the odin-claude-plugin README.

CLI Tools

See INSTALL.md for CLI tool prerequisites and detailed setup.

Comparison

Aspect	Vibe coding	Spec-driven (Spec Kit)	BMad	Outline-Driven Development
Source of truth	LLM intuition	Spec doc	Behavioral specs	Versioned outline (hash-anchored)
Iteration unit	"Try again"	Spec -> re-prompt	BDD scenarios	Outline node x diff
Validation	Eyeball	Spec compliance	Acceptance tests	Diagram-first invariants + AST
Tooling	Plain chat	GitHub Spec Kit	BMad CLI	One plugin tree for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor
Reuse unit	Conversation	Spec template	Story	Skill / agent / outline
LLM creativity	Unbounded	Bounded by spec	Bounded by story	Bounded by outline; preserved within envelope
Best for	Throwaway scripts	Greenfield features	User-facing flows	Long-lived methodologies + agentic work

Status (2026-09)

odin-claude-plugin 2.0.0 is the single implementation, shipping 613 skills across 28 plugins for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and any Agent Plugins client. The three prompt files were stripped of persona doctrine in early September 2026, so the methodology carries no agent identity of its own. Releases ship from the implementation repository, not from here.

Contributing

Open an issue to discuss ideas or report bugs. PRs improving the methodology, prompts, or tooling documentation are welcome.

Do not edit .devin/skills/ here. Every file under it is written by scripts/sync-outline-skills.mjs in odin-claude-plugin, which also deletes any file the plugin tree no longer carries. Change the skill under plugins/<plugin>/skills/<slug>/ in that repository and run just sync-outline there. The script writes to the sibling checkout ../outline-driven-development by default; node scripts/sync-outline-skills.mjs --target <path> points it elsewhere, and --check reports drift without writing.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Outline Driven Development