No. 006 · Autonomous Software Delivery
The Software Factory — a PRD goes in, an application comes out.
The system
The Software Factory is an autonomous pipeline that takes a product requirements document — a sentence, a transcript, a full spec — and constructs a working full-stack application. Forty-four steps across nine phases, each phase closed by a validation gate before the line advances: understanding, design, data layer, API contract, backend, frontend, materialization, validation, QA.
It has built seventeen distinct applications end to end — case management, grant tracking, volunteer scheduling, food-pantry operations, and more — with a typical build passing through the line in about an hour, followed by an automated QA report.
The system shipped
An assembly line for software, with gates instead of hope.
PRD Expansion
Rough input — bullets, a transcript — expands into a structured, buildable spec.
44-Step Assembly Line
Nine phases, each closed by a validation gate before the line moves.
Pluggable Runners
Steps execute on full coding agents or stateless model calls, chosen per job.
Automated QA
Every build exits the line with a pass/fail report. Failures are documented, not hidden.
In production
In production, with seventeen applications built end to end — every one leaving the line with an automated QA report.