AIDEMD

Code is ephemeral. Intent is law.

Ship code conversationally. A team of specialized agents translates your intent into production quality software through the AIDE cascading intent pipeline.

Paste this into your project's .mcp.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aide": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@aidemd-mcp/server@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

1
Paste this into your project's `.mcp.json`.
2
Restart Claude Code so it loads the new MCP server.
3
Call `aide_init` from the tool palette.
```
aide_init
```

The cost of not knowing

A six-month fractional specialist engagement runs $30,000–$60,000 at the low end (Geisheker Group, 2026). AIDEMD captures the same domain knowledge for free via npx.

How it works

Intent is the contract. Code is ephemeral.

spec-writerTurns research and requirements into outcome-checked intent specs that travel with the repo.

domain expertStudies the domain — internal tools, content production, workflows — and writes findings to the brain.

strategistReads the brain's domain research and distills it into the .aide body sections — context, strategy, good examples.

architectReads the coding playbook from the brain and produces a step-by-step implementation plan.

implementorExecutes the plan top-to-bottom, checks each step, and writes production-quality code.

QAValidates output against the intent spec and produces a fix-loop todo when anything drifts.

alignerVerifies specs across the intent tree are internally consistent — no node contradicts its parent.

auditorAudits existing code against the coding playbook and flags drift before it accumulates.

brain (Obsidian vault) — shared infrastructure

Persistent Obsidian vault shared across every agent and every session. Not a pipeline stage — a knowledge layer the pipeline reads and writes.

domain expert writes findings to brain
strategist reads domain research from brain
architect reads coding playbook and brain
auditor reads coding playbook and brain

Mechanisms

Fix loop: QA produces a todo, implementor fixes one item per session in clean context, QA re-validates.
Resume mid-pipeline: Orchestrator detects state from file existence and picks up where the last session left off.

Not a rules pack

CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursorrules — and why AIDE is mechanically different.

Rules packs

—Flat files appended to every context window
—Static instructions — drift silently as code evolves
—No structure: conventions, warnings, and philosophy in one lump
—Agent cannot verify it followed the rules
—Examples: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursorrules

AIDE

+Intent specs cascade from research through the full eight-agent pipeline
+Cross-project brain persists domain knowledge in an Obsidian vault filed by domain — not trapped in a chat window
+Auto-learning: when the fix loop closes, retro findings promote to the brain — rules packs cannot learn from their own failures
+QA checks every output against the intent spec — drift is caught at the spec boundary, not in review
+Coding playbook: architect navigates a structured convention hierarchy via a dedicated skill — rules packs are flat unstructured text

The mechanical difference: rules packs are static lumps — they cannot update themselves, cannot verify compliance, and cannot learn. AIDE cascades research into outcome-checked intent specs, and when the fix loop closes, retro findings promote to the brain so every future session starts smarter.

Intent cascades through the project tree

Agents read from root to leaf — each spec narrows the parent's intent, so every module carries the full context of the project above it.

content-pipeline/
├── .aide/
│   └── intent.aide  ← project-wide intent
├── src/
│   ├── .aide  ← narrows to content domain
│   └── service/
│       ├── ingest/
│       │   ├── .aide  ← narrows to ingestion
│       │   ├── index.ts
│       │   ├── parseFeed/
│       │   │   ├── .aide  ← narrows to feed parsing
│       │   │   └── index.ts
│       │   └── normalize/
│       │       └── index.ts  (helper — no spec)
│       ├── transform/
│       │   ├── .aide  ← narrows to transformation
│       │   └── index.ts
│       └── publish/
│           ├── .aide  ← narrows to publishing
│           └── index.ts

content-pipeline/

├── .aide/

│ └── intent.aide ← project-wide intent

├── src/

│ ├── .aide ← narrows to content domain

│ └── service/

│ ├── ingest/

│ │ ├── .aide ← narrows to ingestion

│ │ ├── index.ts

│ │ ├── parseFeed/

│ │ │ ├── .aide ← narrows to feed parsing

│ │ │ └── index.ts

│ │ └── normalize/

│ │ └── index.ts (helper — no spec)

│ ├── transform/

│ │ ├── .aide ← narrows to transformation

│ │ └── index.ts

│ └── publish/

│ ├── .aide ← narrows to publishing

│ └── index.ts