AIDE Methodology Doc Hub
- aide-spec.md
- aide-template.md
- plan-aide.md
- todo-aide.md
- brief-aide.md — per-module architect's pre-read (deleted post-QA)
- session-aide.md — root-level pipeline-position log (replaces legacy
handoff.aide) - brain-aide.md
- progressive-disclosure.md
- agent-readable-code.md
- automated-qa.md
- cascading-alignment.md
Pipeline Agents
AIDE ships the canonical pipeline agents that aide_init installs to .claude/agents/aide/. Most map to pipeline phases; the explorer is a read-only investigator:
| Agent | Model | Phase(s) | Brain Access |
|---|---|---|---|
aide-spec-writer | opus | spec | none |
aide-domain-expert | sonnet | research | write |
aide-strategist | opus | synthesize | read |
aide-architect | opus | plan | read (playbook + brain) |
aide-implementor | sonnet | build, fix | read (playbook) |
aide-qa | sonnet | qa | none |
aide-aligner | opus | align | none |
aide-auditor | opus | refactor | read (playbook + brain) |
aide-explorer | sonnet | investigation (read-only) | read |
aide-maintainer | sonnet | post-QA cleanup | read (brain — verifies retro promotion) |
The orchestrator (/aide) delegates to these agents by name. Each agent gets fresh context per phase — handoff is via files (.aide, plan.aide, todo.aide), not conversation. The explorer is the exception: it is a non-pipeline agent used for bug tracing, codebase questions, and intent-tree navigation — it never writes files. The maintainer is a precondition-gated cleanup pass: it runs once per closed feature (delegated by the orchestrator after QA passes and the retro is promoted to brain) to delete the per-module ephemerals (brief.aide, plan.aide, todo.aide) and, when the last in-flight feature closes, the project-wide .aide/session.aide.
Skills
AIDE ships two canonical skills that aide_init installs to .claude/skills/:
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
study-playbook | Navigate the coding playbook top-down to load conventions before writing or reviewing code |
brain | Signpost — tells agents when a task needs cross-project knowledge external to the repo, and routes them through /aide:brain |
The aide-architect and aide-auditor agents declare study-playbook in their frontmatter to load conventions before planning. Host teams build their own coding playbook inside the brain — an external, team-shareable knowledge store that the brain skill points at and the /aide:brain command navigates.