Core Development Methodologies

The difference between developers who use AI tools to ship production software and those who abandon them after a week comes down to methodology. The AI is the engine, but without a steering wheel, brakes, and a destination, you are just going in circles.

This section covers the core methodologies that working engineers use every day to build real software with Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. These are not theoretical frameworks. They are patterns extracted from teams shipping production code across startups and enterprises alike.

Why Methodology Matters with AI

AI coding assistants are probabilistic. They generate plausible code, not provably correct code. Without a structured approach, you end up in a loop: generate, spot a bug, regenerate, introduce a new bug, regenerate again. Each cycle burns tokens, time, and trust.

A good methodology gives you three things:

• Predictability. You know what the AI will do next because you told it what to do next.
• Verification checkpoints. You can catch problems at each stage instead of debugging a tangled mess at the end.
• Context efficiency. Structured workflows keep your prompts focused, which means the AI performs better within its context window.

The Methodologies

PRD to Plan to Todo

The foundational workflow for feature development. Transform requirements into a detailed engineering plan, then break the plan into executable tasks the AI can implement one by one.

Test-Driven Development

Write the tests first, then let the AI write the code to pass them. TDD gives the AI an unambiguous definition of success and a built-in verification loop.

Error-Driven Development

Use failures as your primary feedback signal. Instead of trying to prevent all errors, lean into them as the fastest path to correct implementations.

Continuous Delivery

Ship small, verified changes continuously. AI accelerates the cycle from idea to production when you pair it with automated pipelines and incremental delivery.

Human in the Loop

The patterns that keep you in control. Know when to intervene, when to let the AI run, and how to review AI-generated code without becoming a bottleneck.

Agent vs Ask Mode

Every tool offers modes that range from autonomous execution to read-only analysis. Knowing when to use each mode is the difference between productive sessions and wasted context.

How These Methodologies Connect

These are not competing approaches. In practice, you combine them. A typical feature build might look like this:

1. PRD to Plan to Todo to define the work and create your task list.
2. TDD to write failing tests for the first task.
3. Agent mode to let the AI implement the code.
4. Human in the loop to review the implementation.
5. Error-driven development when the tests reveal edge cases you did not anticipate.
6. Continuous delivery to ship the verified change to staging before moving to the next task.

The following guides walk through each methodology in detail, with copy-paste prompts and real workflows for Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex.

Start with PRD to Plan to Todo The foundational methodology that structures every other workflow.