About Coding with Files
What is CwF?
Coding with Files (CwF) is an AI-native workflow system for software developers. It brings structured, file-based task management to AI-assisted development; specifically designed to work with Claude and other large language models via their CLI tools.
The Problem With AI-Assisted Coding
AI coding agents are powerful in short bursts but lose the thread fast. Across multiple sessions on a real project, you spend more time re-explaining context than actually building; what decisions were made, why, and where things stand. Context windows fill, sessions reset, and the agent starts contradicting earlier work. For solo developers shipping serious software, this is a constant tax.
What CwF Does
Coding with Files externalises that context into structured markdown files that live in your repo. Each task gets an implementation guide; step-by-step documents the agent reads, picks up, and continues without being re-briefed. A feature like “add OAuth login” becomes a directory with separate files for planning, design, implementation, and testing. The agent always knows where it is, even after a restart.
Why the Structure Matters
CwF enforces typed workflow steps (plan, design, implement, test, ship) and matches them to the task type. A hotfix skips the design step; a new feature doesn’t. This prevents the classic AI failure mode of jumping straight to code before the problem is understood. It also uses token-efficient context inheritance, so subtasks get just enough parent context to stay aligned without being overwhelmed; reducing context overhead by up to 80% in some steps of task execution.
CwF gives the solo developer + AI agent pairing the discipline that software teams enforce through standups, code review, and project management. It turns your AI coding agent from a smart but forgetful assistant into a structured, accountable engineering partner.
On Dan Shapiro’s Five Levels of AI Software Development, CwF is designed to operate at Level 3 (Developer as Manager); you direct the agent through structured steps and review its work rather than writing code yourself, with the system targeting Level 3–3.3 of that scale.
How It Works
CwF organises development work into tasks, each with a set of workflow step files:
- a-task-plan.md: goals, milestones, risks
- b-requirements-plan.md: functional and non-functional requirements
- c-design-plan.md: architecture decisions
- d-implementation-plan.md: implementation steps
- e-testing-plan.md: test strategy and test cases
- f-implementation-exec.md: actual implementation record
- g-testing-exec.md: actual test results
- h-rollout.md: deployment plan and monitoring
- i-maintenance.md: support and optimisation notes
- j-retrospective.md: variance analysis and lessons learned
Each step is driven by a CwF skill; a structured prompt that guides Claude through that step, reads the relevant context files, and writes the output.
Who Is It For?
CwF is for individual developers and small teams who want the productivity benefits of AI-assisted development without losing structure, traceability, or control. If you work alone with Claude Code and want your AI to maintain consistent context across sessions, CwF is built for you.