What if Code Review Happened Before the Code was Written?

A novel approach to software development was tested where code reviews happen before any code is written, focusing on spec-driven verification to alleviate the bottleneck in the software development lifecycle. In this experiment, an AI agent implemented a medium-scoped software task based solely on a detailed specification, which was pre-reviewed by humans, ensuring that acceptance criteria were met to guarantee code quality. The task involved creating a hierarchical configuration system across several components, and the implementation was divided into phases. A second AI agent verified the code against 65 acceptance criteria, producing a report in mere minutes, highlighting the potential for scaling this method. The experiment found that while AI agents can efficiently generate code, they sometimes replicate or create suboptimal patterns, emphasizing the need for clear specifications and conventions. Although the approach proved effective for well-defined tasks, its applicability to ambiguous or exploratory projects remains uncertain, with ongoing efforts to refine spec-writing to balance precision and flexibility.

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