What you get
If your AI keeps running off in the wrong direction, asks its questions at the worst moment, or changes things you never asked it to touch, this is what 5D is for.
You say it once
The AI asks its questions up front, while you are in the room. Then it builds without interrupting you.
No surprises at the end
You agree what good looks like before anything is built. Nothing goes live without your sign off.
Changes stay small
Every run records what was asked, what was decided and which files changed. Ask for a change later and your AI reads that first, so it leaves the rest alone.
Work you can undo
Each run lists its files and commits, so you can see exactly what changed and reverse it without untangling everything else.
It is instructions plus a written record, not a lock. A rushed person can still skip a step, and the record shows when they did.
The method is universal. The process is yours.
AI follows your process, not just your prompts. Three rules make that work, and your AI can enforce all of them.
A clear owner
Every gate has one named person who decides whether the work moves on.
No fuzzy handoff
Each handoff says what is passed on, which decisions were made and what the next stage can rely on.
Go fast, skip none
You can move as quickly as you like. The AI will not start a stage until the gate before it is passed.
Paste the prompt into your AI
Start with the first prompt. It works in Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that takes instructions. Then use the stage prompts when you reach each stage.
Where you are in the room
You and the AI shape the work together at the start, the AI builds on its own, and you decide at the end.
Define and Design
You tell the AI what you want. It asks questions, designs it, plays it back and puts everything in one build pack. You sign off when it has understood you.
Develop
The AI builds on its own, without asking. It comes back only for an exception you agreed, or when every acceptance criterion is met.
Deploy
The stakeholder signs off that it is ready. If it does not match or does not work, it aborts and goes back to Define. When it is live and working, it is done done.
Drive
A checklist of how you check it is any good: golden hour checks first, then measures over time. What you learn feeds the next Define.
Directing your coding agent
Plan and act is two stages. Real work has five. Clone the repository and your agent keeps a folder for every run: the brief, the decisions, the files it changed and how to reverse them. It asks in Define and Design, builds on its own, and waits for your sign off before anything goes live. When you ask for a change later, it reads how the thing was built first, so it changes what you asked for and leaves the rest alone.
Claude Code
Clone the repository and open it. CLAUDE.md hands your agent the rules in AGENTS.md.
Codex, Cursor and others
Clone the repository and open it. They read AGENTS.md on their own.
You stay in control
The agent cannot approve Define, Design or Deploy itself. You move from doing to directing, so direct.
Five stages, one gate each
The stages are the same for every team. What you write at each one is yours.
Open on GitHub
Everything here is free to use. It lives in one repository, so you can read it, clone it, or start a new project from it as a template. Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for.
1. Clone it
Clone the repository, or use it as a template for a new project. In a chat AI with no files, paste the first prompt instead.
2. Open it with your AI
Your coding agent reads the rules from AGENTS.md. Each piece of work gets its own folder under runs/.
3. Say "use 5D"
The agent asks its questions up front, builds on its own, and brings the result to you to sign off.
AGENTS.mdThe rules, in one place. CLAUDE.md points to it.runs/One folder per run: the brief, decisions, files changed and how to reverse it.5D.mdYour standing answers and an index of every run.docs/How it works, what each stage produces and the question bank.prompts/Paste into any chat AI. Start with the first one.examples/A filled in sample run, so you can see what the record looks like.LICENSECC BY 4.0. Use it, adapt it, credit it.
Free to use. Prompts, templates and docs are CC BY 4.0. The name, logo and artwork are not licensed for reuse.
Want it built into your team? I run it as an eight session workshop, using your own tools and your own work. Find out more at techshin.com.
View on GitHub Read the manifesto