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Show HN: Primer – build software with AI agents one milestone at a time

3 points by armen99 7mo ago

jryan49 7mo ago
Have you seen openspec, or any of the others in this space?
- armen99 7mo ago
  Yes. They are trying to make AI-assisted development more structured. I am focusing with Primer more on learning-path oriented side. It means breaking things into small, verifiable milestones that one completes step by step, rather than defining a full spec upfront.
  - armen99 7mo ago
    That said I think there is definitely overlap and I am interested in borrowing ideas where it makes sense.
armen99 7mo ago
[dead]
SilentEditor 7mo ago
[flagged]
- armen99 6mo ago
  Thank you! Completely agree with you. Milestone size is basically tuned around one question: "can the user verify this in a short time without ambiguity?" If it is smaller than that, it becomes noise and hurts progress. If it is larger, people get stuck in a blob of work and lose the sense of forward motion. So the target is usually one meaningful capability change with one clear check - not a pile of subtasks and not a full feature. On progress, I think completed milestones should stay as the primary unit because that keeps the system honest. But retries and failed attempts still matter as signal and we don't track them. I would not count them as progress in the same sense, but I would track them as learning/debugging history, like where people got stuck, how many tries something took and whether a milestone needs to be split or clarified. That is useful both for the user and for improving the recipe indeed. Great point! And yes, I think mixing learning-path mode and spec mode inside the same project is important. A lot of real work starts milestone-first when you are learning the domain, then becomes spec-first once you know what you are building. So the model I like is one project with two views. Right now, Primer supports learner and builder tracks for the whole project/recipe. I would like to incorporate your feedback and allow switches between tracks.
huss-mo 7mo ago
Planning and specs are what makes AI capable and reliable
- armen99 6mo ago
  Agree. Right now, AI models are kind of at a plateau, so harnesses are really important.
preston25 7mo ago
How do you think Primer will evolve as agents get better at long-horizon tasks? The milestone and verification loop make sense now as agents fail unpredictably on complex tasks. Do tasks just get bigger and milestones scale with them?
- armen99 6mo ago
  [dead]

3 points by armen99 7mo ago

jryan49 7mo ago

Have you seen openspec, or any of the others in this space?

armen99 7mo ago
Yes. They are trying to make AI-assisted development more structured. I am focusing with Primer more on learning-path oriented side. It means breaking things into small, verifiable milestones that one completes step by step, rather than defining a full spec upfront.
- armen99 7mo ago
  That said I think there is definitely overlap and I am interested in borrowing ideas where it makes sense.

armen99 7mo ago

[dead]

SilentEditor 7mo ago

[flagged]

armen99 6mo ago
Thank you! Completely agree with you. Milestone size is basically tuned around one question: "can the user verify this in a short time without ambiguity?" If it is smaller than that, it becomes noise and hurts progress. If it is larger, people get stuck in a blob of work and lose the sense of forward motion. So the target is usually one meaningful capability change with one clear check - not a pile of subtasks and not a full feature. On progress, I think completed milestones should stay as the primary unit because that keeps the system honest. But retries and failed attempts still matter as signal and we don't track them. I would not count them as progress in the same sense, but I would track them as learning/debugging history, like where people got stuck, how many tries something took and whether a milestone needs to be split or clarified. That is useful both for the user and for improving the recipe indeed. Great point! And yes, I think mixing learning-path mode and spec mode inside the same project is important. A lot of real work starts milestone-first when you are learning the domain, then becomes spec-first once you know what you are building. So the model I like is one project with two views. Right now, Primer supports learner and builder tracks for the whole project/recipe. I would like to incorporate your feedback and allow switches between tracks.

huss-mo 7mo ago

Planning and specs are what makes AI capable and reliable

armen99 6mo ago
Agree. Right now, AI models are kind of at a plateau, so harnesses are really important.

preston25 7mo ago

How do you think Primer will evolve as agents get better at long-horizon tasks? The milestone and verification loop make sense now as agents fail unpredictably on complex tasks. Do tasks just get bigger and milestones scale with them?

armen99 6mo ago
[dead]