Modern AI coding tools are great at the act of typing code: completions, repo‑rummaging agents, and quick scaffolds. The magic fades when requirements are fuzzy, constraints are hidden, or a design choice unravels weeks later. You don’t need more lines of code; you need better decisions upstream.

Software Isn’t a Sidewalk – It’s a City

Unplanned codebases behave like unplanned cities: brittle, inconsistent, expensive to extend. Civil infrastructure relies on master plans, building codes, and inspections; similarly, scalable software requires precise specs, deliberate architecture, and continuous verification. In mature teams, software architects, product, and platform teams codify requirements in natural‑language specs and diagrams that guide implementation. When we skip these steps (especially with AI doing the typing), we end up with rigid, unmaintainable systems.

Meet Traycer: Planning & Verification for AI‑Driven Development

Traycer is the planning and verification layer that brings specification and architectural rigor before code is generated, and it keeps code aligned with intent as it’s written.

We help you answer, early and explicitly:

• What are we building and why? (scope, goals, non‑goals)

• What are the constraints and trade‑offs? (performance, privacy, scalability, maintainability & operability)

• How should the system be structured? (APIs, boundaries, data models, failure modes)

When those are crisp, any coding agent becomes 10× more reliable. When they’re not, you get code that’s detached from real requirements and misaligned with the rest of your codebase.

How Traycer Works

Traycer orchestrates your AI agents via a flexible workflow in your IDE. For small or well‑scoped changes, jump straight to Plans → Handoff → Verification and skip Phases; for larger efforts, begin with a PRD (or let Traycer gather requirements) before breaking work into Phases:

1. PRD (Intent Capture): Capture what to build and why in a document outside Traycer, or let Traycer quickly gather requirements and proceed to Phases.

2. Phases (Decomposition): Break the work into manageable, logical chunks with milestones.

3. Plans (Tactical Changes): Produce actionable plans for code changes: interfaces, files/services to touch, and acceptance criteria.

4. Handoff (Implementation): Hand each phase’s plan to your coding agent(s). Since the plan is very detailed, the chance of the agent veering off-course is low.

5. Verification (Guardrails & Alignment): Confirm the agent’s changes match the spec (your intent), pass checks/tests, and introduce no regressions.

Traycer presents a guided workflow that begins by selecting the artifact you want from Traycer. Throughout, you remain in control, providing feedback, guiding architectural decisions, delegating to agents, and reviewing the output while being aided by Traycer.

Why This Beats “Vibe Coding”

• Upstream clarity → downstream velocity. Clear interfaces and contracts reduce rework and unblock parallelization.

• Less drift. Verification keeps implementations aligned with the agreed design. No quiet divergences.

• Fewer rewrites. Architecture decisions are explicit, reviewed, and testable, not buried in prompts.

• Lower total cost. Better decisions mean fewer defects and simpler maintenance.

Ship with intent, not vibes

If you’re tired of AI-induced tech debt and regressions, try building with intent. Install the Traycer VS Code extension and plan your next feature through Traycer.