Direct your agents
Know when a job is really done.
Each spec ends with a short checklist. Your agent checks every line and leaves a receipt you can follow.
Without it
My agent says it's done, and I can't tell what it checked.
It was merged, so I assumed it was live.
I find out something broke when a customer tells me.
Done When
The checklist sits at the end of the spec.
Every agent reads the same Done When lines
What your agent does before it ships.
Each line is checked on its own, so you can see what was proved and what wasn't.
- Write each line as given a state, when an act, then something you can check.
- Check each line and record a receipt: a test, staging, production or by hand.
- Ship, and say which lines it couldn't check.
You stay in control
An unchecked line is your call.
Receipts don't block a ship. A line that couldn't be checked is said so on the spec, so you decide: fine for now, or worth doing before you tell anyone. Annsa never deploys, and a merged pull request that names the priority marks it shipped.
What's inside
- Spec
- Five sections: Problem, Evidence and direction, What to build, Files to touch, Done When
- Who writes it
- You, your agent or Ask. Annsa never writes a spec on its own.
- Agents
- Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and Grok, over MCP
- MCP tools
- Four: annsa.priorities, annsa.spec, annsa.act and annsa.ask
- Rate limit
- 1,000 an hour over MCP
Questions people ask.
Q1
What is a Done When line?
One line at the end of a spec in the form: given a state, when an act, then something you can check. Whoever holds the job writes it, you or your agent.
Q2
What is a receipt?
A record of how one line was checked, saved with annsa.act verify. It says whether the check was a test, on staging, in production or done by hand.
Q3
Does an unchecked line stop a ship?
No. Receipts don't block a ship. Any line that couldn't be checked is said so on the spec, and what that means is your call.
Q4
Does a merged PR mean it is live?
No. Annsa never deploys. A merged pull request that names the priority marks it shipped, and deploying stays yours.