# Spec Driven Development — Chapter 12: The complete SDD cycle
- **Date Created**: 2026-10-05
- **Status**: In Progress
- **Reading Span**: PDF pages 99–111

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## 1. Pre-Reading Briefing
- **Core Question**: What journey does a feature travel from a first idea to code integrated into the project, in what order, and why that order?
- **Key Points to Watch For**:
  - The thesis: you are learning the cycle, not the To-Do app. Note what the author says the unit of the cycle is.
  - The git frame: main → branch → merge, and how commits map to artifacts. Note which parts the author says are optional.
  - Where the constitution sits relative to the loop, and the single place it re-enters.
  - The seven steps, and the split into a minimal core and optional checks. Pin down what question each check asks.
  - How artifacts chain from one step to the next, and what that implies for the conversation history and /clear.
- **Context & Thread from Prior Chapters**: Ch9 and Ch10 built the constitution as governance written before any spec. Here you see where it plugs into the loop. Ch5–6 covered what a spec contains; this chapter places specify among the other steps. Ch9's /clear habit gets its justification.

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## 2. Reading Review & Reflections
- **Prompt Questions**: (pending)

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## 3. Chapter Synthesis
(pending)