Preview. These maps are our reading of public sources and haven't been checked with the projects' maintainers yet.
Tessl
Started as the 'spec-as-source' company (Tessl Framework + Spec Registry); now a platform for writing, evaluating and distributing agent skills, with spec-driven development as one installable tile.
tessl.ioChanged direction
@tessl/cli 0.118.0 published 2026-10-23, but site now sells an 'agent enablement platform' (skills registry, loops, evals); spec-driven work survives only as a methodology tile (tesslio/spec-driven-development-tile, last push 2026-03-30) (checked 2026-10-25)
In Spec-driven development
Where it stands apart
- Is it actively maintained? active, but changed direction (pivot, fork, or rename) (0% of 19 others)
- How is the main thing licensed? proprietary or closed source (11% of 19 others)
- Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? partly (some features need the maker's servers) (16% of 19 others)
- Do you need an account to use it? optional account (5% of 19 others)
- After implementation, what built-in step keeps specs and code aligned? (if several, the first that applies) a step folds changes back into the specs (17% of 18 others)
- What format are specs written in? markdown with a required requirement syntax (e.g. EARS, SHALL/WHEN scenarios) (17% of 18 others)
- What form does it mainly ship in? a standalone app, IDE, or hosted platform (21% of 19 others)
What it shares with most of the community
- How is it mainly sustained? company with a paid product, tier, or ads (50% of 18 others)
- Who is it for? developers (100% of 19 others)
- Where do specs live? plain files in the project repository (89% of 19 others)
- Which coding agents does it work with? many agents (five or more) (78% of 18 others)
- How is the path from idea to code structured? a fixed sequence of phases (e.g. requirements, design, tasks) (53% of 19 others)
- Does a human approve the spec or plan before code is written? yes, the workflow waits for approval (50% of 18 others)
Not documented
The public sources we read don't say:
- By default, once a plan is approved, how is implementation run?
Nearest neighbors
- Kiro 69% of 16 shared answers match
- *codeplain 50% of 14 shared answers match
- Intent (Augment) 47% of 15 shared answers match
Every answer
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it actively maintained? | stands apart active, but changed direction (pivot, fork, or rename) Pivoted away from spec-as-source toward skills; the product itself is active. | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is the main thing licensed? | stands apart proprietary or closed source CLI license 'SEE LICENSE.md'; the SDD tile is MIT. | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is it mainly sustained? | company with a paid product, tier, or ads Free tier of 1,000 credits/month; enterprise plans. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? | stands apart partly (some features need the maker's servers) CLI and repo artifacts local; registry, evals and workspaces hosted. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Do you need an account to use it? | stands apart optional account Install guide marks "Authenticate with Tessl" as optional; login unlocks full CLI functionality. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Who is it for? | developers | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which shared standard or format does it mainly build on? | Agent Skills (SKILL.md) A platform for writing and distributing agent skills; SDD is one tile. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Once code exists, what is the spec? | a living document kept current alongside the code Tile: spec-before-code rule, review stage 'updates specs with anything newly discovered'. The earlier Framework aimed at spec-as-source. | source 2026-10-25 |
| After implementation, what built-in step keeps specs and code aligned? (if several, the first that applies) | stands apart a step folds changes back into the specs Review updates specs; requirements also link to tests via [@test]. | source 2026-10-25 |
| What format are specs written in? | stands apart markdown with a required requirement syntax (e.g. EARS, SHALL/WHEN scenarios) .spec.md with required YAML frontmatter (name, description, targets) and [@test] links. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Where do specs live? | plain files in the project repository 'writes skills, rules, and config as plain artifacts in your repo'. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which coding agents does it work with? | many agents (five or more) Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Antigravity, Copilot, Gemini. | source 2026-10-25 |
| What form does it mainly ship in? | stands apart a standalone app, IDE, or hosted platform Hosted registry/platform plus CLI; the SDD workflow itself is a tile (prompt pack). | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is the path from idea to code structured? | a fixed sequence of phases (e.g. requirements, design, tasks) Requirement gathering -> approval -> implementation -> review. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does a human approve the spec or plan before code is written? | yes, the workflow waits for approval Stakeholder approval stage; spec-before-code rule. | source 2026-10-25 |
| By default, once a plan is approved, how is implementation run? | Not documented Tile guides the agent; no orchestration described. | source 2026-10-25 |
| What does it offer teams beyond sharing files in git? (if both, pick the paid product) | team features in a paid hosted product Org/private workspaces and registry. | source 2026-10-25 |
Sources
This page was derived from:
- GitHub · github.com/tesslio/spec-driven-development-tile · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.tessl.io · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · registry.npmjs.org/@tessl/cli · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · tessl.io · read 2026-10-25
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