Xaden

A tool-agnostic starter for AI-Driven Development that keeps quality, security and traceability under control. Works with Claude Code, ChatGPT, Aider, Cline, Continue, Cursor, Codex, Copilot and local models (Ollama, LM Studio).

How Xaden maps to the AI-Driven Development Manifesto, and where it does not.

Everything a new project receives lives in template/. Paths in the table are relative to it.

What you get

Need	Solution
One rule set for every LLM	AGENTS.md (+ CLAUDE.md imports it, other tools get pointer files)
Clean code	Rules in AGENTS.md, details in docs/clean-code.md, review/refactor prompts
Static analysis	scripts/check.sh: shellcheck, gitleaks, semgrep, per-stack linters/type/audit (Python, Node)
Security	docs/security.md, /xaden-security and tool-agnostic prompts/security-review.md (OWASP WSTG based)
Requirements tracking	xaden/requirements/: one file per requirement in epic folders, functional ones as Jobs To Be Done, quality ones as measurable goals; validated by scripts/check-requirements.sh; the AI must update them when scope changes
Semantic versioning	VERSION, CHANGELOG.md, Conventional Commits hook, scripts/release.sh
User + admin docs	docs/user-guide.md, docs/admin-guide.md (install, system requirements, config, hardening, upgrade); filled by /xaden-docs, structure checked by scripts/check-docs.sh (not content), release blocked while incomplete
Fewer invented rules/requirements	Numbered rules (CC-nn) and requirements (REQ-nnn); Claude Code imports them into every session; scripts/req.sh lookup; commit hook and traceability check reject unknown IDs. scripts/context-status.sh fingerprints the files the assistant started from: a consistency aid, not proof it read or followed them
User personas	docs/personas/: 3 to 5 personas, created prefilled by scripts/persona.sh new or /xaden-persona; assistants check every solution against them
Git	New projects get their own repo with hooks installed
An existing repository	xaden project adopt adds Xaden beneath it on a branch: a visible xaden/ folder, a marked block in AGENTS.md, your own tests, linters, hooks and CI reused, existing findings baselined; xaden project remove takes it out again
One Xaden version per team	xaden/xaden.conf pins the version and a checksum; xaden core doctor, xaden core fetch and xaden project pin keep the team on one reviewed version; nothing downloads without your yes
A new project	xaden project create creates the same xaden/ layout xaden project adopt gives an existing repository
A new project in one step	xaden project create --autopilot sets up the recommended checks, hooks and CI for Python or Node after one confirmation
Obsidian	Open the folder as a vault; prompts have frontmatter, wikilinks, a template folder

Start here: GETTING-STARTED.md — prerequisites, creating a project, kickoff, features, release, and updating existing projects.

Layout

template/             the product: copied 1:1 into every new project
  AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md .aider.conf.yml .clinerules .continue/ .github/ .claude/ .obsidian/
  prompts/            prompt library (open template/ or a project as Obsidian vault)
  docs/               user-guide, admin-guide, requirements, ADRs, clean-code, security, local-llm
  scripts/            setup, check, release, hooks, req, context-status, stacks/
scripts/              scaffold tools: xaden + install (+ get-xaden, the one-line installer), create, adopt (+ adopt-scan, adopt-lib), fetch (downloads,
                      upgrade), autopilot, setup, check-scaffold, release-scaffold
xaden/                 the scaffold's own requirements, security reviews, threat model and decisions (it adopts itself)
inbox/                local drop zone (git-ignored contents)
tests/smoke.sh        end-to-end test: generates a project and exercises its tooling;
                      areas in tests/smoke/ (one per epic), run one: tests/smoke.sh <area>
AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md   rules for maintaining the scaffold

Maintaining the scaffold

scripts/setup.sh              # maintainer hooks (.githooks/) + tool check
scripts/check-scaffold.sh     # full check incl. smoke test (pre-commit runs --staged)
scripts/release-scaffold.sh minor     # add --check to run the full check first

License

The scaffold is released under the MIT License. Projects you generate do not inherit it: template/ contains no license file, so choose one for each project.