What Is SDD¶
In this project, SDD means specification-driven development in a very practical sense: specification, design, implementation, testing, and safety constraints move forward together instead of being treated as disconnected afterthoughts.
Why SDD Matters Here¶
python-git-reproduction is not a harmless demo script. It reads and writes repository metadata, rewrites working trees, deletes tracked files, updates refs, parses binary formats, and transfers repository data between repositories. That makes it a poor fit for a casual "write first, explain later" workflow.
If a project like this grows without explicit requirements and safety rules, several problems tend to appear:
- repository state transitions become hard to reason about,
- dangerous operations drift into inconsistent behavior,
- tests prove too little,
- documentation stops matching implementation,
- compatibility claims become vague rather than verifiable.
What SDD Means In Practice¶
For this repository, a feature is not considered mature just because code exists. It also needs:
- a clear behavioral specification,
- a coherent internal design,
- tests that exercise real repository state,
- safety boundaries for destructive actions,
- documentation that states both scope and limits honestly.
That is what turns a large requirement set into maintainable engineering work.
The Core Questions¶
SDD in this repository keeps asking the same questions:
- What does the feature promise to do?
- Which files and states does it read or write?
- What can go wrong?
- How is failure handled?
- Which tests prove the behavior?
- Which safety rules prevent the feature from damaging user data?
If those questions are not answered, the feature is incomplete, even if a basic demo appears to work.