wtf is ai-project-workflow?

AI Project Workflow, also called APW, is a structured software delivery process built for AI coding assistants such as Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Qoder, CodeBuddy, CatPaw, and TRAE. It exists to solve a specific problem: AI coding assistants often start writing code before requirements, architecture, design, and tests are actually clear, which leads to unwanted features, quietly expanding scope, and tests that get reported as passing without ever really running. The project works by keeping one core set of rules, skills, agent definitions, templates, and schemas as the single source of truth, then generating a lightweight adapter for whichever AI tool is being used. Every project that installs it gets a hidden .ai-workflow directory holding the current stage, completed stages, and version information, alongside visible entry files like AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md that the AI tools read automatically. Older projects using a root level core or VERSION folder still work, since APW checks the newer location first and falls back to the old layout. The workflow itself has eight stages: init, prd, hld, sdd, impl, review, deploy, and retro. Each stage reads specific upstream documents, produces a specific output file under docs, and requires the human user to review and approve before the AI can move to the next stage. For example, the prd stage produces docs/PRD.md from the user's description, and the hld stage produces docs/ARCH.md from the PRD. Documents are treated as authoritative in order, so if code and the detailed design document disagree, either the code changes or the design document gets formally revised first, never a silent drift between the two. The project ships an apw command line tool for installing the workflow into a project, syncing adapter files, validating structure, checking status, and migrating from older layouts. It never overwrites existing user files, instead writing a .new file alongside any conflict for comparison. Installation and setup have been verified against Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, TRAE, and CodeBuddy, with Qoder still pending verification due to insufficient test account quota. The project is released under the MIT license.