Choose Your Path

GSD is the same tool for everyone, but the fastest way to get productive depends on where you’re coming from. Pick the path that best describes you and read the pages in order.

Not sure which path fits? Start with Is GSD Right for Me? — it’ll route you here with a recommendation.

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Path 1 — Solo Business Builder

You’re building a product, not a career in software. You may have some coding background, or you may be working almost entirely through AI. You care about shipping reliably without getting lost in tooling.

If you’re migrating from a visual builder, Coming from Replit or Coming from Lovable covers the differences and what to expect.

• Why GSD 2 — understand the problem GSD solves before committing to it
• Is GSD Right for Me? — confirm GSD fits your situation
• Getting Started — install GSD and run your first session
• The Solo Guide — end-to-end walkthrough of a real milestone from requirements to shipped code
• Your First Project — put the workflow into practice on something real
• Controlling Costs — keep API spend predictable as you build
• Quick Reference — the 15 commands you’ll actually use

Once you’re comfortable with the basics:

• Building Rhythm — how to structure daily work for sustained momentum
• When Things Go Wrong — how GSD recovers from failures and blockers

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Path 2 — Developer New to AI Coding

You’re an experienced developer picking up AI-assisted workflows for the first time. You understand software structure but want to know how GSD fits into a professional development practice.

• Is GSD Right for Me? — assess fit honestly against your current workflow
• Why GSD 2 — the argument for structured AI execution over free-form prompting
• Getting Started — install and configure GSD for your environment
• Architecture — understand what GSD is doing under the hood
• The GSD Directory — learn what lives in .gsd/ and why
• Quick Reference — the command surface at a glance
• Configuration — tune GSD to match your project conventions
• Auto Mode — let GSD execute full slices without manual stepping

Once you’re comfortable with the basics:

• Recipes — practical patterns for common development tasks
• Git Strategy — how GSD handles commits, branches, and history
• Cost Management — understand and control token spend in larger projects

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Path 3 — Experienced AI Developer

You’re already using Claude Code or similar tools and want to know how GSD extends them. You’re comfortable with AI workflows and looking for the structural layer that makes them production-grade.

If you’re coming from Cursor or a similar AI-native editor, Coming from Cursor maps the concepts you already know onto GSD’s model.

• Is GSD Right for Me? — check that GSD’s trade-offs align with what you’re after
• Architecture — start here: understand the planning/execution/verification loop
• How Auto Mode Works — the execution engine in detail
• The GSD Directory — the data model behind the structure
• Skills, Extensions and Agents — how GSD integrates with Claude Code’s skill system
• Configuration — full reference for tuning GSD behaviour
• Parallel Orchestration — running multiple slices concurrently
• Token Optimisation — squeeze maximum efficiency from context windows

Once you’re comfortable with the basics:

• Reference: Extensions — build custom tools and commands
• Reference: Agents — custom agent definitions for specialised tasks
• Dynamic Model Routing — route different task types to different models
• CI/CD Pipeline — integrate GSD into automated build and deploy pipelines

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Start with one page

You don’t need to read everything before you start. Pick the first page in your path, work through it, then come back for the next. GSD is designed to be introduced incrementally.