microsoft/agentic-agile-template

microsoft/agentic-agile-template

Description: Agentic-Agile Development bridges Agile process values with the capabilities of AI coding agents. It is a methodology for building software through human-agent partnerships.

License: MIT

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Created: 2026-05-12T23:22:07Z

Pushed: 2026-06-05T22:25:30Z

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README:

Agentic-Agile Template

> [!CAUTION] > Agentic-Agile methodology is an active area of investigation with the potential for unanticipated results. While models and workflows are improving rapidly, agentic development is inherently non-deterministic. Use good judgement and appropriate safeguards before putting AI-generated work-product into production.

A starter template for teams adopting [Agentic-Agile Development](MANIFESTO.md): the practice of producing production-ready software through structured human-agent collaboration.

What is Agentic-Agile Development?

Agentic-Agile Development bridges Agile process values with the capabilities of AI coding agents. It is a methodology for building software through human-agent partnerships, not just using agents as autocomplete tools.

The core insight: agents fail not because of model capability, but because of coordination breakdown. When you give an agent a vague prompt, you get vague output. When you give it a well-specified story with acceptance criteria, file boundaries, and negative constraints, you get production-quality code. The specification is the program.

Agentic-Agile Development provides the process layer that makes agent collaboration repeatable: structured backlogs, spec-first stories, wave-based parallel execution, built-in governance, and continuous measurement across eight dimensions. Teams that adopt these patterns shift from "hoping the agent gets it right" to systematically improving their human-agent partnership over time.

What's in This Repo

| File / Directory | Description | |------|-------------| | [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md) | Universal onboarding orchestrator. Any AI coding agent reads this first. It guides a structured 6-step onboarding dialogue and activates the platform adapters appropriate for your toolchain. | | [CONTRIBUTING-AGENTS.md](CONTRIBUTING-AGENTS.md) | Guide for agents contributing to this template repository. Covers adapter anatomy, structural invariants, and how to add new adapters or quickstart combos. | | [platform-adapters/](platform-adapters/) | Three-layer adapter library: agent-tool instructions, issue-tracker integrations, and CI/CD configurations. Mix and match for your stack. | | [.github/contributor-templates/](.github/contributor-templates/) | PR and issue templates for both human and agent contributors following Agentic-Agile story structure. | | [MANIFESTO.md](MANIFESTO.md) | The Agentic-Agile Manifesto: 5 values and 13 principles for human-agent software development. | | [STYLE.md](STYLE.md) | Style guide template covering code conventions, documentation, commit messages, and PR format. | | [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) | Human contribution guidelines following the Agentic-Agile workflow. | | [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) | Standard security policy and vulnerability reporting process. | | [LICENSE](LICENSE) | MIT License. | | [mcp.json](mcp.json) | Example MCP (Model Context Protocol) server configuration for agent tooling. | | [.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/agentic-story.md](.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/agentic-story.md) | Issue template for structured Agentic-Agile stories with scope, file ownership, and acceptance criteria. | | [docs/agent-surface-selection.md](docs/agent-surface-selection.md) | Guide to choosing the right agent surface (CLI, IDE, chat, API, cloud) for different task types. | | [docs/evaluation-framework.md](docs/evaluation-framework.md) | Eight-dimension framework for measuring the effectiveness of human-agent development partnerships. | | [docs/epic-decomposition-example.md](docs/epic-decomposition-example.md) | Worked example showing how to decompose an epic into stories, assign file ownership, and plan wave execution. |

Platform Adapter Architecture

The platform-adapters/ directory provides a three-layer architecture that separates agent-tool conventions, issue-tracker workflows, and CI/CD integrations. Each layer is independently swappable — change your issue tracker without touching your agent instructions, or adopt a new CI system without rewriting your agent conventions.

platform-adapters/
├── agent-tools/ # Agent-specific instruction sets and context files
│ ├── claude/ # Claude Code conventions and context patterns
│ ├── github-copilot/ # GitHub Copilot instruction files
│ ├── cursor/ # Cursor rules and context
│ ├── windsurf/ # Windsurf configuration
│ ├── cline/ # Cline conventions
│ └── aider/ # Aider conventions
├── issue-trackers/ # Workflow templates per issue tracker
│ └── github/ # GitHub Issues adapter (more trackers planned)
├── ci-cd/ # CI/CD pipeline templates (placeholder — full layer planned for v2)
└── combos/ # Tested stack combinations (e.g., github-copilot + github + github-actions)

During onboarding, [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md) asks which adapters your project needs and activates only those layers. This keeps agent context lean and targeted rather than flooding the agent with instructions for tools you don't use.

Sample Issues

This repository ships with two sets of worked-example issues under [docs/sample-issues/](docs/sample-issues/) that illustrate the Agentic-Agile workflow — label taxonomy, epic decomposition, wave structure, and the agentic-story template in action.

• SAMPLE 1 — TaskFlow ([docs/sample-issues/](docs/sample-issues/), files prefixed 05–09): a hypothetical task-management REST API used to demonstrate epic decomposition, dependency mapping, and wave-based parallel execution.
• SAMPLE 2 — Onboarding walkthrough ([docs/sample-issues/](docs/sample-issues/), files prefixed 10–14): a worked example of an external contributor's first few stories when adopting this template.

These are read-only onboarding references — kept in version-controlled markdown rather than in the live issue tracker so the issue tracker stays clean for real backlog items. See [docs/sample-issues/README.md](docs/sample-issues/README.md) for the full index and provenance.

Getting Started

1. Copy This Template

Click "Use this template" on the [GitHub repository…