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Shared spec-of-record to stop agent drift

Build a lightweight spec-and-plan-of-record tool for solo devs using coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor): a single source of truth for the project plan, synced over MCP so every agent session reads the same spec instead of being re-briefed, plus a drift checker that diffs agent output against the spec before marking anything done. Sell to indie hackers and solo builders who are already losing hours to agents silently diverging from requested scope.

via Reddit
Original post

What to build

An MCP server plus lightweight CLI that acts as a persistent spec-of-record for a coding project: it stores the plan/spec once, feeds it into every Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex session via MCP so agents stop re-reading stale context, and runs a drift checker that diffs each agent's output/commit against the spec before a task can be marked done.

Solo devs running coding agents across multiple sessions have no shared, persistent source of truth for their plan, so agents silently drift from scope and builders waste time re-briefing and catching errors after the fact.

Demand

Solo developers and indie hackers who lean on Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex for most of their shipping are hitting this now because agent sessions are stateless by default and plans get re-explained (or forgotten) every time context resets.

  • Reddit - r/SideProjectNews

    Thread "How do you catch it when a coding agent drifts away from the plan?" notes a related thread in r/ClaudeAI the same week discussing agents drifting from specs, indicating the pain is being discussed in parallel across at least two coding-agent communities.

  • Signal cluster summaryNews

    Aggregated signal flags recurring developer pain point around coding agent scope drift, with no historical match found and an opportunity score of 0.56.

Stack

  • Model Context Protocol (MCP) SDK
  • Node.js/TypeScript CLI
  • SQLite for local spec storage
  • Claude Agent SDK or Claude API for semantic diff/drift scoring
  • GitHub Actions webhook for pre-commit/pre-merge checks

Solo + AI difficulty

The MCP server, spec storage, and CLI plumbing are straightforward for one person with AI help and could reach a usable MVP in 2-3 weeks; the hard part is making the drift checker reliable, since diffing freeform agent output against a spec is a fuzzy semantic-matching problem prone to false positives that could erode trust fast.

Entry threshold
Buildable by one developer in a few weeks as an MCP server plus a thin web UI for the spec, no special licences needed, but adoption depends on convincing builders to adopt another workflow layer instead of a plain spec file in the repo.
Window
3-6 months

Where to find first users

  • r/ClaudeAI
  • r/SideProject
  • r/cursor
  • Indie Hackers forum
  • Product Hunt launch
  • X/Twitter AI-coding-tools community

Counter-signals & risks

  • Established coding agent platforms (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) may ship native plan-tracking, memory, or drift-detection features directly, commoditizing a standalone third-party tool.

  • Solo devs and indie hackers are a small, price-sensitive market with low willingness to pay for auxiliary tooling, limiting revenue potential.

  • Diffing agent output against a spec to reliably detect 'drift' is a hard, fuzzy NLP/semantic problem prone to false positives/negatives, undermining trust in the tool's core value proposition.

Original title: How do you catch it when a coding agent drifts away from the plan?

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Shared spec-of-record to stop agent drift — Nichr