Test-Driven Agentic Development

Test-Driven Agentic Development (TDAD) adapts the classic test-driven development cycle for agent-assisted coding: you write tests first and then direct the agent to implement until all tests pass, using the test suite as executable specifications that define correctness rather than leaving that definition to natural language. This inverts the typical agent interaction, where you describe what you want and hope the agent interprets it correctly; instead, the tests encode your requirements unambiguously and the agent iterates until they pass. The trade-off is that writing good tests requires upfront domain knowledge, but this investment pays back through higher first-attempt success rates and fewer review cycles compared to open-ended implementation prompts.