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ACFS: From Zero to Hero

The Agentic Coding Flywheel -- A Complete Guide

How to Read This Guide

This guide has three levels. Start wherever matches your experience:

Level Audience What You'll Learn
Strategic (1.x) "Never heard of this" Why the methodology exists, what problem it solves, core principles
Operational (2.x) "I want to try it" Step-by-step: environment, planning, beads, execution, multi-agent
Tactical (3.x) "I'm running agents now" Tool reference, 47 prompts, configuration, scaling, troubleshooting

Level 1: Strategic

Section Topic
1.1 The Problem This Solves Why ad-hoc AI coding breaks down at scale
1.2 What the Flywheel Is The three-space model: Plan, Bead-Map, Code
1.3 What Makes This Different Comparisons with Cursor, Devin, raw CLI
1.4 The Economics Time, money, case study, when not to use it
1.5 Core Principles Nine core principles (of 15 total)

Level 2: Operational

Section Topic
2.1 Setting Up Your Environment Hardware, software, installation, verification
2.2 Project Anatomy AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, file structure
2.3 Writing the Plan From first prompt to locked spec (Phases 1-3)
2.4 Converting to Beads Granularity, dependencies, BV, worktrees
2.5 Execution Fix sessions, praise rounds, alien artifacts
2.6 Multi-Agent Scaling Agent roles, Agent Mail, NTM, coordination
2.7 Daily Workflow Session start, the loop, context management

Level 3: Tactical

Section Topic
3.1 Tool Reference 29 tools organized by tier
3.2 Prompt Reference 47 prompts with usage notes and forensic evidence
3.3 Configuration Reference AGENTS.md template, CLAUDE.md, MCP, NTM layouts
3.4 Scaling Patterns Formation taxonomy, model mix, cost, hardware
3.5 Troubleshooting 9 failure modes with fix protocols
3.6 Anti-Patterns 14 anti-patterns + war story

Also on this site

  • The Playbook -- Condensed phase-by-phase reference for daily use (read after completing this guide)
  • Full Prompt Pack -- All 47 prompts in copy-paste format (for Stream Deck / text expander setup)
  • Doctrine -- The 14 non-negotiable rules (quick-reference card for AGENTS.md)
  • Anti-Patterns Quick Ref -- One-line anti-pattern summaries (print and post near your monitor)
  • Jeff Teaches -- The methodology explained in Jeff's own words and tweets