Learn headless product design for AI coding agents
Guides for developers who build with AI coding agents. Spec behavior: states, flows, permissions, and verification, before your agent writes application source.
AI coding agents optimize for the happy path. Without a behavior contract, screens look correct while illegal states, skipped gates, and dead-end flows ship to production.
Agents ship happy paths
Screens appear fast, but gates, illegal states, and dead ends slip through after merge when no behavior contract defined which transitions are legal.
Design means behavior
Which states exist, who can act, and what happens when something fails, not pixels, typography, or component libraries.
Contract, then verify
Spec rules in-repo as machine-readable artifacts, implement from them, then walk the live build with persona checks until invariants hold.
Start here
What is headless product design?
The category-defining guide: definition, stack fit, comparisons to UI skills and plan mode, HavenStay worked example, and when behavior contracts are worth it.
Clarifies headless product design vs UI skills, headless CMS, and app builders.
Shows what a behavior contract contains and where it lives in your repo.
Walks through HavenStay: the same app with and without a spec-first build.
Helps you decide when states, roles, and gates justify a formal contract.
Lamina vs your AI workflow
Pick the situation that matches your stack, or browse comparisons by tool type. Each guide includes scenarios and honest when-you-do-not-need-Lamina guidance.
