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Preamble: The Shift

We used to care about servers.
Then we learned they were disposable.

We used to care about software.
Soon, we won’t anymore.

We are entering an era where the source of truth is not the code, but the intent behind it.
Where teams don’t preserve legacy systems — they preserve requirements.
Where AI doesn’t just assist in development — it becomes development.

The Requirement Development Life Cycle (RDLC) is a recognition that what survives each generation of software is not the codebase, but the knowledge encoded in requirements.

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The Core Belief

The RDLC replaces the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) as the central organizing principle of modern creation.
Instead of designing, building, and maintaining static software, we continuously evolve living requirements — and the software is rebuilt automatically from them.

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The Principles of RDLC

1. Requirements are the Product

The requirement file is the new repository.
It is declarative, testable, and generative.
It contains why something exists, what it must achieve, and the constraints under which it must operate.
Everything else — infrastructure, code, documentation — is derived.

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2. Software Is an Artifact, Not a Goal

Code, binaries, and APIs are transient artifacts — the realized expression of intent. As our tools and models advance, we don’t maintain old code; we generate anew from the same requirements.

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3. AI Is the Builder

Human creativity defines intent; AI implements it.
The RDLC integrates human clarity with machine precision, closing the loop between vision and execution.
AI becomes the driver, not just the assistant, of development.

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4. Determinism Through Specification

Given the same requirements, the same environment, and the same providers, the result should always be functionally identical.
Requirements form the product’s genome — the pattern from which every consistent build emerges.

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5. Evolution Over Maintenance

We don’t patch; we iterate.
We don’t refactor; we reforge.
The requirement file evolves, the product renews.
The lifecycle moves at the speed of ideas.

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6. Humans Define Purpose, Machines Ensure Fidelity

The purpose and ethics of a system remain human decisions and responsibilities.
Machines ensure accuracy and consistency in realizing them.

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7. Requirements Should Be Portable

Requirements transcend language, platform, and runtime.
They can be executed by different AIs or toolchains — yet yield the same functional system.
Portability ensures resilience.

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The RQD Language

To make RDLC practical, we need a language of intent.
That’s RQD — the Requirements Definition Language.
Just as HCL enabled Infrastructure-as-Code, RQD enables Requirements-as-Code.

An .rqd file captures the system’s logic, rules, data, and constraints in a structured, machine-parsable form that AI can reliably translate into implementation.

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The RDLC Loop

Each loop produces a more aligned, efficient, and maintainable version — not by editing code, but by refining the requirement source.

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Our Call to Builders