# CascadingDev (CDev) - Simplified

**CDev** — short for *Cascading Development* — is a **Git-native AI–human collaboration framework** that uses git hooks and cascading rules to enhance your development workflow.

This is the **simplified version** focused on core functionality:
- Git pre-commit hooks with safety checks
- Cascading `.ai-rules.yml` system
- Ramble GUI for capturing structured feature requests

For advanced discussion orchestration features, see [Orchestrated Discussions](https://gitea.brrd.tech/rob/orchestrated-discussions).

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## Key Features

- **Cascading Rules System** — nearest `.ai-rules.yml` defines behavior at each directory level
- **Pre-commit Hook** — secret scanning, discussion summary creation, git corruption prevention
- **Ramble GUI** — PySide6/PyQt5 dialog for capturing structured feature requests
- **Deterministic Builds** — reproducible installer bundle

---

## Quick Start

```bash
# 1. Create and activate a virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip wheel PySide6

# 2. Build the installer bundle
python tools/build_installer.py

# 3. Install into a project folder
python install/cascadingdev-*/setup_cascadingdev.py --target /path/to/myproject
```

## Project Structure

```
CascadingDev/
├── assets/
│   ├── hooks/pre-commit     # Git pre-commit hook
│   ├── runtime/             # Runtime scripts (ramble.py, create_feature.py)
│   └── templates/           # Discussion and rule templates
├── src/cascadingdev/        # Python package
│   ├── setup_project.py     # Project initialization
│   ├── cli.py               # Command-line interface
│   └── ...
├── tools/                   # Build and test tools
└── docs/                    # Documentation
```

## Pre-commit Hook Features

The pre-commit hook provides:

1. **Secret Scanning** - Prevents accidental commit of API keys and secrets
2. **Summary Files** - Auto-creates `.sum.md` companion files for discussions
3. **Concurrency Safety** - Uses flock to prevent git corruption from parallel commits

Environment variables:
- `CDEV_SKIP_HOOK=1` - Skip all hook checks
- `CDEV_SKIP_SUMMARIES=1` - Skip summary file generation

## Related Projects

This project is part of a three-layer stack:

1. **[SmartTools](https://gitea.brrd.tech/rob/SmartTools)** - AI provider abstraction and tool execution
2. **[Orchestrated Discussions](https://gitea.brrd.tech/rob/orchestrated-discussions)** - Multi-agent discussion orchestration
3. **[Ramble](https://gitea.brrd.tech/rob/ramble)** - AI-powered structured field extraction GUI

## License

MIT