Review the agent’s proposal, resolve the open product questions, and authorize a spec saved beside the code. So the next coding session gets the decision your team made.
Product works from a review link. Engineering works from the repository.
Your request
“Add a Cancel plan button.”
Agent’s proposal · example rev 1
Your request didn’t say when access should end.
When a customer cancels, access ends immediately.
Interactive example
A ticket can look clear while the build still depends on an unanswered product question.
Review what your coding agent intends to build, resolve what matters, and approve the exact revision it builds from.
Your agent drafts a proposal from the ticket and code.
Review the choices your request leaves open. Your answers request changes; the agent applies them.
Approve a specific revision. The agent builds from it.
Check that the build followed the decision, then record what happened after release.
The merged pull request gives evidence that the code follows the decision you authorized. Whether the change helped your customers is settled later, by what you observe after release. Pathmode keeps both beside the intent they were meant to test.
Check 01
Pathmode reviews the linked pull request diff against the authorized spec, item by item, and records the findings with the reasoning and the evidence each one rests on.
In the cancellation example: does access really last until the paid period ends, and is the end date shown?
Check 02
This one needs observation after release: support conversations, usage, a saved analytics query. Record what you measured against the outcome the spec promised. Pathmode marks whether the target was met, and the measurement stays connected to that outcome for your team to use when reviewing the next proposal.
In the cancellation example: do customers still write to support to ask when their access ends?
Your team supplies the observations and measurements. Pathmode keeps them connected to the decision and the outcome it was meant to produce.
You could assemble this with Claude, Markdown, GitHub, and team process. Pathmode makes it a system instead of a ritual people must remember.
The result is a reviewed, revision-bound decision that stays portable across agents and connected to the implementation record.
| Product decision | Claude alone | Shared document |  Pathmode + your agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| What carries forward | The conversation and the context you provide | A document people must keep current | The agent’s proposal beside your request, and your decision bound to a repository revision |
| Human authority | Expressed in conversation | Comments, status, or convention | Attributed authorization of the current repository revision |
| Readiness before build | Model-assisted review | A checklist, if the team remembers it | The same deterministic six-gate preflight every time |
| When the decision changes | The team explains the change again | Approvals may remain ambiguous | A changed repository revision needs fresh authorization |
| After implementation | A separate review conversation | The document is updated manually | The linked merged diff is checked against the specified outcomes |
Claude and other coding agents continue to improve. Pathmode’s role is not to limit what they can do; it is to preserve the team’s evidence and authority independently of the executor.
Product and engineering shape the same proposal. Product works from a review link; engineering works from the repository and the coding agent.
Product review
In Pathmode
Approved decision
intent.md
The decision
your team made.
✓ Revision authorized
Reviewed by a human. Saved beside the code.
Engineering + coding agent
In the repository
Product, design, leadership
Open the review link, compare the proposal with the original request, resolve what needs product judgment, and authorize the revision when it says what the team means. No Git or terminal.
Pathmode for Product ManagersEngineers and their coding agents
Bring repository constraints and implementation findings into the proposal. The agent revises it from the team’s decisions and builds from the authorized intent.md beside the code.
From your repository
npx @pathmode/mcp-server@latest setupResearch and design bring evidence when it exists. It attaches to the proposal and stays private outside Git; it is not required to start. Pathmode for Designers & Researchers
Pathmode’s preflight applies six deterministic readiness checks. It does not declare the decision correct. It exposes gaps your team should resolve or consciously accept before implementation.
Try preflight in your browserWondering where those answers come from? Walk one product decision through it
“Make payment retries smoother.”
× No observable outcome
× No safe retry constraint
Name when status appears and what must prevent a double charge.
Your engineer’s coding agent turns a ticket into a proposal for what it will build. Pathmode shows that proposal beside your original request, surfaces choices that need your judgment, and sends your answers back as change requests. The agent applies them; you review and authorize the resulting revision. The decision lives as intent.md beside the code. The ticket text, any evidence, and the record of who authorized what stay in the connected workspace. When GitHub is connected, a linked PR merge checks the real diff against the spec.
No. Write the ticket or brief where you already do. Your engineer hands it to their agent, and the agent proposes the intent from the repository and attaches your text verbatim. Your first touch of Pathmode is a review, not a blank page. If no repository is connected yet, you can start from a brief instead.
You can use Claude to help draft the proposal and build the code. Pathmode makes the proposal a shared, revision-bound artifact that your team can review and authorize and any coding agent can read. You could assemble that workflow yourself with Claude, Markdown, GitHub, and team process; Pathmode makes it the system instead of a ritual people must remember.
No. Product judgment stays human. Pathmode makes the agent’s interpretation, the assumptions, outcomes, and trade-offs inspectable; its preflight flags missing or vague parts without pretending that a passing spec is automatically the right decision.
Authorization. When the proposal says what you meant, you authorize implementation, and Pathmode records who authorized which exact revision and when. That record covers the whole proposal. You can also confirm or reject a single behavior: the judgment is recorded under your name against the wording you judged, and the agent receives it, but it neither authorizes nor blocks implementation. A correction is separate. It asks the repository agent to revise the proposal and authorizes nothing.
No. A proposal can reach review and authorization without evidence. Attach tickets, interviews, or metrics when you have them; they stay private outside Git and back the claims they support.
The correction goes back to the repository agent to revise the proposal. It does not authorize a build or silently change intent.md. Review the revised proposal before authorizing implementation.
Not for the local workflow. The free MCP tool writes and reads intent.md in the repository and runs preflight without an account or API key. Connect a workspace when the team needs the review link, private evidence, recorded authorization, and the delivery loop outside Git.
Three short reads on why the product decision needs its own durable place in an AI-native delivery loop.
Jira coordinates human work. AI coding agents treat every omission as room to guess. The ticket can stay, but the product decision needs to live with the code.
Read article
Why Pathmode moved its center of gravity into the repository, made intent.md authoritative, and narrowed the hosted product to what a file cannot do.
Read article
Anthropic's AI-native SDLC playbook puts explicit controls around every stage after intent.md. The first artifact gets human review, but no repeatable readiness check. I built one, calibrated it against 98 examples, and put the verdict inside the file.
Read articleAn account connects the repository and the team. The preflight is free and local, and needs neither.