builders-dont-cry

Builders Don't Cry

Cry less. Ship more.

Turn AI-written code into shippable products.

Builders Don't Cry (BDC) is a proof-driven agent harness for indie AI builders who want real products, not fragile demos.

You bring the intent. Agents do the work. BDC keeps the work bounded, evidenced, resumable, and ready to ship.

中文 · Release · Install · Downloads · Workflow · Skills · Commands · Host Support

Why This Exists

• AI writes fast, but it drifts from the goal.
• If you do not read code, you cannot tell whether the AI actually did it right.
• AI often says "done" without tests or evidence.
• Session context breaks when you come back tomorrow.
• PRs, CI, reviews, and async state go unattended.
• Small bugs turn into large rewrites.
• Halfway through a plan, AI starts reinventing the architecture.
• When it is time to ship, you are not sure whether you can trust the result.

BDC fixes the part after "AI can code."

Workflow Map

       SHAPE          PLAN          BUILD         PROVE         WATCH         SHIP        RESUME
     ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐    ┌──────┐
     │ Idea │ ───▶ │ Plan │ ───▶ │ Exec │ ───▶ │Verify│ ───▶ │  PR  │ ───▶ │ Ship │ ─▶│Pickup│
     │      │      │      │      │Loop  │      │Gate  │      │Watch │      │Gate  │    │      │
     └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘    └──────┘
      idea          plan          execute       verify        watch-pr       ship       handoff
                                 autoloop                                              pickup

Stage	Builder does	Agent does	BDC enforces
idea	explain the intent	shape it into a clear direction	no premature coding
plan	approve the plan	create atomic steps	plan lint, oracles, stop conditions
execute/autoloop	stay out of the loop	implement, test, fix, continue	step packets, evidence, scope checks
verify	review the evidence	inspect completed work	read-only review, Verified HEAD
watch-pr	wait for async state	monitor PR, CI, review, post-merge	event dashboard, action tags
ship	make the final call	summarize readiness	GO/NO-GO, rollback, privacy gates
handoff/pickup	resume later	load selected context	no auto-loading private state

Install

Latest stable release: v0.1.2.

Prerequisites: git, bash, python3, and jq. GitHub features also need gh.

git clone --branch v0.1.2 --depth 1 https://github.com/0xmariowu/builders-dont-cry ~/.bdc
~/.bdc/install.sh --target auto --scope project --dry-run
~/.bdc/install.sh --target auto --scope project

Then run:

./.bdc/bin/bdc doctor

Default install is project-scoped. It creates .bdc/ runtime folders, host projection blocks, and project-local skills/commands/agents, but it does not create a global bdc command unless you ask for it.

For Claude Code, project install also writes BDC-managed hooks into .claude/settings.json. Use --no-claude-hooks if you only want the CLI and projection files.

Downloads

You can install from source with git clone, or download a host package from the release:

Package	Use when	Download
Claude Code	You want the Claude Code plugin, commands, skills, agents, hooks, and CLAUDE.md	builders-dont-cry-v0.1.2-claude-code.tar.gz
Codex	You want Codex skills, projected agents, AGENTS.md, and CLI gates	builders-dont-cry-v0.1.2-codex.tar.gz
Cursor	You want Cursor rules backed by the shared CLI gates	builders-dont-cry-v0.1.2-cursor.tar.gz
Project runtime	You want the project-local runtime package	builders-dont-cry-v0.1.2-project.tar.gz

Workflow Skills