Introduction

ArtlessDev is a web app built around one primary object: the Scenario — a durable, evidence-grounded behavioral fact about a piece of software. It is not a ticket, not a test case, and not a markdown file. Scenarios are authored directly in the app as structured, database-backed entities. On top of that content, teams (and AI agents) track two independent app-only overlays: lifecycle — Draft, Published, or Deprecated — and verification — Not attempted, Fit, or Gap.

Why “artless”

Artless means plain and free of mystification. We also read it as less art: less reliance on gut feel and subjective narrative, more on evidence you can point to and objectivity everyone can check. Every Scenario is backed by a concrete artifact — an HTTP response, a SQL row, a UI snippet — not tribal knowledge passed around a team.

Where to start

• Quick Start — sign up, create a Workspace and Project, and write your first Scenario.
• Account & Navigation — the account panel, context switcher, and sidebar.
• Scenarios — the core object: the ordered path of Conditions and Results, what evidence is, and how a Scenario’s boundary is defined.
• Scenario Status — the two status axes, what a verification pass records, and what a drift note is.
• Workspaces & Projects — how work is organized above the Scenario level.
• Scenario Relationships — how Scenarios nest, chain, and share cross-cutting concerns.
• Using the MCP Server — how an AI agent reads and reports on Scenarios in-session.
• API Keys and REST API — reaching your Scenarios from CI, a script, or anything else outside the app.

A note on terminology

ArtlessDev uses a small, deliberate vocabulary, and it’s worth learning up front — see the Glossary for the full list. A few that come up constantly:

• Scenario — never “test case” or “ticket.”
• Path — a Scenario’s Conditions and Results in one ordered sequence. Each entry is a step, and a Scenario describes exactly one execution path.
• Draft / Published / Deprecated — a Scenario’s lifecycle status. Draft is where every Scenario starts, human- or AI-proposed alike — not a separate staged object.
• Not attempted / Fit / Gap — a Scenario’s verification status, independent of lifecycle.
• Asset — supplementary, non-checkable notes, links, or diagrams on a Feature or Scenario.
• Work item — non-scenario-shaped work (a refactor, infra change, or migration) — tracked separately, since a work item answers “is this chore done,” never “is this true.”
• Place — a named surface (The product, Web app, API, …) a Scenario is written from, classified by a closed vantage: Product, Client, or Service.