The Usual

A disciplined, review-heavy way to have an AI build software for you.

"The usual" is an add-on for Amplifier, a command-line AI assistant from Microsoft. Once installed, you can say things like:

implement tetris with the usual in a subdirectory

…and instead of the AI just writing code and hoping for the best, it runs a rigorous end-to-end process: plan, verify assumptions, get independently reviewed by a different AI, build test-first, get reviewed again, and report back in plain language.

What actually happens

When you ask for something "with the usual", the assistant works through seven stages, printing a big banner as it enters each long-running one:

1. Safe workspace — work happens on an isolated branch in a dedicated folder inside your project. Nothing you have is touched until you decide to merge the result.
2. Plan — it writes a detailed, step-by-step implementation plan with tests planned first, small tasks, exact file paths, and no hand-waving ("add error handling later" is not allowed).
3. Check the risky assumptions — it identifies the claims the plan quietly depends on ("this library supports X", "the config lives in Y") and verifies each with real evidence: running code, reading source, checking documentation. If something can't be verified, it tries alternative approaches and picks the most defensible path, recording its reasoning.
4. Independent plan review — the plan is reviewed by a second AI from a different company, with zero knowledge of the conversation so far (fresh eyes, no groupthink). Problems get fixed and re-reviewed, up to 3 rounds.
5. Build — implementation happens one small task at a time, test-first, with each task's output checked against the plan before moving on.
6. Independent review of the result — the complete set of changes gets the same fresh-eyes treatment, up to 5 rounds, until it passes.
7. Recap — you get a report of what was found at every stage plus a jargon-free summary of what was built, and options for merging it.

It only stops mid-run for serious problems (for example, anything that risks data loss). Everything else is handled and reported at the end.

Install

1. Install Amplifier — follow the instructions at github.com/microsoft/amplifier.

2. Add this package:

   amplifier bundle add git+https://github.com/danshapiro/bundle-the-usual@main --name the-usual
   amplifier bundle use the-usual

   Already have a customized Amplifier setup you don't want to replace? Layer just the trigger onto it instead — add this line under bundle.app in ~/.amplifier/settings.yaml:

   bundle:
     app:
       - git+https://github.com/danshapiro/bundle-the-usual@main#subdirectory=behaviors/the-usual.yaml

Use

Start Amplifier (amplifier) and ask for work "with the usual":

implement a markdown-to-html converter with the usual in a subdirectory

• If the target isn't an existing git project, it tells you exactly what folder it wants to create and asks for your OK first.
• Long stages announce themselves with unmissable banners, so you can tell where the run is at a glance.
• If a run is interrupted, it can resume where it left off rather than starting over.

You can also skip the conversation and run it directly:

amplifier tool invoke recipes operation=execute \
  recipe_path=@the-usual:recipes/the-usual.yaml \
  context='{"task": "describe what to build, or a path to a spec file", "repo_path": "/absolute/path/to/your/git/repo"}'

What you need

• git — the isolated-workspace stage uses git branches and worktrees.
• Two AI provider accounts (for example Anthropic + OpenAI), configured in Amplifier. The independent reviews deliberately use a different AI company than the one doing the work — that separation is the point. By default the work is done by whatever model your session runs and reviews go to OpenAI; override with the reviewer_provider / reviewer_model options if your setup is reversed.

What's in this repository

Path	What it is
recipes/the-usual.yaml	The workflow itself — every stage, rule, and review prompt
context/the-usual-instructions.md	Teaches the assistant to recognize "with the usual"
behaviors/the-usual.yaml	The hook that loads those instructions into your sessions
bundle.md	The package definition Amplifier installs

License

MIT — see LICENSE.