Every change is checked against the specification before it merges. A change that contradicts the specification is refused while its author is still working on it.
Akka Specify makes the specification the artifact each change is verified against. The specification and the code cannot separate, because a change that leaves the specification never lands.
A specification written at the start of a project describes the system as it was designed. Changes then arrive at the pace of the business. Each change is small and reasonable on its own. Each is written by someone who has not read the document.
Nobody decides to abandon the specification. The document ages while the code moves, and within a few quarters the two describe different systems. The specification is then treated as history, and the code becomes the only account of what the system does.
Akka Specify runs inside the repositories, CI systems and AI coding assistants a team already uses. A developer sees the refusal in the editor, and the same check runs again on the branch in CI.
A build-and-deploy gate then runs the evaluation suite and fails the deploy when the signed control set is unmet. The gate produces a versioned, hash-chained report, so a refusal is a record an auditor can read.
The specification is edited first and the code change follows it. Editing a requirement is an explicit act with an author, a reviewer and a record.
The check runs at the speed of the build. An urgent change that agrees with the specification passes without a person in the loop, and one that contradicts it names the requirement it broke.
A specification written against what an existing system is meant to do makes the gap visible on the first check. Every requirement the running code does not meet is reported.
An exception is written into the specification, where it carries an author and a scope. The exception stays attached to the system for as long as it applies. An exception granted verbally in a review leaves no trace once the reviewer moves on.
A linter checks the shape of the code against rules about code. The specification states what the system is for, which regions it runs in and what it must never do, and the check compares the change against that.
