softco: Turn AI Agents Into a Software Firm

softco turns AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline) into a complete software firm that plans, codes, tests, and deploys — all from a single prompt. Built by Shahriar Labs and open-sourced at github.com/shihabshahrier, softco is one of the most comprehensive agent skills in the ecosystem.

What softco Does

softco acts as PM, architect, senior engineer, DevOps, QA, security engineer, and tech writer — all roles, one skill. When you invoke softco on a task like "build a SaaS billing service," it produces: a spec doc, system design, implementation with tests, Dockerfile, CI config, and README. No context-switching between tools. No manual orchestration.

It enforces a docs-and-tests-first discipline: specs before code, tests before merge. This prevents the common agent failure mode of shipping code that works once but breaks on edge cases.

Architecture: How It Works

softco uses a multi-phase execution model:

1. Discovery: Audits the existing codebase and gathers requirements.
2. Design: Produces architecture docs and API contracts before touching code.
3. Implementation: Writes code in logical commits, each with tests.
4. Review: Runs a built-in code review pass for security, correctness, and performance.
5. Ship: Configures CI/CD, Dockerization, and deployment — Fly, Render, AWS ECS, or local.

When to Use softco

softco is highest-ROI on greenfield SaaS features, API integrations, and infrastructure work — anything where you'd normally spend a sprint planning and a sprint implementing. It's not designed for one-line edits; use it when the scope is "build X from scratch" or "integrate Y end to end." Pair it with skill-builder if you need to extend softco with domain-specific capabilities.

For production AI agent architecture guidance, see our post on building production AI agents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is softco?

An AI agent skill that runs a full software development lifecycle — PM, architecture, engineering, QA, DevOps, and docs — from a single prompt.

How does softco differ from regular AI coding assistants?

It runs end-to-end: spec → design → code → tests → CI/CD → docs. Regular assistants answer one question at a time.

What AI agents does softco support?

Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, and any Agent Skills-compatible agent.

Is softco open source?

Yes, available on GitHub at github.com/shihabshahrier.