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Research & Development (RD)

The Research & Development (RD) role in Engineering AI Agent represents the core development capabilities, covering the full software development lifecycle from requirement analysis to code implementation and review.

Version Support

The RD role is fully supported in v0.1.0.

Capabilities​

Requirement Analysis​

The RD agent can analyze requirements using a spec-by-example methodology:

  • Parse and understand feature specifications
  • Break down complex requirements into technical tasks
  • Communicate with stakeholders via Slack to clarify requirements
  • Identify potential technical challenges and dependencies

Task Management​

The agent can manage development tickets through their lifecycle in JIRA or ClickUp:

  • State transitions:

    • Open → In progress: When the agent starts implementing a task
    • In progress → In review: When implementation is complete and a PR is opened
    • In review → Complete: When the PR is approved by reviewers
    • Complete → Close: When the PR is merged

  • Updates ticket status automatically based on actions taken

  • Adds implementation details to tickets

Test-Driven Development​

The agent follows TDD principles to ensure code quality:

  • Writes unit tests before implementation
  • Ensures tests cover all expected functionality
  • Verifies that all tests pass before submitting a PR
  • Maintains or improves code coverage metrics

Software Development​

Core development capabilities include:

  • Writing Code: Implementing features according to requirements
  • Building & Running Code: Executing code to verify functionality
  • Debugging: Identifying and fixing errors and issues
  • Version Control: Using Git for managing code changes

Version Control Workflow​

The agent follows a structured Git workflow:

  • Branching: Creates feature branches from main/master
  • Committing: Follows best practices for commit messages:
    • One logical change per commit
    • Descriptive commit messages
    • References ticket ID in commit message
  • Pull Requests: Creates and manages GitHub pull requests, including:
    • PR title and description
    • Reviewer assignments
    • Appropriate labels
    • Draft status when needed

Pull Request Management​

The agent handles the full PR lifecycle:

  • Creates PRs with detailed descriptions of changes
  • Responds to review comments
  • Makes requested changes
  • Analyzes and addresses code coverage reports
  • Fixes issues identified in static analysis

Knowledge Research​

For complex tasks or proof-of-concepts, the agent can:

  • Perform web searches for relevant information
  • Collect and organize research findings
  • Implement features based on research results
  • Document findings and approaches

Usage Examples​

Assigning a Task to RD Agent​

To assign a development task to the RD agent via Slack:

@engineering-agent rd implement feature XYZ from ticket PROJ-123

Requesting Code Review​

To ask the RD agent to review code:

@engineering-agent rd review PR #45

Requesting Research​

To request the RD agent to research a topic:

@engineering-agent rd research "best practices for implementing WebSockets in Python"

Configuration​

Configure RD-specific settings in your config.yaml:

roles:
  rd:
    enabled: true
    name: "Research & Development"
    settings:
      default_programming_languages:
        - "python"
        - "typescript"
      testing_framework_preferences:
        python: "pytest"
        typescript: "jest"
      code_style:
        python: "black"
        typescript: "prettier"
      default_reviewers:
        - "github-username-1"
        - "github-username-2"

Integration Points​

The RD role integrates with:

  • Slack: For communication and task notifications

  • GitHub: For code management and pull requests

  • JIRA/ClickUp: For task tracking and management

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