Introducing Lamar
Modify the spec to match your limp-wristed product specifications, instead of the other way around
I've built two full-stack applications entirely with AI. If you still think models can't code, update your priors, or find a different line of work. The hard part was never the building. It has always been getting the spec right before you hand it over.
Talking to an AI is like making a wish to a genie. We've got thousands of years of stories about how that goes wrong: the genie takes the wish literally when you meant it figuratively, or the other way around. It grants your words, not your intent. After enough re-wishing, I distilled my own method for closing that gap into a skill anyone can use before turning the building over to the AI.
The skill helps a user at any level produce a detailed, easily-automated spec the AI can execute on completely. It turns fuzzy, unstructured thought into a JSON checklist — requirements, acceptance criteria, and test cases that a tool like Claude Code can build complex software from.
It's called Lamar, after the effeminate character in Revenge of the Nerds. Quick recap: the nerd fraternity Lambda Lambda Lambda had to win the Greek Games, a multi-event drinking competition, to keep their house. The nerds used their brains to outsmart the athletes and the trust-fund kids and win.
To win the javelin event, Wormser — the aerodynamics expert — designed a javelin that took advantage of Lamar's limp-wristed throwing style to maximise distance. It was easier to design the javelin for the thrower than to teach an amateur how to throw one.
Similarly, the affectionately named Lamar takes your limp-wristed spec-writing and produces a real product. In hindsight I should have called it Wormser — but who remembers that guy when you've got the flamboyant Lamar?
It's public and free. Install it as a Claude Code plugin:
/plugin marketplace add henryjrobinson/lamar
/plugin install lamarThere's a little explainer site too, javelin and all: lamar.sh