Coding agents for Business Central

Workshop of three hours to make the leap from assisted Copilot to a spec-driven flow with HITL. Five blocks, one open architecture — ALDC — and a question that runs through everything: where did the agent get that decision from?

Start with Block 00 → See the 5 blocks ↓

Exercises · scan or visit Starters repository javiarmesto.github.io/
aldc-workshop-starters git clone https://github.com/javiarmesto/aldc-workshop-starters.git

Scroll

Structure

Five blocks, from diagnostics to the practical case

We start with why ALDC, move through Copilot and the ecosystem, deploy the full architecture, enter the coding agents flow and close with a real case, green field and brown field, resolved in the room.

00 15 min · 10:00 – 10:15

Opening and positioning

The question that opens the workshop: why architecture instead of bigger prompts? Journey map, vanilla vs ALDC, BC-Bench position, and the phrase that runs through the three hours.

SDD pill · spec-driven development in 60 seconds
ALDC ↔ CIRCE ↔ Delfos map · the agent ecosystem
The three non-negotiable pillars
Anchor phrase: "The spec is the brain"

01 30 min · 10:15 – 10:45

GitHub Copilot for Business Central

Master the Copilot ecosystem — Instructions, Prompts, Skills, Agents — applied to AL. From vague prompt to structured prompt.

The 4 pieces of the Copilot ecosystem
Context / Task / Constraints / Output pattern
Live demo · 3 copyable prompts

02 40 min · 10:45 – 11:25

ALDC + Agent Skills + Skills Evidencing

ALDC Core v1.1 architecture in 5 layers. The ~44 pieces grouped into 4 families. Live install from Marketplace.

5 layers · 3 pillars · 44 pieces
Skills Evidencing · the 5 formats
Live skill-diagnostics demo

03 30 min · 11:40 – 12:10

Coding Agents · architect → spec → conductor

The real ALDC flow. Three roles that don't overlap, three subagents that the conductor orchestrates, TDD in seven steps with HITL between phases.

LOW vs MEDIUM-HIGH complexity · two paths
3 subagents + no-self-review rule
Mini-demo · al-architect on Barista Incidents

04 50 min · 12:10 – 13:00

Practical Case · Barista Incidents

Enter the spec from scratch, execute the full flow — green field and brown field — and close with lessons learned in the room.

4 steps · Goal → Green field → Brown field → Lessons
The same case resolved in two modes
Close with Q&A and open challenges

★ Bonus · the team

Meet the ALDC team

14 pixel art character cards. Who's who in the ecosystem: agents, subagents, prompt, skills and passive rules.

4 agents · 3 subagents · 1 prompt
5 skills · passive rules
32×32 pixel art + glassmorphism

Route

From concept to practical case, with a mid-session break

The first two blocks land the why. The third and fourth are where you see how. The coffee break isn't decorative — it's the point where concepts need to have settled before entering the lab.

00 Opening 15 min → 01 Copilot 30 min → 02 ALDC 40 min → ☕ Break · 15 min → 03 Coding Agents 30 min → 04 Practical case 50 min

Three hours · five blocks · progression from conceptual to lab

Spec driven

Nothing is implemented without an approved spec. The contract comes before the code, not the other way around.

HITL gates

Plan approval, phase commit, PR. A human signs off between phases — not at the end, between.

Skills Evidencing

Each agent declares which skill it loaded and which pattern it applied. Auditable by design.

The spec is the brain.
The agents are the nervous system.

— Javier Armesto

Credits and resources

Creator, project, license

Everything presented in the workshop is open source — ALDC lives on GitHub under an open licence. This site collects the 5 public blocks; the creator's notes are private.

Creator

Javier Armesto
Head of R&D & AI · VS Sistemas
Microsoft MVP · BC & Azure AI Services

The project

ALDC — AL Development Collection. Core v1.1 with ~44 open pieces.