Your coding agent, fluent in GrandNode.

A real session, step by step

An AI coding agent built a GrandNode plugin from scratch, reading only AGENTS.md and the .ai/ folder. Here is the whole session, step by step — the prompts exactly as typed, what the agent did, and what came out. Real time: 32 minutes 43 seconds, stumbles included.

1. 1. Ask for a plan

   00:24 → 04:16

   You ask

   Read AGENTS.md and follow .ai/prompts/create-plugin.md.
   
   Build a widget plugin called Widgets.FreeShippingBar.
   It shows "Add $X more for free shipping" with a progress bar on the product page
   (widget zone productdetails_overview_bottom) and in the cart (order_summary_content_before).
   When the cart already qualifies, it shows "You've got free shipping".
   
   Use the store's existing ShippingSettings (FreeShippingOverXEnabled, FreeShippingOverXValue,
   FreeShippingOverXIncludingTax) and the current customer's cart subtotal. Show amounts in the
   customer's working currency. Render nothing when free shipping over X is disabled.
   No settings of its own except DisplayOrder. Do not change anything outside the new plugin
   and its tests.
   
   Before writing code, tell me which existing plugin you will use as the reference and list
   the files you will create.

   The agent

   Read AGENTS.md, which routed it to the create-plugin prompt, the widget-plugin skill, the plugin template and the testing guide. It picked Widgets.GoogleAnalytics as the reference, found that the cart zone sits inside a Vue block (so the view needs v-pre), and found the core rule for free shipping, so the bar would use exactly the same test as checkout.

   A plan: 13 plugin files and 3 test files, before a single line of code.

2. 2. Tests first

   04:25 → 08:00

   You ask

   Go ahead. Write the unit tests first (MSTest + Moq, in src/Tests/Grand.Modules.Tests/Plugins/FreeShippingBar/),
   run them and show they fail, then implement the plugin. Build the plugin and run only these tests.

   The agent

   Wrote 15 unit tests for the progress maths, the view component and the widget provider, then ran them before any plugin code existed.

   Red, as expected: the tests fail because the plugin does not exist yet.

3. 3. Implement until green

   08:00 → 12:06

   The agent

   Created the plugin (manifest, settings, install and uninstall, widget provider for both zones, view component, view with localized text and an accessible progress bar) and built it with 0 warnings. One stumble: a test used the wrong namespace for a pricing helper; the agent read the compiler error and fixed it.

   15 of 15 tests pass.

4. 4. Review its own work

   12:08 → 21:14

   You ask

   Review your change with .ai/prompts/review-change.md and the checklists it names.
   Fix what you find, run the tests again, and show me the final list of changed files.

   The agent

   Ran the review prompt and its checklists and found two real problems: no admin screen for the display order, and customers or groups that already have free shipping were ignored. It fixed both test-first — two new tests failed, then passed.

   17 of 17 tests pass; only the new plugin and its tests changed.

5. 5. Run it in a real store

   21:14 → 31:11

   The agent

   Built the whole solution, installed a fresh store with sample data, turned on free shipping over $100 and enabled the widget. It also noticed that most sample products don't need shipping, so the bar correctly hides for them.

   In the cart: "Add $52.00 more for free shipping" at 48%, then "You've got free shipping" after one more item. No JavaScript errors.

   

   

6. 6. Clean up and package

   31:11 → 32:43

   The agent

   Uninstalled the plugin from the admin to prove it leaves nothing behind — no settings, no text resources — then built a release package and removed the test store.

   A clean, installable plugin — the one you can download below, with its source and tests.