The maturity model

Software built with AI grows roughly across the whole first and gets finer round by round. quawa makes visible how far it is: a maturity level per quality area, measured now, aimed for now, and aimed for at full build-out.

  • Quality is measured always and completely, also on levels nobody asks for yet. Red at the start is normal; what counts is the distance to the current target and the progress over time.

  • A result below target is a gap, not a failure. Nothing breaks a build by default; blocking is an explicit opt-in per check.

  • The danwos model fixes what is measured on which level, so the levels of two tools mean the same (The fixed danwos model deci... (DEC_DANWOS_MODEL)). A project only says where its results come from.

Levels

The names describe a state, not an activity – every area fills a level with its own measures (Level names: Vibe code · Sk... (DEC_LEVEL_NAMES)).

Level

Name

State

0

Vibe code

whatever exists – asks for nothing, no ring

1

Sketched

it is there in rough form; you can see what it will be

2

Shaped

the form stands and holds; the basics are in place and kept

3

Solid

it carries load; the whole works together, ready for real users

4

Refined

worked through in detail, the hard parts too

5

Audited

confirmed from outside: users, auditors, lawyers

Areas

Eight areas, each with its own page: the measures per level, their thresholds and the possible checks. The pages grow with the model.

How it works

Terms

Term

Meaning

Example

Model

the set of levels, areas, measures and thresholds; versioned

danwos@1

Level

a step on the scale 0…5

2 = Shaped

Area

a quality characteristic; each has its own level

testing, legal

Measure

something that has to exist or hold – the what

“unit tests pass”

Check

an executable measurement for a measure – the how; technology-specific

vitest + coverage report

Metric

the normalized value a check delivers

line coverage 63 %

Threshold

the rule that rates a metric on a level

coverage ≥ 60 % on level 3

Scope

what is rated: project → module → feature

project deciwa, module “overlay”

The model is versioned and grows: new measures, other thresholds or areas come as a new version (danwos@2); projects upgrade on purpose (The model is versioned and ... (DEC_MODEL_VERSIONED)).