The PRD
2 min read
Step 2: The PRD
What your agent does
Transforms the Idea Pack into a full Product Requirements Document with numbered acceptance criteria, a data model, API contracts, UI requirements, and a phased delivery plan.
Why this matters
The PRD is the contract between "what we want" and "what we'll build." Every acceptance criterion becomes a checkbox that must pass before the product ships. No ambiguity, no "I thought it would work differently."
What the output looks like
Your agent creates two files:
docs/prd/prd.md (10 sections)
Overview — one paragraph
User Stories + Acceptance Criteria — the core of the document
Functional Requirements — grouped by feature
Non-Functional Requirements — performance, security, accessibility
Data Model — every table, field, and relationship
API Contracts — every endpoint with request/response shapes
UI/UX Requirements — pages, navigation, interactions
Out of Scope — inherited from Idea Pack
Dependencies — frameworks and services
Phased Delivery Plan — 3-5 phases, Phase 1 is MVP
docs/prd/acceptance-checklist.md
Every acceptance criterion as a checkbox:
- [ ] AC-001.1: Given I enter a valid URL, when I click Add, then it appears in my list- [ ] AC-001.2: Given I enter an invalid URL, when I click Add, then I see an errorThe acceptance criteria format
This is the most important part. Every user story gets numbered criteria:
US-001 → AC-001.1, AC-001.2, AC-001.3
US-002 → AC-002.1, AC-002.2
Each criterion must be testable — you can look at the running app and definitively say "yes" or "no." No subjective criteria like "should be fast."
Every user story includes at least one edge case (what happens when things go wrong).
The phased delivery plan
The agent splits the build into sequential phases:
Phase 1 is always the minimum viable product — auth + core feature
Later phases add enhancements, integrations, polish
Phases marked "Parallelisable" can be built simultaneously by sub-agents
Your role
Review and approve. Pay special attention to:
Are acceptance criteria specific enough to test?
Is Phase 1 genuinely minimal?
Does the data model make sense?
Are the API contracts complete?
Next: Making architecture decisions →
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