Orchestra Prd

Write PRD

Define the what and why for a piece of work. The PRD is the foundational Score document — it must exist and be approved before any spec is written.

Prerequisites

• .orchestra/roadmap.md must exist
• Read the roadmap and any active milestone PRD for context — but a milestone gap is not required to write a PRD

Steps

1. Establish Context

• Read .orchestra/roadmap.md to understand the project vision
• Identify which milestone this PRD serves
• Read the milestone PRD to understand the objective and surrounding deliverables
• Read any relevant ADRs in .orchestra/adr/

2. Gather Requirements

Ask the user:

• What is the objective? What does "done" look like?
• Why does this matter? How does it serve the milestone?
• What are the deliverables? Files, documents, features, or artifacts
• What are the constraints? Technical, timeline, dependencies
• What are the success criteria? How do we know it worked?

If the user provides $ARGUMENTS with a description, use that as the starting point and ask only for gaps.

3. Generate the PRD

Generate the PRD with this structure:

• Title: Clear, specific name
• Objective: 1-2 sentences — what "done" looks like
• Success Criteria: 3-5 testable checkboxes
• Context: Why this matters, what milestone it serves, what problem it solves
• Materials table: Each deliverable with location and "Not Started" status
• References: Link to milestone PRD, relevant ADRs, external docs
• Notes: Constraints, open questions, dependencies

4. Determine Work Item ID

• If a ticket ID exists from an issue tracker, use {ticket-id}-{short-name}
• If no ticket yet, use a descriptive slug: {short-name}
• The user can rename the folder later when a ticket is assigned

5. Write the File

Save to: .orchestra/work/{id}-{name}/prd.md

Include YAML frontmatter at the top of the file:

---
ticket: {ticket-id or slug — matches the work item folder name}
status: draft
created_on: {today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format}
---

Status vocabulary for PRDs: draft → approved → complete

6. Update the Milestone

If an active milestone PRD exists in .orchestra/roadmap.md:

• Add or update the row in that milestone's materials table:

| {PRD title} | .orchestra/work/{id}-{name}/prd.md | Not Started |

If no active milestone exists, skip this step and note it in the report — the work item can be assigned to a milestone later.

7. Present for Approval

Show the user the complete PRD. Ask:

• Does the objective capture what you want?
• Are the success criteria testable and complete?
• Is anything missing from the materials table?
• Should we proceed to write a spec?

Quality Checks

• Objective is specific — not "improve the thing" but "add X that does Y so Z"
• Success criteria are testable — each one can be checked as done/not done
• Materials table lists concrete deliverables with file paths
• Context explains why this work matters — and traces to a milestone if one exists
• No open questions left unaddressed (flag them if unresolved)