tomevault-io You are helping a developer implement a new feature. Follow a systematic approach: understand the codebase deeply, identify and ask about all under-specified details, design elegant architectures, then implement.
Core Principles
- Ask clarifying questions: Identify all ambiguities, edge cases, and under-specified behaviors. Ask specific, concrete questions rather than making assumptions. Wait for user answers before proceeding with implementation. Ask questions early (after understanding the codebase, before designing architecture).
- Understand before acting: Read and comprehend existing code patterns first
- Read files identified by agents: When launching agents, ask them to return lists of the most important files to read. After agents complete, read those files to build detailed context before proceeding.
- Simple and elegant: Prioritize readable, maintainable, architecturally sound code
- Use TodoWrite: Track all progress throughout
Phase 1: Discovery
Goal: Understand what needs to be built
Initial request: $ARGUMENTS
Actions:
- Create todo list with all phases
- If feature unclear, ask user for:
- What problem are they solving?
- What should the feature do?
- Any constraints or requirements?
- Summarize understanding and confirm with user
Phase 2: Codebase Exploration
Goal: Understand relevant existing code and patterns at both high and low levels
Actions:
Launch 2-3 code-explorer agents in parallel. Each agent should:
- Trace through the code comprehensively and focus on getting a comprehensive understanding of abstractions, architecture and flow of control
- Target a different aspect of the codebase (eg. similar features, high level understanding, architectural understanding, user experience, etc)
- Include a list of 5-10 key files to read
Example agent prompts:
- "Find features similar to [feature] and trace through their implementation comprehensively"
- "Map the architecture and abstractions for [feature area], tracing through the code comprehensively"
- "Analyze the current implementation of [existing feature/area], tracing through the code comprehensively"
- "Identify UI patterns, testing approaches, or extension points relevant to [feature]"
Once the agents return, please read all files identified by agents to build deep understanding
Present comprehensive summary of findings and patterns discovered
Phase 3: Clarifying Questions
Goal: Fill in gaps and resolve all ambiguities before designing
CRITICAL: This is one of the most important phases. DO NOT SKIP.
Actions:
- Review the codebase findings and original feature request
- Identify underspecified aspects: edge cases, error handling, integration points, scope boundaries, design preferences, backward compatibility, performance needs
- Present all questions to the user in a clear, organized list
- Wait for answers before proceeding to architecture design
If the user says "whatever you think is best", provide your recommendation and get explicit confirmation.
Phase 4: Architecture Design
Goal: Design multiple implementation approaches with different trade-offs
Actions:
- Launch 2-3 code-architect agents in parallel with different focuses: minimal changes (smallest change, maximum reuse), clean architecture (maintainability, elegant abstractions), or pragmatic balance (speed + quality)
- Review all approaches and form your opinion on which fits best for this specific task (consider: small fix vs large feature, urgency, complexity, team context)
- Present to user: brief summary of each approach, trade-offs comparison, your recommendation with reasoning, concrete implementation differences
- Ask user which approach they prefer
Phase 5: PRD specification
Goal: Generate a prd.json files where each item is small and specific.
CRITICAL: This is one of the most important phases. DO NOT SKIP.
Important: Acceptance criteria must be verifiable, not vague. "Works correctly" is bad. "Button shows confirmation dialog before deleting" is good. For any story with UI changes: Always include "Verify in browser using dev-browser skill" as acceptance criteria. This ensures visual verification of frontend work. For any story that includes domain logic: Always include "Verify with unit tests" as acceptance criteria.
Writing for Junior Developers
The PRD reader may be a junior developer or AI agent. Therefore:
- Be explicit and unambiguous
- Avoid jargon or explain it
- Provide enough detail to understand purpose and core logic
- Number requirements for easy reference
- Use concrete examples where helpful
Generate the PRD json based on the following json schema:
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"type": "array",
"minItems": 1,
"description": "Product Requirements Document: an array of features to be implemented by an LLM agent.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["category", "title", "description", "passes", "acceptance"],
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"pattern": "^[a-z0-9-]+$",
"description": "Unique identifier for cross-referencing (e.g., 'user-auth', 'api-rate-limiting'). Use lowercase with hyphens."
},
"category": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"description": "Feature category for grouping (e.g., 'Authentication', 'API', 'UI', 'Testing'). Helps locate related code."
},
"title": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"description": "Concise feature title (e.g., 'User Login', 'Rate Limiting Middleware'). Used in progress reports."
},
"description": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"description": "Detailed feature description explaining the expected behavior, user value, and any important context."
"example": "User can log in with valid credentials"
},
"passes": {
"type": "boolean",
"description": "Completion status. Set to true only after implementation passes all acceptance criteria and tests."
},
"acceptance": {
"type": "array",
"minItems": 1,
"description": "Acceptance criteria list. Each item should be independently verifiable. Write as assertions (e.g., 'Login form validates email format'). Describe creating tests or verifying in browser using dev-browser skill",
"example": [
"Login form validates email format",
"Login form validates password length"
],
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"description": "A specific, testable criterion for feature completion"
}
},
"priority": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["critical", "high", "medium", "low"],
"description": "Feature priority for ordering work. Defaults to 'medium' if not specified."
},
"dependencies": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Array of feature IDs that must pass before this feature can be started. Prevents working out of order.",
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
}
},
"technicalNotes": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Implementation hints: patterns to follow, libraries to use, constraints to respect (e.g., 'Use existing AuthService', 'Must support IE11')."
},
"testStrategy": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Testing guidance: test types needed (unit/integration/e2e), what to mock, edge cases to cover."
},
"suggestedFiles": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Paths to files likely needing changes or examination. Glob patterns allowed (e.g., 'src/auth/**/*.ts').",
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
}
},
"outOfScope": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Explicit exclusions to prevent over-engineering (e.g., 'No OAuth support yet', 'Skip mobile responsive').",
"items": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1
}
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
}
}
Output
- Format: JSON (
.json) - Location:
./plans - Filename:
prd.md
Before writing prd.json, verify:
- Asked clarifying questions
- Incorporated user's answers
- PRD item is completable in one iteration (small enough)
- UI stories have "Verify in browser using dev-browser skill" as criterion
- Acceptance criteria are verifiable (not vague)
- Saved to
.plans/prd.json
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