Three Starter Spec Prompts

I want to build a personal tool for myself. The problem: [describe a friction you experience weekly. Examples: "I lose track of which books I've lent to friends." "I want to remember every restaurant I've liked but my notes are scattered across three apps." "I spend 20 minutes every Sunday figuring out what I did last week for my weekly review."] Help me work backwards from the problem. First, write a one-paragraph "press release" for the tool as if I just launched it — who it's for, what it does, what outcome I get. Then write a PR-FAQ with 3 internal questions I need to answer before I build, and 3 external questions a user would ask in the first 30 seconds. Once the PR-FAQ feels right, generate the requirements document in EARS format for the minimum lovable version — the smallest possible version that would make me say "this is useful." Keep it to no more than 5 user stories. For each story, include at least one event-driven and one unwanted-behavior requirement. Tech preference: [pick one: "simple web app (React + local storage)" OR "mobile-friendly web app with a backend (React + Supabase)" OR "I don't care, pick what's fastest"] Constraints: - I want to ship v1 in under 4 hours of build time. - No auth, or the simplest possible auth (magic link / anonymous). - No third-party integrations in v1. Let's start with the PR-FAQ. Don't skip ahead.

I want to build an internal tool for my team at [company / team name]. The problem: [describe a specific friction. Examples: "My team spends 30 minutes in every standup restating what's blocked." "New hires take 2 weeks to figure out who owns which system." "We run the same weekly report manually every Monday morning."] The customer for this tool is [specific role on your team — e.g. "the engineering manager who runs the weekly review" or "a new hire in their first two weeks"]. There are roughly [number] of them. Help me work backwards. Write a PR-FAQ: a one-paragraph press release, a customer quote from one of the specific people I named, 5 internal questions my team should answer before building, and 5 external questions the tool's users would ask. Then generate requirements in EARS format for the minimum version that would genuinely save these people time. Cover: - The happy path (the feature's main flow) - At least 3 unwanted-behavior requirements (things that break, what should happen) - Any ubiquitous requirements relevant to working inside a company (audit logging? access control? PII?) Flag any assumptions you're making about our existing stack. My team currently uses: [list the tools relevant — e.g. "Slack, GitHub, Notion, AWS, and Datadog"]. Tech preferences: [pick one: "stay within what my team already uses — I want zero new vendor approvals" OR "I can add one new service if it's worth it" OR "assume I have full flexibility"] Constraints: - v1 must ship in under 2 weekends of my own time (I have a day job). - Must be shareable as a URL inside my team's network (not a CLI). - Must not require anyone else on my team to do anything to start using it. Start with the PR-FAQ. Don't skip ahead.

I want to build a public MVP. The idea: [one-sentence description. Example: "A tool that turns any blog post URL into a set of tweet-sized summaries, formatted for LinkedIn carousels."] The customer is [specific — not "marketers" but "B2B content marketers at SaaS companies who publish 2-4 long-form posts per month and struggle to get their team to reshare them"]. The durable need is [not the feature, the underlying human need. Example: "they need their own content to travel further without asking colleagues to individually reshare every post"]. Help me work backwards. Write a full PR-FAQ including: - Press release (headline, subheadline, problem, solution, customer quote, leader quote, call to action) - 7 internal FAQ questions covering: who exactly the customer is, the durable need, what happens if we don't build this, what we will NOT build, how we'll know it's working, the riskiest assumption, and why now - 6 external FAQ questions covering: how this differs from the obvious alternative, pricing, technical requirements, integrations, data handling, and how to get started Then generate a complete requirements document in EARS format covering: - 5-8 user stories for the minimum viable public version - Each story must have: ubiquitous requirements, at least 2 event-driven requirements, at least 2 unwanted-behavior requirements - Separate requirements for: authentication/auth flow, payment (if applicable), public-facing marketing surface (landing page, pricing, signup), and the core product Then propose an architecture: - Frontend framework - Backend/API design - Database schema (as a simple list of tables + key fields) - Third-party services needed (auth, payments, email, analytics) - Hosting + deployment story Then produce a task breakdown for the first week of build time (40 hours), organized by day. Each day should end with something that works, even if not complete. Constraints and preferences: - Stack preference: [e.g., "React + Vite + Supabase + Stripe + Vercel, I know this stack"] - Budget for third-party services in the first 3 months: [e.g., "$50/month max"] - I am the only developer. [Or: "I have one part-time collaborator who can do design but not code."] - I can realistically spend [e.g., "12-15 hours a week"] on this. - My "definition of done" for v1 is: a stranger can sign up, pay, get value, and recommend it to a colleague without me intervening. Start with the PR-FAQ. Do not skip to requirements or architecture until the PR-FAQ is tight. If anything in the PR-FAQ feels weak to you, push back — don't just generate something to fill the space.