Six Documents Before Vibe Coding
Copyable templates for turning an app idea into a clear build plan. These templates were created for this guide. Replace every bracketed field with details for your own app before asking an AI coding tool to build it.
Purpose: Define what the product must do and how success will be measured.
Product name and one-sentence idea: [name and problem solved]
Target users: [who they are, what they need]
Problem and current workaround: [pain point and what users do today]
Goal and success measure: [outcome and a measurable signal]
Core features: [feature, user benefit, and priority for each]
Out of scope for version one: [what will wait]
User stories: As a [user], I want [action], so I can [result].
Acceptance criteria: Given [starting state], when [action], then [observable result].
Open questions: [decisions the owner still needs to make]
Purpose: Make technical choices explicit so the build does not rely on guesses.
Platforms: [web, iOS, Android, or other]
Frontend and hosting: [framework, runtime, deployment target]
Backend and database: [services, data store, region]
Authentication and roles: [sign-in methods, permissions]
External services and APIs: [provider, purpose, limits, credentials owner]
Architecture: [major components and how data moves]
Security and privacy: [sensitive data, access controls, retention]
Performance and reliability targets: [response time, uptime, backup]
Environments and delivery: [development, staging, production, CI/CD]
Key technical decisions and tradeoffs: [choice, reason, alternative]
Purpose: Show each screen, user path, and result of a tap or click.
Entry points: [how a user arrives]
Screen inventory: [screen name, purpose, required data]
Primary journey: [start screen] -> [action] -> [next screen] -> [success state]
Alternate journeys: [cancel, edit, return, skip]
For each action, specify: trigger, validation, loading state, success state, error state, and next screen.
Navigation rules: [tabs, back behavior, deep links]
Empty and blocked states: [no data, permission denied, offline]
First-use journey: [onboarding and account setup]
Purpose: Give the app a consistent, usable visual direction.
Audience and tone: [who it is for, three design adjectives]
Reference products: [links and what to borrow or avoid]
Color palette: [primary, accent, background, text, semantic colors]
Typography: [font family, heading/body scale]
Components: [buttons, forms, cards, navigation, alerts]
Layout rules: [grid, spacing, responsive breakpoints]
Screen notes: [key content and hierarchy for each screen]
Accessibility: [contrast, keyboard access, labels, touch targets]
Interaction states: [hover, focus, disabled, loading, error, success]
Assets needed: [logo, icons, illustrations, screenshots]
Purpose: Define stored data, relationships, and access rules.
Entities: [one line per entity and what it represents]
For each table or collection: [name], [fields and types], [required fields], [default values], [indexes].
Relationships: [one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many and foreign keys]
User ownership: [which records belong to which users or teams]
Authentication flow: [sign up, sign in, reset, session lifecycle]
Authorization rules: [who can read, create, update, delete each entity]
Data validation: [lengths, formats, uniqueness, business rules]
Retention and deletion: [what is kept, purged, or exported]
Migration and seed data: [initial data and change process]
Purpose: Give the AI agent an ordered build sequence with checkpoints.
Milestone 1, project setup: [repo, environment, dependencies, deployment]
Milestone 2, data and auth: [schema, migrations, permissions, tests]
Milestone 3, core user journey: [screens and API work in dependency order]
Milestone 4, secondary features: [remaining requirements]
Milestone 5, quality: [error handling, accessibility, security, performance]
Milestone 6, release: [test plan, deployment, rollback, monitoring]
For each task: [owner or agent], [inputs], [output], [definition of done], [dependency].
Before moving on: run the app, verify the acceptance criteria, and record any unresolved issue.
Fill in the PRD first. Use its features and user stories to complete the other five documents. Give all six to your AI coding tool together, ask it to flag contradictions, and resolve those questions before implementation. Keep the documents updated as the app changes.