Write Prd

Write PRD

Turn design decisions, rough ideas, or conversation context into a structured PRD that prd-to-plan can consume directly.

Workflow

1. Gather context

Check what's already available before asking the user to repeat themselves:

• Look for decision records in docs/decisions/ — these are grill-me outputs
• Check if the user pasted or referenced any existing design notes
• Scan conversation history for requirements already discussed

If context is thin, interview the user (see Interview Guide).

2. Interview Guide

Fill gaps the existing context doesn't cover. Ask exactly one blocking question per turn — do not batch multiple questions into a single response. This matters because batching overwhelms the user and produces shallow answers; one focused question gets a thoughtful response.

Must answer before drafting (block on these, ask in order):

1. Who is the target user and what's their pain?
2. What does "done" look like? (the success state, not the feature list)
3. What is explicitly out of scope? (non-goals prevent scope creep)

Ask if not inferrable from context (one per turn):

• What are the priority tiers — what's P0 vs P1 vs nice-to-have?
• Are there hard technical constraints (existing APIs, schema contracts, third-party limits)?
• What are the non-functional requirements (performance, security, compliance)?
• How will success be measured?

Stop interviewing once you have enough to draft. Don't exhaust the user — you can mark gaps as Open Questions in the PRD.

3. Draft the PRD

Use the template at templates/prd.md. Key principles:

• User stories are the spine — prd-to-plan maps phases to user stories, so every requirement must trace back to at least one story. If a requirement has no user story, either write one or question whether it belongs.
• Non-goals are as important as goals — they prevent scope creep during prd-to-plan and tdd phases. Be specific: "not building admin dashboard" is better than "keeping it simple."
• Prioritize ruthlessly — P0/P1/P2 tiers. If everything is P0, nothing is. Push the user to make hard choices.
• Link decision records — if grill-me decision records exist, reference them in the References section so context isn't lost.
• Stay at product and system-contract level — PRDs describe what the system promises, not how it's built. Do not include implementation mechanisms such as cookie types (httpOnly), SDK pinning strategies, function names, or file paths. Those belong in the implementation plan, not the PRD.
• Traceability — every functional requirement must trace back to a user story or a decision in the decision record. If you can't trace it, either write a user story for it or remove the requirement.

4. Review with user

Present the draft and explicitly ask:

• Are the non-goals correct? (most common source of later scope disputes)
• Do the P0 user stories capture the minimum viable feature?
• Any missing technical constraints?

Iterate until the user approves.

5. Write the PRD file

Create docs/prds/ if it doesn't exist. Write to docs/prds/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature-name>.md.

• Ask the user to confirm the filename before writing
• If decision records from grill-me exist, add them to the References section

6. Delegated / Eval Mode

If this skill is being executed by a subagent, eval harness, or any caller that provides an explicit output path or workspace, distinguish between draft artifacts and the canonical PRD file:

• Draft artifacts: Write the PRD draft and any handoff notes to the caller-provided output location
• Canonical PRD file: Only write docs/prds/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature-name>.md after explicit user confirmation of the filename in the current conversation
• No silent promotion: Do not treat a draft written to an eval workspace as the canonical PRD
• Handoff clarity: If canonical write is blocked on confirmation, say so explicitly and include the proposed filename/path

When operating in delegated/eval mode:

• Prefer saving prd-draft.md plus a short process-log.md or handoff note
• Preserve unresolved questions so the parent agent can continue the user conversation
• If the caller gives both an output directory and a confirmed canonical path, write both: the draft artifact for evaluation and the canonical PRD for the repo

Completion Criteria

• Problem statement clearly articulates user pain (not solution)
• Every functional requirement traces to a user story
• Non-goals section is non-empty and specific
• User stories have priority tiers (P0/P1/P2)
• User approved the final PRD
• PRD file written to docs/prds/ with confirmed filename
• In delegated/eval mode, draft artifacts were written to the caller-provided output path and canonical write was deferred unless explicitly confirmed

Gotchas

• Do not batch questions: The interview step says "one question per turn" for a reason. Batching 3 questions into one message produces shallow answers — the user skims and gives one-line replies. One focused question gets a thoughtful response. This was confirmed in eval iteration 1 where the skill sent 3 questions at once despite the instruction.
• Do not leak implementation details into PRDs: Technical constraints like "httpOnly cookies", "SDK versions pinned", or specific API endpoint paths are implementation-level concerns. A PRD should say "session tokens must not be accessible to client-side scripts" (system contract), not "use httpOnly cookies" (implementation). This regression was caught in eval iteration 1 — the with-skill output was more implementation-heavy than the without-skill baseline.
• Iterate this section: After each PRD session, append new gotchas here