PRDs & Project Context

Create product requirements and project context that humans and coding assistants can execute effectively.

Two capabilities:

PRDs & Specs - Requirements, specs, stories, acceptance criteria
Project Context - Architecture, conventions, tribal knowledge (CLAUDE.md)

Modern Best Practices (Jan 2026): Context engineering (right info, right format, right time), decision-first docs, testable requirements with acceptance criteria, metrics with formula + timeframe + data source, cross-tool portability.

Workflow (Use This Order)

Pick the deliverable (PRD, AI PRD, tech spec, story map, CLAUDE.md).
Gather inputs (problem evidence, users, constraints, dependencies, risks).
Fill the template (write decisions first; keep requirements testable).
Validate with checklists (requirements, edge cases, security/compliance as needed).
Hand off with next actions (implementation plan, owners, open questions).

Quick Reference

PRDs & Specs

| Task | Template | |------|----------| | PRD creation | assets/prd/prd-template.md | | Tech spec | assets/spec/tech-spec-template.md | | Planning checklist | assets/planning/planning-checklist.md | | Story mapping | assets/stories/story-mapping-template.md | | Gherkin/BDD | assets/stories/gherkin-example-template.md | | AI PRD | assets/prd/ai-prd-template.md |

Project Context (CLAUDE.md)

| Context Type | Template | Priority | |--------------|----------|----------| | Architecture | assets/architecture-context.md | Critical | | Conventions | assets/conventions-context.md | High | | Key Files | assets/key-files-context.md | Critical | | Minimal Start | assets/minimal-claudemd.md | 5-min | | Cross-Tool | assets/cross-tool-context.md | Multi-tool |

Decision Tree

User needs:
    ├─► AI-Assisted Coding?
    │   ├─ Non-trivial (>3 files)? → Planning checklist + agentic session
    │   └─ Simple (<3 files)? → Direct implementation
    │
    ├─► Project Onboarding?
    │   ├─ New to codebase? → Generate CLAUDE.md
    │   └─ Quick context? → Minimal CLAUDE.md
    │
    └─► Traditional PRD?
        ├─ Product requirements? → PRD template
        ├─ AI feature? → AI PRD template
        └─ Acceptance criteria? → Gherkin/BDD

Cross-Tool Context Files

| Tool | Location | Notes | |------|----------|-------| | Claude Code | CLAUDE.md, .claude/ | Auto-loaded | | Cursor | .cursor/rules/ | Project rules | | Copilot | .github/copilot-instructions.md | Workspace context | | Generic | AGENTS.md | Tool-agnostic |

CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md Guidance

Start minimal: assets/minimal-claudemd.md
Add only what’s needed: assets/architecture-context.md, assets/conventions-context.md, assets/key-files-context.md, assets/dependencies-context.md, assets/tribal-knowledge-context.md
Keep it executable: commands must run; include no secrets; prefer file paths over pasted code

Do / Avoid

Do

Start with executive summary (decision, users, scope, success)
Define acceptance criteria in testable language
Keep requirements unambiguous (must/should/may)
Link to supporting docs instead of pasting

Avoid

Vague requirements ("fast", "easy") without definitions
Mixing draft notes and final requirements
Metrics without measurement plan
Docs with no owner or review cadence

Context Extraction

Use:

references/architecture-extraction.md for components/data flows
references/convention-mining.md for naming/patterns
references/tribal-knowledge-recovery.md for git-history “why”
references/docs-audit-commands.md for audit commands and tool fallbacks

Quality Checklist

PRD Quality

[ ] Clear problem statement
[ ] Measurable success criteria
[ ] Unambiguous acceptance criteria
[ ] Edge cases documented
[ ] AI can execute without clarification

CLAUDE.md Quality

[ ] Architecture reflects actual structure
[ ] Key files exist at listed locations
[ ] Conventions match actual patterns
[ ] Commands actually work
[ ] No sensitive information

Resources

| Resource | Purpose | |----------|---------| | references/agentic-coding-best-practices.md | AI coding patterns | | references/requirements-checklists.md | PRD validation | | references/traditional-prd-writing.md | Classic PRD format | | references/architecture-extraction.md | Mining architecture | | references/convention-mining.md | Extracting conventions | | references/tribal-knowledge-recovery.md | Git history analysis | | references/docs-audit-commands.md | Audit shell commands | | data/sources.json | Curated external sources |

Templates

| Category | Templates | |----------|-----------| | PRDs | prd-template, ai-prd-template, tech-spec-template | | Planning | planning-checklist, agentic-session-template | | Stories | story-mapping-template, gherkin-example-template | | Context | architecture, conventions, key-files, minimal-claudemd | | Stack-specific | nodejs-context, python-context, react-context, go-context |

Related Skills

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | docs-codebase | README, API docs, ADRs | | qa-docs-coverage | Documentation gaps | | product-management | Product strategy | | software-architecture-design | System design |