Writing briefs that work
Practical rules for writing a brief that gives every AI tool enough context to follow your intent.
6 min read
Principles
- Lead with one sentence that names the product, what it is and who it is for.
- Be concrete. “Record a sale in under 10 seconds” beats “fast and easy”.
- List, don't narrate. One feature per bullet and one screen per item.
- State the rules. Constraints such as “no new dependencies” or “mobile-first” carry into every coding export.
- Leave out what you don't know. Missing context is flagged; invented context is not.
Recognised labels
Labelled lines are the most reliable way to get a field detected. Write the label, a colon, then the value.
| Label | Example | Used by |
|---|---|---|
Audience: | Small traders who sell in person | All exports |
Goals: | Record a sale in under 10 seconds | All exports, PRD |
Screens: | onboarding, today, new sale | Stitch, Figma Make, app builders |
Platform: | Responsive web, mobile-first | Design and coding exports |
Stack: | Next.js, Supabase, Tailwind | Coding agents |
Engine: | Godot 4 (GDScript) | Coding agents (games) |
Core loop: | plant, harvest, sell, upgrade | All exports (games) |
Art: | 16-bit pastel pixel art, 32px tiles | Design and creative exports |
Commands: | npm run build, npm test | Coding agents |
Rules: | No new dependencies | Every export |
Tone: | Calm, precise, premium | Design and creative exports |
Briefs by goal
Designing screens
List every screen by name, give two or three tone words, include hex colours and typography, and describe the layout density you want.
Building with a coding agent
Name the stack, the commands that verify work (build, lint, test), folder conventions and what the agent must never do. A Repo Kit saves you re-typing this.
Writing a PRD
Focus on audience, problem, goals and features. PromptForge adds user stories and open questions for anything that is ambiguous.
Creative and marketing
Describe the audience, the single message, the channel and the format. Use the free tools for one-off assets.
Starter templates
The builder includes 9 starter templates. Each one fills a brief and picks sensible tools; replace anything in angle brackets.
| Template | Best for |
|---|---|
| SaaS landing page | Marketing site that converts visitors to sign-ups. |
| Mobile app MVP | First version of a mobile product, end to end. |
| Admin / analytics dashboard | Data-heavy internal or customer dashboard. |
| New feature in an existing repo | Give coding agents scope, rules and a definition of done. |
| Bug fix task | Precise instructions so agents fix the root cause. |
| E-commerce store | Catalogue, cart and checkout for an online shop. |
| Product launch campaign | Visuals, social posts and copy for a launch. |
| AI assistant product | Chat-based AI product with clear guardrails. |
| Mobile game | A 2D mobile game built with a game engine and AI coding agents. |
Tip
<placeholders> lower your readiness score so you never export a template by accident.Common mistakes
- Writing only adjectives (“modern, clean, beautiful”) with no features or screens.
- Mixing two products in one brief. Create one pack per product.
- Leaving the stack out of a coding export — agents then guess the framework.
- Pasting secrets, passwords or API keys. Never include them in a brief.
Still stuck?
Open a support ticket and a person on the PromptForge team will reply, usually within one business day.