PRD for Vibe Coding: How to Write Requirements AI Tools Actually Understand

You describe your app idea to Cursor, Lovable, or Bolt.

The AI builds something. It's wrong.

You explain again.

The AI "fixes" it by breaking three other things.

You spend four hours in a loop, burning credits, questioning your life choices.

This sounds familiar because it's the most common frustration in the AI coding community. The fix isn't a better prompt or a smarter AI. It's a document that most creators have never heard of: a Product Requirements Document, or PRD.

PRDs aren't new. Product managers at tech companies have used them for decades. But every existing PRD guide is written for enterprise teams with sprints, stakeholders, and Jira tickets — useless for a solo creator building an app with AI.

This article translates PRD concepts into something you can actually use. No corporate jargon. No team workflows. Just a simple system that makes AI tools actually understand what you want.

What is a PRD (and Why AI Tools Need It)

A PRD is a document that describes what you're building and how it should work.

That's it.

Traditional PRDs are long and complex because they need to align entire teams.

Your version can be one page — as long as it tells the AI exactly what to do.

Why does this matter for AI coding tools?

AI tools are pattern-matching machines.‍

They've seen millions of code examples and try to match your request to something similar. When you say "build me an app like Airbnb," the AI has to guess which aspects of Airbnb you mean.

The search? The booking flow? The messaging system? The review system? The host dashboard?

Without specifics, AI fills in gaps with assumptions. Sometimes those assumptions match what you wanted.

Usually, they don't.

A PRD removes the guessing.‍

Instead of "build me an app like Airbnb," you write: "When a user clicks 'Book Now,' show a calendar with available dates. Selected dates turn blue. Unavailable dates are grayed out and not clickable. Below the calendar, show the total price: nightly rate × number of nights."

Now the AI knows exactly what to build.

No assumptions.

No loops.

According to research from Medium and developer forums, 82% of developers using AI tools report hallucinated code due to unclear context. That number drops significantly when working from documented requirements.

Why Traditional PRD Guides Won't Help You

Before I explain what works, let me save you time: don't bother with the PRD templates from Atlassian, ProductPlan, Notion, or Product School. I've analyzed all of them for this article.

They assume you have:

• A product owner, stakeholders, and sprint planning meetings
• A team that needs sign-offs and approval workflows
• Jira integration and backlog grooming sessions
• Multiple roles with RACI charts

You have none of this.

You're one person with an idea and an AI tool.

Their templates will slow you down.

More importantly, none of the major PRD guides mention AI tools at all. They were written for traditional development workflows where humans write all the code.

The gap between "how to communicate with developers" and "how to communicate with AI" is massive.

What AI tools need is different from what human developers need:

• Explicit behavior descriptions — When X happens, do Y
• Example inputs and outputs — What does the user type? What appears on screen?
• Error state handling — What happens when something goes wrong?
• MVP scope constraints — What should you explicitly NOT build?

Traditional PRDs skip these because human developers ask clarifying questions.

AI tools don't ask — they assume.

The Simple PRD Template for Non-Technical Creators

Here's a template that works for Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, and similar tools.

It's one page.

Fill in what applies; skip what doesn't.

1. One-Sentence Description

What is this? [Describe the core function in one sentence]

Example: "A web app where freelancers track their unpaid invoices and send automatic payment reminders."

2. Who Is This For?

Primary user: [Specific description — not "everyone"]
What problem does this solve for them? [Their actual pain point]

Example:

• Primary user: Freelance designers who send 5-10 invoices per month
• Problem: They forget to follow up on unpaid invoices and lose money

3. Core Features (MVP Only)

List only what's essential for the first version.

For each feature, describe the exact behavior.

Feature 1: [Name]

• What triggers it: [User action]
• What happens: [Exact result]
• What the user sees: [Screen/message/change]

Feature 2: [Name] [Same structure]

Example:

Feature: Invoice Reminder

• What triggers it: Invoice is unpaid for 7 days
• What happens: System sends an email to the client
• What the user sees: Dashboard shows "Reminder sent" badge on that invoice

4. What NOT to Build

This section prevents AI from adding features you didn't ask for.

• Do NOT include: [Feature that seems related but isn't needed]
• Do NOT include: [Another feature to skip]

Example:

• Do NOT include: Payment processing (users will handle payments externally)
• Do NOT include: Client portal (clients only receive emails)

5. User Flow

Describe the main journey step by step. Number each step.

1. User opens the app
2. User sees [what]
3. User clicks [what]
4. Screen shows [what]
5. User enters [what]
6. System does [what]

Example:

1. User opens the app and sees a list of all invoices
2. User clicks "Add Invoice"
3. Form appears with fields: client name, amount, due date
4. User fills in the form and clicks "Save"
5. Invoice appears in the list with status "Unpaid"
6. When due date passes, status changes to "Overdue" (red color)

6. Success Criteria

How do you know each feature works correctly?

• Feature 1 works if: [Specific testable outcome]
• Feature 2 works if: [Specific testable outcome]

Example:

• Invoice reminder works if: I add an invoice with a date 8 days ago, and the system shows "Reminder sent" within 1 minute

Translating PRD Jargon Into Plain Language

If you've seen other PRD guides, you've encountered confusing terms.

Here's what they actually mean for solo creators:

When you see these terms in other guides, translate them.

Don't copy the format literally.

Before and After: How a PRD Changes AI Output

Let me show you the difference documentation makes.

Without PRD

Prompt: "Build me a habit tracker app"

What AI might build:

• A calendar view (maybe not what you wanted)
• Daily, weekly, and monthly views (did you need all three?)
• Streak counting (useful, but implemented with assumptions)
• Social sharing (you never asked for this)
• Gamification badges (definitely didn't ask for this)

You spend the next hour removing features and fixing the ones that remain.

With PRD

From your PRD:

Feature: Daily Check-In

• What triggers it: User clicks on a habit for today's date
• What happens: Habit is marked complete for that day
• What the user sees: Checkmark appears next to the habit, streak counter increases by 1

Feature: Streak Display

• Each habit shows "Current streak: X days" below the habit name
• Streak resets to 0 if user misses a day

Do NOT include: Sharing, badges, rewards, weekly/monthly views

What AI builds: Exactly what you described. The check-in works as specified. Streaks work as specified. No extra features to remove.

Time saved: 2-3 hours on a simple app. More on complex ones.

Platform-Specific Tips

Different AI tools have different quirks. Here's how to adapt your PRD for each.

For Cursor

Cursor works best when your PRD is saved as a markdown file in your project folder. Name it PRD.md or requirements.md.

When prompting, reference it directly: "Following the requirements in PRD.md, build the invoice reminder feature."

Cursor also supports .cursorrules files for ongoing instructions. You can include a condensed version of your PRD there.

For Lovable

Lovable's documentation recommends planning before building — they call it the "15-minute spec."

Your PRD is essentially this spec, but more thorough.

Break your PRD into phases when using Lovable:

1. Basic UI and navigation (Phase 1)
2. Core feature logic (Phase 2)
3. Data persistence (Phase 3)

Prompt Lovable with one phase at a time.

This prevents the tool from trying to build everything at once.

For Bolt

Bolt works well with natural language, but still benefits from structure.

When pasting your PRD into Bolt, format it clearly with headers. Start with: "I'm going to share my requirements document. After you read it, confirm you understand before building anything."

This forces Bolt to process the whole document before acting.

The Fix-Break-Fix Loop (And How PRDs Prevent It)

The most common complaint in AI coding communities: "Every time I fix one thing, it breaks something else."

This happens because AI tools lose context as conversations grow.

They've seen your initial request, 47 follow-up messages, and can't remember what was important.

A PRD anchors the conversation. When you've described the exact behavior of Feature A, and the AI breaks it while building Feature B, you catch it immediately. More importantly, you can reference the PRD: "Feature A should work as specified in the PRD. You changed the behavior. Revert that change."

Practical tips for avoiding the loop:

• Start new chat sessions for major features instead of one endless conversation
• Reference your PRD at the start of each new session
• Test features individually before combining them
• Keep your PRD updated when requirements genuinely change (not when AI introduces bugs)

Common Mistakes When Writing Your First PRD

Mistake 1: Being too vague

"The app should be user-friendly" means nothing to AI. What specific actions should be easy? What should happen in how many clicks?

Fix: Replace adjectives with behaviors. "User-friendly" becomes "User can add an invoice in 3 clicks or fewer."

Mistake 2: Describing solutions instead of problems

"Add a hamburger menu" is a solution. Maybe the AI has a better approach. Maybe a bottom navigation works better for your app.

Fix: Describe the problem first. "User needs to access Settings, Profile, and Logout from any screen." Let the AI propose solutions, then accept or redirect.

Mistake 3: Skipping error states

What happens when the user enters an invalid email? What if the server doesn't respond? What if they click a button twice?

Fix: For each feature, ask yourself: "What could go wrong?" Document those scenarios.

Mistake 4: Not defining scope

If you don't explicitly say what's out of scope, AI will add features it thinks are helpful.

Fix: Always include a "Do NOT build" section. Be specific.

Mistake 5: Writing once and forgetting

Your PRD is a living document. As you build and learn, update it.

Fix: Spend 5 minutes after each work session updating the PRD with any decisions made.

Quick Reference: PRD Writing Checklist

Before you share your PRD with an AI tool, verify:

• [ ] One-sentence description is specific (not "an app for X")
• [ ] Target user is defined (not "anyone who needs Y")
• [ ] Each feature has trigger, action, and result described
• [ ] User flow is numbered step by step
• [ ] "Do NOT build" section exists
• [ ] Success criteria are testable
• [ ] No jargon that AI might misinterpret

Getting Help With Your PRD

If writing from scratch feels daunting, you can use ChatGPT or Claude to help draft your PRD.

A useful prompt:

I want to build [app description]. Ask me questions to understand exactly what I need, then write a PRD I can use with AI coding tools like Cursor or Lovable.

The AI will interview you about features, users, and behaviors. Your answers become the PRD.

For ongoing writing and content needs, I have a detailed ChatGPT guide that covers effective prompting patterns.

Who Should NOT Use This Approach

Let's be honest about limitations.

This approach works if:

• You have a clear vision of what you want to build
• You're willing to think through details before coding
• You're building something relatively simple (MVPs, internal tools, landing pages)

This approach struggles if:

• You don't know what you want yet (explore first, document later)
• You're building something highly complex (enterprise software, real-time systems)
• You prefer to discover requirements by building (some people do, and that's valid)

A PRD is a tool, not a religion.

Use it when it helps.

Skip it when it doesn't.

That's All

If you've read this far, you have everything you need to write a PRD that AI tools will actually understand.

The pattern is simple: describe what you're building, who it's for, what each feature does exactly, what not to build, and how to know it works. Save it as a document. Reference it when prompting.

The 30-60 minutes you spend writing a PRD will save hours of fix-break-fix loops.

That's not motivation — that's math.

Start small.

Write a PRD for your next project, even if it's simple. See how it changes the AI's output. Adjust the template to fit how you think.

For related tools and workflows, check out my guides on Lovable for AI web development and Make.com for automating the boring stuff around your builds.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out through the contact form. I'm curious to hear how this works for your projects.

Frequently Asked Questions