ralph-prd

Ralph PRD Creation

Interactive wizard to create Product Requirements Document and Ralph project setup with task sets.

Quick Start

/create-prd                    # Start interactive wizard
/create-prd "Build a todo app" # Start with description

What It Creates

project/
├── PROMPT.md                          # Instructions for each iteration
├── ralph.sh                           # Loop runner (executable)
└── .ralph/
    ├── current-taskset -> tasksets/initial  # Symlink to active taskset
    └── tasksets/
        └── initial/                   # Your task set (named during setup)
            ├── tasks.json             # Task list (JSON)
            ├── prd.md                 # Requirements (Markdown)
            ├── memories.md            # Persistent learnings
            ├── config.json            # Ralph settings
            └── activity.log           # Iteration log (empty)

Discovery Questions

Ask these discovery questions:

1. Task Set Name - What should this collection be called? (default: "initial")
2. Problem - What problem are you solving?
3. Audience - Who is the target user?
4. Features - What are the 3-5 core features?
5. Tech Stack - What technologies to use?
6. Architecture - Monolith, microservices, etc.?
7. UI/UX - Visual requirements and preferences?
8. Auth - Authentication needs?
9. Integrations - Third-party services?
10. Success Criteria - How do we know it's done?

Question Specificity for Destructive Operations

When discovery questions involve deleting files, removing dependencies, or other destructive changes:

• Always include full paths of items being deleted or modified
• State size/scope — file count, line count, component count
• Explicitly state what will NOT be affected
• Frame as confirmation, not open question — "Deleting X, Y, Z. Proceed?" not "What should be deleted?"

See [EXAMPLES.md](EXAMPLES.md) for vague-vs-specific anti-patterns.

Task Generation

Convert features into atomic tasks with categories: setup, feature, integration, styling, testing, verification. See [WORKFLOW.md](WORKFLOW.md) for task format and categories.

Final verification task: Always include a final task with verificationTier: "visual" (UI projects) or "api" (API-only projects) that verifies the complete application works end-to-end. This catches issues that individual task verification misses.

Workflow

See [WORKFLOW.md](WORKFLOW.md) for detailed discovery flow.

Examples

See [EXAMPLES.md](EXAMPLES.md) for PRD examples.

Troubleshooting

See [TROUBLESHOOTING.md](TROUBLESHOOTING.md) for common issues.

Templates (MANDATORY)

You MUST read and use these templates when generating output files. Do NOT write simplified versions from memory — the loop depends on exact field names and signal formats.

• prompt.md.template - CRITICAL: Contains the RALPH_COMPLETE: signal in Step 5. Read this template with the Read tool and fill in {{placeholders}}. Never hand-write PROMPT.md.
• tasks.json.template - CRITICAL: Tasks use "passes": false / "passes": true (NOT "status": "pending" / "status": "done"). The completion signal checks passes.
• prd.md.template - PRD document structure
• config.json.template - Ralph configuration
• memories.md.template - Learnings file

Why This Matters

The ralph.sh loop script checks for RALPH_COMPLETE: in the output to stop. The prompt.md.template Step 5 tells Ralph to emit this signal when all tasks have passes: true. If PROMPT.md is hand-written without Step 5, or tasks.json uses a different field name, the loop runs forever.

ralph.sh

Always copy ralph.sh from this plugin's scripts/ralph.sh directory. It contains required flags (--dangerously-skip-permissions, --disallowedTools) that are essential for non-interactive execution.

After Setup

./ralph.sh 20    # Start autonomous loop

Creating Additional Task Sets

After initial setup, create more task sets:

/ralph taskset new "auth-feature"    # Create new task set
/ralph taskset list                  # See all task sets
/ralph taskset switch "auth-feature" # Switch to it