The Problem

Product managers spend hours writing specs that should take minutes. Inconsistent formats, missing acceptance criteria, and unclear technical notes lead to endless back-and-forth with engineering teams.

Every company has slightly different PRD templates, but the core structure is always the same: user story, acceptance criteria, technical notes, and edge cases. Why not automate the boring parts?

The Solution

Auto-PRD uses GPT-4 with carefully engineered prompts to transform rough feature ideas into structured, production-ready specifications. It understands context, suggests edge cases, and formats output in a consistent markdown template that integrates directly with Jira and Linear.

prd_generator.ts 
import OpenAI from 'openai';

const generatePRD = async (featureDescription: string) => {
  const openai = new OpenAI({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY });
  
  const prompt = `You are a senior product manager. Transform this feature idea into a structured PRD:

Feature: ${featureDescription}

Format:
## Feature: [Name]

**User Story:**
As a [user], I want [goal] so that [benefit].

**Acceptance Criteria:**
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2

**Technical Notes:**
- Implementation details
- Edge cases to consider`;

  const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
    model: 'gpt-4-turbo-preview',
    messages: [{ role: 'user', content: prompt }],
    temperature: 0.7,
    max_tokens: 1000
  });

  return completion.choices[0].message.content;
};

The system maintains context across multiple iterations, allowing PMs to refine specs through conversational feedback. Changes are tracked, and version history is automatically maintained.

Key Features

  • Smart Context Understanding: Extracts user intent even from vague descriptions
  • Template Consistency: Every PRD follows the same structure, making reviews faster
  • Edge Case Suggestions: GPT-4 identifies potential issues and edge cases you might miss
  • Jira Integration: Export directly to Jira tickets with proper formatting
  • Version Control: Track changes and iterate on specs without losing history

Impact

Internal testing with 5 product managers showed a 10x reduction in time spent writing initial specs. Average time to create a PRD dropped from 45 minutes to just 4 minutes, with quality remaining high.

The standardized format reduced engineering questions by 60%, and the team found they could ship features faster because specs were clearer and more complete from the start.