Plan your build before you prompt

Before you open a builder, write a small brief. It should explain who the app is for, the job it helps them do and how you will know the first version works.

You can make decisions on paper. You do not need to pay for a tool to start planning.

1. Write the job in one sentence

Use: This app helps [person] do [task] so they can [result].

For example: “This app helps a tutor track new enquiries so they know who needs a reply.”

If your sentence includes several different audiences and results, choose one for the first version.

2. Describe the journey

Write the steps from start to finish. An enquiry tracker might begin with a new request, continue with a reply and end with a recorded outcome.

Decide what happens when there are no records, information is missing or saving fails. These are part of the journey, not finishing touches.

3. List the information

For each record, write the fields you need. Decide which are required and who creates or changes them.

Identify anything private. A client's contact details or an internal note should not become public because it is convenient to put everything in one record.

4. Decide who can do what

List your users and their access:

• A public visitor might submit a request.
• A client might read only their own project.
• An administrator might manage assigned records.

Explain how records belong to users. Access needs to be enforced in the data rules rather than only by hiding pages.

5. Separate now from later

Mark each feature as essential to the first complete journey or something to consider afterwards.

You might need a form and private list now. Automated reminders, payments and a dashboard can wait if the first version is useful without them.

6. Write checks before building

Describe what you expect to happen when someone submits, edits or opens a record. Include two-user privacy checks if the app has accounts.

These checks help you explain a problem when the generated version behaves differently.

7. Turn the brief into a prompt

Help me build an app for [user] to [main task]. The first journey is [steps]. Store [fields] and enforce [access rules]. Include [essential pages], validation, empty states and useful error feedback. Keep [later features] out of this version. Explain how I can test [success checks]. Ask about unresolved decisions before changing the plan.

Read the resulting plan and resolve the questions. Then build and test one complete journey before adding more.

Your next step

Work through the planning course, adapt a starting prompt or use the free planning tool.

Reference: Base44's official prompt guide.