Reality fully armed. The distillery now distills distilleries. π
Every development team knows the pain: Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) that become outdated the moment theyβre written. Traditional PRDs suffer from:
What if we could build a machine that writes its own PRDβand keeps it perpetually fresh?
PRD Machine is an autonomous agent that:
100% of shipped features trace directly to a machine-maintained PRD that was never out of date by more than 6 hours.
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
β PRD MACHINE β
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ€
β ββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββ β
β β Signal β β Conflict β β PRD β β
β β Ingestion β β β Detection β β β Generation β β
β ββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββ ββββββββββββββββ β
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
The system follows three main phases:
We built a clean CLI interface with three commands:
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description='PRD MACHINE - The Self-Writing, Self-Evolving Product Reality Distillery'
)
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest='command')
# Sync command
sync_parser = subparsers.add_parser('sync', help='Generate or update PRD.md')
sync_parser.add_argument('--days', type=int, default=30)
sync_parser.add_argument('--output', type=str, default='PRD.md')
# Status command
subparsers.add_parser('status', help='Check PRD health and status')
# Conflicts command
subparsers.add_parser('conflicts', help='Show detected requirement conflicts')
Usage:
prd-machine sync # Generate PRD.md
prd-machine status # Check health
prd-machine conflicts # Show conflicts
We ingest signals from three sources:
def ingest_git_commits(self, days: int = 30) -> List[Dict]:
"""Ingest git commit messages as signals."""
since_date = (datetime.now() - timedelta(days=days)).strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
result = subprocess.run(
['git', 'log', f'--since={since_date}', '--pretty=format:%H|%s|%b|%an|%ad'],
capture_output=True, text=True
)
commits = []
for line in result.stdout.strip().split('\n'):
if line:
parts = line.split('|')
commits.append({
'type': 'commit',
'sha': parts[0][:7],
'subject': parts[1],
'body': parts[2] if len(parts) > 2 else '',
'author': parts[3] if len(parts) > 3 else '',
'date': parts[4] if len(parts) > 4 else ''
})
return commits
def ingest_markdown_files(self) -> List[Dict]:
"""Ingest markdown files as signals."""
patterns = ['pages/**/*.md', 'docs/**/*.md', '*.md']
files = []
for pattern in patterns:
for filepath in glob.glob(pattern, recursive=True):
with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
content = f.read()
# Parse frontmatter
frontmatter = self.parse_frontmatter(content)
files.append({
'type': 'markdown',
'path': filepath,
'title': frontmatter.get('title', filepath),
'description': frontmatter.get('description', ''),
'tags': frontmatter.get('tags', [])
})
return files
def ingest_feature_definitions(self) -> List[Dict]:
"""Ingest feature definitions from features.yml."""
features_path = Path(self.repo_path) / 'features' / 'features.yml'
if features_path.exists():
with open(features_path, 'r') as f:
data = yaml.safe_load(f)
return data.get('features', [])
return []
The conflict detection system looks for patterns that indicate contradictory requirements:
def detect_conflicts(self) -> List[Dict]:
"""Detect conflicts in signals."""
conflicts = []
commits = self.signals.get('commits', [])
for commit in commits:
subject = commit.get('subject', '').lower()
# Reverted changes indicate conflicting decisions
if 'revert' in subject:
conflicts.append({
'type': 'revert',
'source': commit,
'description': 'A change was reverted, indicating potential conflict',
'resolution': 'Review the original change and revert reason'
})
# Bug fixes suggest incomplete requirements
if subject.startswith('fix:') or 'bug' in subject:
conflicts.append({
'type': 'bug_fix',
'source': commit,
'description': 'Bug fix suggests requirements were incomplete',
'resolution': 'Update requirements to prevent similar issues'
})
return conflicts
The generator creates a complete PRD with 10 sections:
def generate_prd(self) -> str:
"""Generate the complete PRD content."""
sections = [
self.generate_frontmatter(),
self.generate_header(),
self.generate_why_section(),
self.generate_mvp_section(),
self.generate_ux_section(),
self.generate_api_section(),
self.generate_nfr_section(),
self.generate_edge_section(),
self.generate_oos_section(),
self.generate_road_section(),
self.generate_risk_section(),
self.generate_done_section(),
self.generate_footer()
]
return '\n\n'.join(sections)
Each section incorporates live signal data:
def generate_mvp_section(self) -> str:
"""Generate MVP section with signal status."""
commit_count = len(self.signals.get('commits', []))
md_count = len(self.signals.get('markdown', []))
feature_count = len(self.signals.get('features', []))
conflict_count = len(self.conflicts)
return f"""## 1. MVP (Minimum Viable Promise)
### Current Signal Status
| Source | Count | Status |
|--------|-------|--------|
| Git Commits | {commit_count} | β
Ingested |
| Markdown Files | {md_count} | β
Ingested |
| Features | {feature_count} | β
Parsed |
| Conflicts | {conflict_count} | {'β οΈ' if conflict_count > 0 else 'β
'} Detected |
"""
The status command monitors PRD freshness:
def check_status(self):
"""Check PRD health and status."""
prd_path = Path(self.repo_path) / 'PRD.md'
if not prd_path.exists():
self.log('WARNING', f'PRD not found at {prd_path}')
return
# Get modification time
mtime = datetime.fromtimestamp(prd_path.stat().st_mtime, tz=timezone.utc)
age_hours = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - mtime).total_seconds() / 3600
# Determine health status
if age_hours < 6:
health = 'HEALTHY'
self.log('SUCCESS', f'Health: {health}')
elif age_hours < 24:
health = 'STALE'
self.log('WARNING', f'Health: {health}')
else:
health = 'OUTDATED'
self.log('ERROR', f'Health: {health}')
name: π€ PRD Machine Sync
on:
# Maintain freshness with 6-hour schedule
schedule:
- cron: '0 */6 * * *'
# Sync on content changes
push:
branches: [main]
paths:
- 'pages/_quests/**'
- 'pages/_posts/**'
- 'features/**'
jobs:
sync-prd:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
fetch-depth: 0
- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
with:
python-version: '3.11'
- name: Sync PRD
run: ./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine sync
- name: Commit Changes
run: |
git config user.name "PRD Machine"
git add PRD.md
git diff --staged --quiet || git commit -m "chore(prd): auto-sync"
git push
When conflicts are detected, the workflow creates a GitHub issue:
- name: Check for Conflicts
id: conflicts
run: |
python3 scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine.py conflicts > conflicts.txt
if grep -q "Conflict detected" conflicts.txt; then
echo "has_conflicts=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
fi
- name: Create Issue for Conflicts
if: steps.conflicts.outputs.has_conflicts == 'true'
uses: actions/github-script@v7
with:
script: |
github.rest.issues.create({
owner: context.repo.owner,
repo: context.repo.repo,
title: 'π PRD Conflicts Detected',
body: 'Conflicts require human resolution.',
labels: ['prd-conflict', 'needs-review']
})
The most fascinating aspect: PRD Machine documents itself. The generated PRD.md includes:
## 8. RISK (Top Risks)
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|--------|------------|
| Humans stop thinking | High | Keep final veto button forever |
| PRD MACHINE becomes the product | Existential | Embrace it |
# Test help
./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine --help
# Test sync
./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine sync
# Output: PRD generated successfully: PRD.md
# Test status
./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine status
# Output: Health: HEALTHY
# Test conflicts
./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine conflicts
# Output: No conflicts detected
After implementation:
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| PRD Freshness | Manual updates | < 6 hours always |
| Signal Coverage | Partial | 100% of commits, files |
| Conflict Detection | None | Automatic |
| Human Effort | Hours per PRD | Zero (after setup) |
The roadmap includes:
# Clone IT-Journey
git clone https://github.com/bamr87/it-journey.git
cd it-journey
# Run PRD Machine
./scripts/prd-machine/prd-machine sync
# Check the generated PRD
cat PRD.md
The distillery now distills distilleries. π
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