Writing Great Requirements
How to write effective requirements and use the AI refinement flow.
What makes a requirement work well
The best requirements explain the product clearly enough that AppCafe does not have to guess the important parts.
A strong requirement usually covers:
- The product: What the app or site is.
- The audience: Who it is for.
- The core actions: What users should be able to do.
- The important pages or sections: What must exist.
- The visual direction: Any strong preference for style, mood, or brand.
A practical requirement template
If you are unsure how to start, use this structure:
Build a [type of app] for [audience]. It should help users [main outcome]. Include [key pages or features]. The design should feel [style direction].
Example shape:
Build a [site or app type] for [specific audience]. It should help users [main outcome]. Include [key pages, screens, or workflows]. The design should feel [style direction that fits the project].
Weak versus strong requirements
| Weak requirement | Strong requirement |
|---|---|
| Make me a website | Build a public site for [audience] with a home section, key offering section, proof or trust section, FAQ, and contact form. Use a visual style that matches [brand direction]. |
| App for tracking work | Build a task workflow app with records, categories, due dates, priority levels, filtered views, and status updates for [target users]. |
| Static content site | Build a static site with the exact sections [section list], a visitor request form, location or contact details if needed, and a visual direction based on [brand or reference]. |
What to include when possible
The more of this you include, the better the first result usually is:
- product type
- audience
- must-have features
- must-have pages
- design style
- brand tone
- content priorities
- any hard constraints
When to use AI requirement refinement
Keep Improve requirement with AI enabled when you want AppCafe to ask a few clarifying questions before generation. This usually improves the result by making the plan more specific.
Requirement refinement is especially helpful when:
- your requirement is short
- you are not sure which pages should exist
- the product has multiple user flows
- you care about design direction and brand feel
Guided prompt generator
The guided builder on the home screen asks only for requirements that materially change the generated result. AppCafe then turns those answers into a focused AI-written prompt for the generation agents.
When to skip refinement
Turn refinement off only when:
- your requirement is already detailed
- you want the fastest rough draft possible
- you are deliberately experimenting with multiple quick attempts
Common requirement mistakes
Avoid these patterns:
- being too vague
- listing features without explaining the product
- asking for everything at once without priorities
- skipping the intended audience
- saying "make it modern" without describing the brand feel
A good workflow after the first result
You do not need the perfect requirement on the first try.
The best loop is usually:
- write a solid requirement
- review the generated workflow and preview
- edit what is close
- regenerate only if the structure is fundamentally wrong