PRD Generator

Describe a feature in plain language. Cairn generates a structured Product Requirements Document, saves it as a note, and can spawn the implementation tasks directly onto your board.

What it generates

Each generated PRD is a markdown note with the following sections:

Overview — one-paragraph summary of the feature
Problem Statement — what problem this solves and for whom
Goals & Non-Goals — what's in scope and explicitly out of scope
User Stories — structured "As a… I want… So that…" entries
Functional Requirements — numbered list of required behaviours
Non-Functional Requirements — performance, security, compatibility
Acceptance Criteria — testable conditions for "done"
Open Questions — unresolved decisions to surface to stakeholders

How to open it

Select a project in the left sidebar
Click Notes in the top nav
Click the Wand icon in the notes panel toolbar
The PRD Generator panel opens on the right

Filling in the form

Title

A short, clear feature name. This becomes the note title. Example: "User notification preferences".

Requirements

Describe what the feature should do in plain language. Be as specific as useful — the more context you give, the more accurate the generated requirements will be. A few bullet points or a short paragraph is sufficient.

Tips for better output

Include: who uses the feature, the core behaviour, any constraints or edge cases you already know, and what "done" looks like. You don't need to write in PRD format — Cairn handles the structure.

Example requirements input:

Users should be able to control which email notifications they receive.
Options: task assigned, task due soon (24h), weekly digest, none.
They should be able to set preferences per-project or globally.
Changes should take effect immediately without re-logging in.

PRD Generator form with title and requirements fields — The PRD Generator panel with title and requirements fields before clicking Generate.

Reviewing and editing the PRD

Click Generate. The PRD streams into a preview pane as it's written. When generation finishes, click Save as Note to commit it to your notes list.

The saved note is a normal markdown note — open it in the editor to revise any section, add stakeholder comments, or restructure requirements before spawning tasks.

Spawning tasks

Once the PRD is saved as a note, open it in the editor. A Spawn tasks button appears in the toolbar.

Click Spawn tasks
A live progress feed shows each task being created
The AI reads the PRD and creates structured task cards in the Backlog column
Each card includes a title, description derived from the requirements, and a link back to the PRD note

You can spawn tasks multiple times from the same PRD as requirements evolve — duplicate tasks are not automatically detected, so review existing board state first.

Spawn tasks progress feed showing tasks being created — The live progress feed as tasks are spawned from a PRD note onto the board.

Bidirectional links

Every task spawned from a PRD is linked to the source note:

Opening the task card shows a Linked note indicator — click it to jump to the PRD
Opening the PRD note shows all linked task cards with their current column status

This makes it easy to trace any task back to its requirements, and to see PRD progress at a glance by checking how many linked tasks have moved to Done.

Using the PRD Generator via AI Chat or MCP

The same capability is available programmatically:

In AI Chat: ask "Generate a PRD for [feature description]" — the AI calls the generate_prd tool
Via MCP: call generate_prd with a title and requirements string from any MCP client
To spawn tasks programmatically: call spawn_tasks_from_note with the note ID — this tool is available in AI Chat only, not via MCP

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