| name | headless |
| description | Build an app from a pre-written PRD file without interactive discovery |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
Build an app from a ready PRD. No interview. Designed for programmatic use by other AI agents or CI systems.
Usage: /headless <path-to-prd> [testing-level]
Parse $ARGUMENTS for:
- First argument: path to PRD file (required)
- Second argument: testing level —
fast, standard, or full (default: standard)
EXECUTION
Step 1: Validate PRD
Read the PRD file and validate against pipeline/prd-schema.md:
- All 12 sections present
- App Name and Slug defined
- Core Features have required fields (Purpose, Action, Response, Success)
- Monetization model is valid
- ASO fields within character limits
If validation fails → list all errors, stop. Do NOT attempt to fix or guess.
Step 2: Create App Directory
apps/<slug>/
└── spec/
├── prd.md ← copy the input PRD here
├── plan.md ← will be generated
└── testing-level.txt ← from argument or "standard"
Save the testing level to apps/<slug>/spec/testing-level.txt.
Step 3: Plan
Read pipeline/plan.md — generate 9-section implementation plan from the PRD.
No user interaction. Plan is derived entirely from the PRD.
Step 4: Build
5 milestones sequentially: M1 (Scaffold) → M2 (Screens) → M3 (Features) → M4 (Monetization, if enabled) → M5 (Polish)
After EACH milestone, run the verify loop from pipeline/qa.md (reads testing level from spec/testing-level.txt).
Step 5: Finalize
Final QA → apps/<slug>/ralph/FINAL_VERDICT.md.
Output build complete message.
DIFFERENCES FROM INTERACTIVE BUILD
| Aspect | Interactive (/build-app) | Headless |
|---|
| Discovery interview | Yes (5-8 questions) | Skipped |
| Web research | Yes (WebSearch) | Skipped (PRD must include §9) |
| PRD approval | User confirms | PRD accepted as-is |
| Testing level | User chooses | Argument (default: standard) |
| Build process | Identical | Identical |
| QA | Identical | Identical |
Key rule: headless mode trusts the PRD completely. It does not validate market research quality, pricing sanity, or feature feasibility.
VALIDATION ERRORS
If the PRD is invalid, output:
PRD VALIDATION FAILED
Errors:
- [error 1: which section, what's wrong]
- [error 2]
Fix these errors in the PRD and retry.
Schema: pipeline/prd-schema.md
Do NOT proceed with an invalid PRD. Do NOT attempt to fix it.
PROGRAMMATIC USAGE
Other AI agents can invoke headless builds by:
- Generating a PRD conforming to
pipeline/prd-schema.md
- Saving it to a file
- Starting Claude Code in the etnamute directory
- Sending: "Headless build: [fast|standard|full]"