ralph-validate-prd

name	ralph-validate-prd
description	PRD quality checklist that validates feature completeness, test coverage, sizing, dependency ordering, and acceptance criteria quality.
user-invocable	false

Skill: validate-prd

Validate a PRD for completeness and quality before running Ralph initialization.

Purpose

Pre-flight quality check for prd.md to catch issues before the Initializer decomposes it into features. Finding problems here saves iteration cycles later.

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Validation Categories

1. Feature Completeness

• Every feature area has a clear description
• Each requirement has 2-3 acceptance criteria minimum
• Build/test requirements are specified (test command, build command)
• Error scenarios are defined for each happy path
• Edge cases are explicitly listed (empty, null, max values, concurrent)

2. Test Coverage Requirements

• Business logic has unit test requirements
• API endpoints have integration test requirements
• UI features have E2E test requirements (if applicable)
• Test command is specified (e.g., dotnet test, npm test, pytest)

3. Feature Sizing

• No single requirement would create more than 4 files
• Each requirement describes a single concept
• Requirements can be explained in 2-3 sentences
• Large features are already broken into sub-requirements

4. Dependency Ordering

• Models/entities appear before services that use them
• Services appear before controllers/handlers that use them
• Shared components appear before features that depend on them
• Infrastructure setup appears before features that need it

5. Acceptance Criteria Quality

• Specific: Uses exact names, types, and values (not "should work properly")
• Verifiable: Can be checked by code or test (not "should feel responsive")
• Unambiguous: Only one interpretation possible
• Test-Linked: Each criterion maps to a testable behavior

6. RLM Optimization

• Clear ## headings for section discovery
• One requirement per line (for grep extraction)
• Uses keywords: "must", "shall", "will", "should"
• Consistent section structure throughout
• --- dividers between sections

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Common Issues

Issue	Example	Fix
Too vague	"System should work well"	"Login API must return 200 within 500ms"
Too large	"Build the dashboard"	Split into individual components
Missing errors	Only happy path described	Add "When X fails, the system must Y"
No tests	No mention of testing	Add unit/integration/E2E test requirements
Wrong order	Controllers before models	Reorder: models -> services -> controllers
Missing NFRs	No performance targets	Add specific numbers for latency, throughput