Cody Product Builder

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About Cody Product Builder

Cody Product Builder is a guided workflow that helps knowledge workers and domain experts turn ideas into real products with AI. It structures your thinking from idea to shipped version so you can build without becoming a developer and without the work collapsing into chaos.

Whether you're starting fresh, continuing an existing project, or shipping quick fixes, Cody gives you a repeatable workflow that works with any AI coding environment (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and others). It surfaces and captures AI-generated ideas so good suggestions aren't lost in chat, and keeps your project buildable as it grows.

Starting fresh? Cody walks you through idea refinement, requirements, and planning before a single line of code is written.

Have an existing project? Cody analyzes your codebase, understands what's already built, and picks up from there.

Need a quick fix? Patches let you skip the full build cycle while still tracking what was changed and why.

What Cody Product Builder Helps You Do

Surface and Evaluate AI-Generated Ideas

Capture ideas from both you and AI in one structured place so good suggestions aren't lost in chat. Evaluate them before integrating them into your codebase.

Idea Discovery & Refinement

Capture sparks of inspiration and shape them into clear, aligned, well-defined product concepts.

Structured Planning (without killing creativity)

Use AI-ready documents that organize your thoughts, requirements, flows, and decisions while still letting ideas evolve naturally.

Ship Working Versions

Break the work into manageable, incremental "versions" that you can build, test, and ship faster with AI. Each version is complete and shippable.

Lightweight Patches

Fix bugs and make small enhancements quickly without the overhead of a full version build cycle, while still tracking everything.

Why Cody Product Builder Exists

AI tools are powerful, but without structure, things fall apart: messy prompts, inconsistent code, unclear requirements, lost context, and endless rework. At the same time, good ideas from AI get lost in chat transcripts instead of being captured and evaluated.

Cody Product Builder solves this by giving you:

• A repeatable workflow your AI coding tools can follow that surfaces and captures AI-generated ideas
• Templates and commands that eliminate guesswork and keep momentum going
• A structure that prevents chaos without killing creativity
• A consistent way to break work into shippable versions with clear continuity
• A way to build real products, not just generate code

Two-Phase Development Cycle

Phase 1: Plan

Turn raw ideas into actionable plans using three core documents:

Discovery Document (discovery.md)

Captures the unfiltered initial idea and starts an interactive Q&A with the AI agent. The outcome is a clear vision and baseline requirements. Used for greenfield projects.

Brownfield Analysis (brownfield-analysis.md)

For existing codebases: captures an autonomous technical audit of the project (tech stack, architecture, dependencies, existing features) combined with targeted user Q&A. Replaces discovery.md for brownfield projects.

Product Requirements Document (prd.md)

Defines “what and why,” including goals, target users, features, success criteria, stories, assumptions, and dependencies.

Implementation Plan (plan.md)

Defines “how and when,” including architecture, components, data model, milestones, risks, tooling, and delivery strategy.

Phase 2: Build

The build phase translates the plan into structured, version-based execution.

Feature Backlog (feature-backlog.md)

A centralized list of all features, organized into versions with priority and status tracking (🔴 Not Started, 🟡 In Progress, 🟢 Completed).

Version Documents

Each version includes:

Design Document (design.md)

Technical implementation guidance, architecture overview, and open questions.

Task List (tasklist.md)

A detailed breakdown of tasks derived from the Feature Backlog.

Retrospective (retrospective.md)

Lessons learned, improvements, successes, and feedback for both you and the AI agent.

Patches

Patches are lightweight fixes or small enhancements that skip the full version build cycle. Each patch lives in its own folder alongside versions in the build directory.

Patch Document (patch.md)

Captures the problem, the plan, the solution, and files changed. Does not require a design doc, tasklist, or retrospective.

Quick Ideas

Ideas come up all the time while you're building, both from you and from AI. Instead of losing them or context-switching to another app, :cody idea lets you capture them on the spot. They're added directly to the Backlog section of the feature backlog and offered as starting points when you create a new version or patch.

Release Notes (release-notes.md)

Automatically updated after each version or patch, tracking changes, enhancements, and fixes.

Version Naming Convention

• Format: v[major.minor.patch]-[name]
• Example: v1.0.3-refactor-code

Rules:

• Start at v0.1.0 unless specified
• Names ≤ 30 characters, lowercase, alphanumeric + -
• Automatic version increment unless specified
• [name] is optional

Command Reference

Commands use the format: :cody [command]

Command	Description
:cody help	Shows help and all available commands.
:cody plan	Starts the PLAN phase and creates a new Cody Product Builder project.
:cody build	Guided build phase: creates the feature backlog if needed, then lets you create a new version, work on an existing version, or work on a patch.
:cody idea	Quick-capture an idea to the backlog, or view backlog items.
:cody refresh	Refreshes the AI agent’s memory about the project. Auto-detects brownfield projects. Optionally updates PRD, plan, and release notes.

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File Structure

activations/                   # IDE-specific activation files (copy the inner folder for your IDE)
├── .claude/
│   └── commands/
│       └── cody-product-builder.md    # Activation command for Claude Code
├── .cursor/
│   └── commands/
│       └── cody-product-builder.md    # Activation command for Cursor
└── .github/
    └── prompts/
        └── cody-product-builder.prompt.md  # Activation prompt for GitHub Copilot

.cody/
├── activate.md            # Activation instructions for AI agents
├── agent.md               # Core agent instructions and command registry
├── settings.json          # Tool version and settings
├── commands/              # Command implementation files
├── references/            # Shared reference content (loaded on demand by commands)
└── templates/             # Document templates
    ├── cody.json          # Template for project settings (multi-skill config)
    ├── plan/              # Templates for discovery.md, brownfield-analysis.md, prd.md, plan.md
    └── build/             # Templates for feature-backlog.md, release-notes.md, patch.md
        └── version/       # Templates for design.md, tasklist.md, retrospective.md

cody.json                  # Project settings (configurable per skill, created during :cody plan)
release-notes.md           # Release notes (location configurable via releaseNotesPath in cody.json)

<project-path>/            # User-configurable output path (default: cody-projects/product-builder/)
├── plan/                  # Planning phase documents
└── build/                 # Build phase documents (backlog, versions, patches)

Installing and Using Cody Product Builder

Installing

1. Clone or download Cody Product Builder from: https://github.com/ibuildwith-ai/cody-product-builder
2. Copy the .cody folder into your project root.
3. From the activations/ folder, copy the folder for your IDE into your project root:
   • Claude Code: Copy activations/.claude/ to your project root as .claude/
   • Cursor: Copy activations/.cursor/ to your project root as .cursor/
   • GitHub Copilot: Copy activations/.github/ to your project root as .github/

Activating

• Claude Code: Use the /cody-product-builder command
• Cursor: Use the /cody-product-builder command
• GitHub Copilot: Use the /cody-product-builder command
• Other AI Agents: Say: "Please read and execute the @.cody/activate.md"

Using

Get help and see all available commands: :cody help

Starting a new project from scratch: :cody plan to kick off the planning phase, then :cody build to start building.

Building versions: :cody build to add a new version or work on an existing one. Cody will create the feature backlog automatically if it doesn't exist yet.

Quick bug fixes, small enhancements, or updates: :cody build and choose the patch option for a lightweight fix without going through the full version build cycle.

Capture an idea for later: :cody idea [description] to save it to the backlog without interrupting your current work. When you start a new version or patch, Cody will offer your backlog items as a starting point.

Working on an existing project: :cody refresh to have Cody analyze your codebase and generate all planning documents automatically, then :cody build to start building.

Returning to a Cody-managed project in a new AI session? Activate Cody first, then :cody refresh so the agent reads your existing project documents and picks up where you left off.

Author

iBuildWith.ai

Copyright 2026, Red Pill Blue Pill Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

License

Cody Product Builder is licensed under a custom license that permits free use for product building (including commercial use), but prohibits redistribution, modification, and sale of the software itself.

See LICENSE.md for complete terms.

Release Notes

See Release Notes for version history.