Tips, patterns & FAQ
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Tips, patterns & FAQ
App-wide advice that doesn't belong to any single page — workflows, shortcuts, and the questions people ask most. · Optional
If you've read a few section guides and want the bigger picture, this is the page for you.
Required vs. optional — the cheat sheet
You can build a great project by doing only the required spine and skipping everything else. Here's the whole app sorted by how much you need it. (Full context: The Progression Map.)
| Do this | Because |
|---|---|
| Required: Features → User stories → Acceptance criteria → Pages → Schema → Prepare for Dev | This is what makes a project buildable. Skipping any of these leaves a gap your coding agent will have to guess at. |
| Recommended: Project summary, Personas, Tests, Hand off to your IDE | Most projects are noticeably better with these. |
| Optional: Business case, Financial analysis, Templates, Sprint planning, Codebase sync, Jira export, App Builder, the Graph/Blueprint/Financial visual views | Reach for these when your workflow calls for them. None are needed to produce a build-ready spec. |
Common workflows
Pick the pattern that matches how you're starting.
Validate first, then spec (a new idea you're unsure about). Business case → Financial analysis → then the spine. Kill or reshape the idea before you invest in specifying it.
Move fast (you know the idea). Start from a template or a tight prompt → Features → let Guided mode walk you down the spine → Prepare for Dev → hand off.
Existing codebase (you're adding to real software). Connect your IDE agent → sync your codebase so generation is grounded in your actual code → spec new features → watch for drift.
Team handoff (you'll build in Jira). Spec the spine → export to Jira → your team works the board, with status flowing back.
Try one piece before you sign up. Tools in the site's top nav opens /tools — five standalone generators (database schema, business case, user story, acceptance criteria, persona) that run in the browser without an account. Each does one step of the spine in isolation; the app is what wires those steps together into a project.
⚡ Power-user hints
- Model choice matters. The model picker in the agent input applies to chip-triggered generations and pre-flight interviews. Heavier models cost more but reason better on ambiguous specs; economy models are fine for well-described ones. Picking the model by hand is a Pro+ feature — Free and Starter run on pinned models automatically.
- Read the reason on a greyed-out model. Pickers list models they can't use rather than hiding them. A 🔒 reason is a plan or token-budget problem and upgrading fixes it; a capability reason like Not code-capable is about the model itself and upgrading won't.
- The agent vs. the buttons. Use the conversational agent for surgical edits ("rename X", "add a story to Y"); use section-page Generate buttons for bulk creation. Both flow through the same pipelines, billing, and version control.
- Everything is revertable. Agent edits are wrapped in changesets — if a generation goes sideways, revert it in one click.
- Entity codes are your friend. Reference things by code (F-002, US-014) in chat so the agent never guesses which entity you mean — see Entity codes.
↔ The traditional way, summarised
| Traditional | VibeMap |
|---|---|
| PM writes a PRD in a doc | The spec is a connected model, not prose |
| Designer maps screens separately | Pages derive from features and stories |
| Architect draws an ERD by hand | Schema is inferred from pages + features |
| Lead files tickets manually | One-click export to Jira |
| "Are we ready?" is a meeting | Readiness is computed |
FAQ
Do I have to use the AI agent? No. Every step has section-page buttons and direct editing. The agent is a faster path, not a required one.
What if I don't like a generation? Regenerate it, edit it directly, ask the agent to fix specifics, or revert to before it ran.
Which features need a paid plan? Starter unlocks pages and the database schema. Pro adds the conversational agent, the business case, Prepare for Dev, sprint planning, guided pre-flight interviews, blueprint narration, manual model selection and the App Builder. Team adds shared team workspaces. Everything else runs on Free — project summary, personas, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, financial analysis, codebase sync, Jira export, and connecting your IDE agent over MCP. See Account and billing for exactly what each plan unlocks.
How do I know I'm done? Run the readiness checklist — or just watch the coverage check go green on Prepare for Dev.
Can VibeMap build the app for me? Yes — the App Builder compiles your spec into a deployable Next.js + Supabase app. Or hand the spec to your own IDE agent.
I'm working in an existing repo — will it respect my code? Sync your codebase and generation is grounded in your real structure, with drift detection when spec and code diverge.
What's next
- See every step ranked, with its badge and plan → The Progression Map.
- Find the right view for the question you're asking → Visualizations & views.
- Check exactly what your plan unlocks → Account and billing.
Need more help?
- Email: support@vibemap.ai
- In-app: ask the conversational agent, or use the feedback form (bottom-right).