Prototype Guide

Purpose

A prototype makes one product decision observable before delivery. Apply product evidence and design decisions that affect that observation; leave unrelated implementation choices to the generator.

Required Context

Start from:

1. the hypothesis and its success/failure criteria;
2. the persona and scenario when they change behavior or evaluation;
3. the product and design sources selected by references/prototype-quality.md.

Classify a missing input as blocking only when it controls the tested flow or interpretation. Name the missing decision and the evidence that would resolve it.

Shared Prototype Contract

• Focus on one validation decision. Combine hypotheses only when the same interaction and evidence resolve them together.
• Make the critical flow, consequences, and relevant recovery behavior observable.
• Use domain-realistic content and data rather than generic placeholders.
• Apply the highest-priority available design source instead of re-inferring existing decisions.
• Implement the states that can occur and affect the validation decision. Report each implemented trigger and any non-obvious exclusion whose absence could change evaluation.
• Keep the visible UI product-native; carry test setup and evaluation evidence in the completion report.
• Preserve the artifacts needed to evaluate, reproduce, or reuse the result.

Reference Routing

• WHEN generating or evaluating a prototype artifact: read references/prototype-quality.md and apply every applicable criterion.
• WHEN exporting a prompt for an external generator: also read references/prototype-prompt-guide.md and the selected platform template.
• WHEN product-specific usability, persona, state, or accessibility decisions are needed: load design-perspective.

Scope Boundary

This skill owns prototype quality and prompt construction. recipe-validate owns the validation lifecycle and hypothesis record. recipe-prototype-prompt owns explicit external prompt export. The prototype generator owns the HTML artifact.