Product Requirements Document: Reddit to AI MVP
Reconstructed example — this project shipped before the workflow existed; these docs show what following the workflow produces.
Product Overview
App Name: Reddit to AI Tagline: Turn any Reddit thread into a ready-to-send AI prompt in one click. Launch Goal: Ship to the Chrome Web Store and reach the first 100 users. Target Launch: 4 weeks (early June 2025)
Who It's For
Primary User: The Curious Lurker
Reads Reddit daily on desktop, keeps twenty tabs open, and already uses an AI chat for summaries and second opinions. Not necessarily technical — just wants the good bits of a thread fast.
Their Current Pain:
- Copy-pasting a long thread into an AI chat is slow and loses the reply structure
- Threads are noisy — bots and downvoted comments bury the good stuff
- Big threads overflow the AI's input box with no warning
What They Need:
- One click from Reddit page to a complete, well-formatted prompt
- A way to see and trim the prompt before it sends
- Their favorite instructions saved and reusable
Example User Story
"Meet Alex, a daily Reddit reader. Every evening a 600-comment megathread drops. Alex wants the key takeaways and the main points of disagreement — without reading all 600 comments or spending ten minutes copy-pasting."
The Problem We're Solving
Reddit threads hold some of the best discussion on the internet, and AI chats are great at digesting long text — but the bridge between them is manual copy-paste. This app is that bridge: scrape, filter, preview, send.
Why Existing Solutions Fall Short:
- Manual copy-paste: tedious, loses threading, no filtering
- Generic "summarize this page" extensions: treat Reddit like a flat article, no prompt control
User Journey
- Discovery — finds us on the Chrome Web Store or via a Reddit recommendation; hook: "stop copy-pasting threads into ChatGPT"
- Onboarding (first 5 minutes) — installs, opens a thread, clicks the icon, hits Scrape & Preview; quick win: a clean prompt in seconds
- Core usage loop — trigger: an interesting long thread; action: scrape → preview → send; reward: an instant digest; investment: saved templates and filter defaults
- Success moment — a 600-comment thread becomes a tidy summary; share trigger: telling the subreddit about it
MVP Features
Must Have for Launch
1. Smart Thread Scraping & Quick Filters
- What: Reads the open Reddit thread — post, metadata, and nested comments to a configurable depth — with quick filters to hide bots and set a minimum score.
- User Story: As a Reddit reader, I want the whole thread captured and cleaned in one click so that I never copy-paste anything.
- Success Criteria: captures title, author, subreddit, body, and nested comments; hide-bots and minimum-score filters visibly change the comment set
- Priority: P0 (Critical)
2. Prompt Presets & Custom Templates
- What: One-click presets (Summarization, Debate Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, ELI5, Key Takeaways) plus custom templates using a
{content}placeholder. - User Story: As a user, I want my favorite analysis style saved so that I never retype instructions.
- Success Criteria: every preset produces a complete prompt with the thread inserted at
{content}; saved custom templates are reusable - Priority: P0 (Critical)
3. Preview Before Sending (Context Budget)
- What: A preview screen shows the final prompt with a live size meter (estimated characters/tokens, comment count) and lets you edit, copy, or export before anything is sent.
- User Story: As a user, I want to check and trim the prompt first so that I never blow past the AI's input limit.
- Success Criteria: prompt fully editable; size meter warns when the prompt gets too big
- Priority: P0 (Critical)
4. Send to Your AI (with Fallback)
- What: One click opens the chosen AI chat (Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, or AI Studio) and pastes the prompt; if auto-paste fails, a fallback overlay offers a one-click Copy Prompt button.
- User Story: As a user, I want the prompt to land in my AI chat automatically so that the whole flow takes seconds.
- Success Criteria: auto-paste works on all 4 supported platforms; fallback copy overlay appears when auto-paste is blocked
- Priority: P0 (Critical)
Nice to Have (If Time Allows)
- Comment sort modes: Best / Top / New / Controversial before scraping
- Media extraction: include image and gallery links in the prompt
Out of Scope (Not in MVP)
- History & favorites: will add after launch, once the core flow is proven
- Batch / multi-thread mode: will add after the single-thread flow is rock solid
- Multi-language interface: will add after the English MVP ships
- More AI platforms (DeepSeek, Groq, custom URLs): will add based on user requests
- Firefox / Safari versions: will add if the Chrome version gets traction
Why we're waiting: keeps the MVP focused and launchable in 4 weeks
How We'll Know It's Working
Launch Success Metrics (First 30 Days)
| Metric | Target | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Installs | 100 | Chrome Web Store dashboard |
| Scrape → send success rate | 9 of 10 attempts | Manual test log on the 4 platforms |
Growth Metrics (Months 2-3)
| Metric | Target | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly users | 50+ | Chrome Web Store dashboard |
Look & Feel
Design Vibe: Clean, fast, invisible — feels like part of Reddit.
Visual Principles:
- Native look — system fonts, nothing flashy
- One obvious action per screen ("Scrape & Preview")
- Dark-mode friendly — Reddit users live in dark mode
Key Screens/Pages:
- Popup: platform + preset pickers, quick filters, big Scrape & Preview button
- Preview screen: editable prompt, size meter, Send/Copy/Export buttons
- Options page: defaults for depth, filters, and templates
Simple Wireframe
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Reddit to AI ⚙ │
│ Send to: [ Gemini ▼ ] │
│ Preset: [ Summarize ▼ ] │
│ ☑ Hide bots Min score: 5 │
│ [ 🔍 Scrape & Preview ] │
└──────────────────────────────┘Technical Considerations
Platform: Chrome extension (desktop Chrome, Manifest V3) Performance: scraping a 1,000-comment thread completes in seconds; keyboard-navigable popup with labeled controls Security/Privacy: no remote server, no accounts, no tracking — thread data leaves the browser only into the AI tab the user chose Scalability: N/A — everything runs on the user's machine
Quality Standards
What This App Will NOT Accept:
- Sending anything to an AI without showing the prompt first
- Silent scrape failures — every failure gets a visible message
- A broken auto-paste with no copy fallback
These standards will be enforced by the AI coding assistant.
Budget & Constraints
Budget: $0 to build, $0/month to run (+ ~$5 one-time Chrome Web Store fee) Timeline: 4 weeks to launch — Team: solo (me + an AI coding assistant)
Open Questions & Assumptions
- How reliable is auto-paste on each AI site? (Assumption: selectors break occasionally — hence the fallback overlay; verify during build)
- Chrome Web Store review time assumed under a week (verify at submission)
Launch Strategy (Brief)
Soft Launch: share on a few relevant subreddits and with friends, aiming for the first 100 installs Feedback & Iteration: GitHub issues + a feedback link in the options page; weekly fixes, monthly features
Definition of Done for MVP
The MVP is ready to launch when:
- [ ] All P0 features are functional, with basic error handling
- [ ] Scrape → preview → send works end-to-end on all 4 platforms
- [ ] Fallback copy overlay proven by deliberately breaking a selector
- [ ] Friends/family test is complete
- [ ] Store listing (screenshots, description, privacy notes) is ready
Next Steps
- Create the Technical Design Document (Part 3)
- Set up the development environment and build with AI assistance
- Test with 5-10 beta users, then launch!
Document created: May 2025Status: Draft — Ready for Technical Design
Handoff Context
- Stage: prd
- App name: Reddit to AI
- User level: A
- Target platform: web (Chrome extension)
- Budget: Free tools only (+ ~$5 one-time Chrome Web Store fee)
- Timeline: 4 weeks (evenings & weekends)
- Source files: research-reddit-to-ai.md → PRD-reddit-to-ai-MVP.md