PRD Format Reference

Complete format documentation for prd.md.

Story Heading Format

Each user story is defined by a level-3 markdown heading with an ID and title:

### ID: Title

Examples:

### US-001: User Registration
### AUTH-003: Password Reset Flow
### BUG-012: Fix Login Redirect

Story Fields

Below each story heading, Chief recognizes these bold-label fields:

Field	Format	Required	Default	Description
Status	**Status:** value	No	todo	Current state: done, in-progress, or todo
Priority	**Priority:** N	No	Document order	Execution order (lower = higher priority)
Description	**Description:** text	No	—	Story description (or use freeform prose)

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria use markdown checkboxes:

- [ ] Criterion not yet met
- [x] Criterion completed

Chief reads checkbox state to track progress. The agent checks boxes as it completes each criterion.

Status Values

Value	Meaning
done	Story is complete — Chief skips it
in-progress	Agent is actively working on this story
todo	Story is pending (also the default if Status is absent)

Full Example

# User Authentication

## Overview
Complete auth system with login, registration, and password reset.

## Technical Context
- Backend: Express.js with TypeScript
- Database: PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM
- Auth: JWT tokens in httpOnly cookies

## User Stories

### US-001: User Registration

**Status:** done
**Priority:** 1
**Description:** As a new user, I want to register an account so that I can access the application.

- [x] Registration form with email and password fields
- [x] Email format validation
- [x] Password minimum 8 characters
- [x] Confirmation email sent on registration
- [x] User redirected to login after registration

### US-002: User Login

**Status:** todo
**Priority:** 2
**Description:** As a registered user, I want to log in so that I can access my account.

- [ ] Login form with email and password fields
- [ ] Error message for invalid credentials
- [ ] Remember me checkbox
- [ ] Redirect to dashboard on success

Field Details

id (from heading)

Parsed from the story heading: ### US-001: Title → id is US-001.

Format: Any string before the colon, but US-XXX pattern recommended.

Example: US-001, US-042, AUTH-001

title (from heading)

Parsed from the story heading: ### US-001: User Registration → title is User Registration.

Length: Keep under 50 characters for clean commit messages.

description

The text after **Description:**, or freeform prose between the heading and the first checkbox list.

Format: "As a [user], I want [feature] so that [benefit]." recommended but not required.

acceptanceCriteria (checkboxes)

The - [ ] / - [x] items under each story heading. The agent uses these to know when the story is complete.

Guidelines:

• Specific and testable
• One requirement per item
• 3-7 items per story

priority

Lower numbers = higher priority. Chief always picks the incomplete story with the lowest priority number first. If omitted, stories are selected in document order.

Range: Positive integers, typically 1-100

status

Tracked by Chief. Set to in-progress when work begins, done when the agent outputs <chief-done/>.

Values: done, in-progress, todo (default if absent)

Validation

Chief validates prd.md on startup by parsing the markdown structure:

• At least one story heading (### ID: Title) must be present
• Each story must have a unique ID
• Priority values (if present) must be positive numbers
• Status values (if present) must be done, in-progress, or todo

Invalid PRDs cause Chief to exit with an error message describing the parsing issue.