vibn-frontend/VIBN_PRD.md

vibn — Product Requirements Document

Version: 1.0
Date: March 2026
Author: Mark Henderson / Atlas AI
Status: Draft

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1. Executive Summary

vibn is a template-first SaaS product builder for non-technical founders. It turns a product idea into a fully deployed, live web application — without writing code. Users describe their idea through a guided 6-phase wizard (Discover → Architect → Design → Market → Build), and vibn's AI agents scaffold, build, and deploy the product onto the user's own self-hosted infrastructure (Gitea + Coolify). vibn is positioned as "Shopify for building software": opinionated, template-driven, and designed to dramatically reduce failure rates compared to blank-page AI coding tools. The target customer is a non-technical or low-technical founder who has a validated idea and wants to get to a live product and first paying user in under 72 hours.

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2. Problem Statement

The problem: Non-technical founders cannot build software products without hiring developers or becoming one themselves. Existing AI coding tools (Cursor, Replit, v0) assume technical literacy. General-purpose AI (ChatGPT) produces code snippets that can't be deployed. Developer agencies cost $50–200k and take 6–12 months. The gap between "I have a great idea" and "I have a live product" remains enormous.

Who experiences it: Solo founders, domain experts (lawyers, trainers, consultants, operators) who want to productize a service, career changers, and micro-agencies wanting to scale client delivery without headcount.

What they do today instead:

• Hire a freelance developer (slow, expensive, dependency risk)
• Use no-code tools like Bubble or Webflow (limited, technical ceiling, hard to customize)
• Try to learn to code (fails 90%+ of the time for non-native coders)
• Sit on the idea indefinitely

Why current alternatives fall short:

• Bubble/Webflow: Hit a wall as soon as real backend logic is needed; proprietary and not portable
• AI coding tools: Require knowing what to ask, how to debug, how to deploy — the hard parts remain
• Agencies: Take too long, cost too much, and the founder loses control
• Hiring: Creates single-point-of-failure dependency

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3. Vision & Success Metrics

Vision: vibn is the fastest path from idea to live product for anyone who can describe what they want. It removes every technical barrier between a non-technical founder and a running SaaS — planning, building, deploying, and marketing — while keeping the user in control and the infrastructure on their own servers.

Success metrics (v1, 6-month targets):

Metric	Target
Time from signup to deployed app	< 72 hours (median)
% of builds that deploy successfully on first attempt	> 85%
Monthly active builders	500
Projects reaching "live" status	200
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)	> 100%
Gross margin	> 65%
Paying customers at 6 months	150

Key milestones:

• Month 1: Private beta with 10 hand-selected founders
• Month 2: 50 projects initiated, first 20 live
• Month 3: Public waitlist open, payment enabled
• Month 6: Self-serve onboarding, 150 paying customers

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4. Target Users & Personas

Persona A — The Non-Technical Founder ("The Builder")

• Who: A domain expert (ex: fitness coach, lawyer, ops manager) who has identified a software problem in their industry. No coding background. Has validated the idea informally with peers.
• Primary goal: Go from idea to a working product they can show to real users and start charging for.
• Pain points: Doesn't know where to start technically; has been burned by developers before; doesn't trust no-code tools for "real" products; overwhelmed by choices.
• Happy path: Describes idea in the Discover phase → reviews and approves architecture → picks a visual style → sets brand voice → hits "Build" → shares a live URL within 48 hours.
• What they value: Speed, control, clarity. They want to see something real, not a mock.

Persona B — The Micro-Agency Operator ("The Producer")

• Who: A freelancer or small agency (1–5 people) that builds web products for clients. Currently using developers or outsourcing. Wants to deliver faster and at higher margin.
• Primary goal: Build client products in days, not months. Manage multiple projects from one dashboard. Bill clients for AI compute costs with markup.
• Pain points: Hiring developers is expensive and slow. Coordinating freelancers is painful. Margins are thin. Can't take on more work without more headcount.
• Happy path: Creates a new client project → walks through wizard on behalf of client → client reviews and approves → vibn builds and deploys → operator bills client with AI cost markup shown.
• What they value: Speed, multi-project management, billing visibility, client-presentable output.

Permissions Matrix

Capability	Builder (own project)	Producer (client project)
Create project	✓	✓
Run wizard phases	✓	✓
Trigger build	✓	✓
View live app URL	✓	✓
View cost breakdown	Own costs only	Full client cost breakdown
Bill client	—	✓
Manage custom domain	✓	✓
Access Gitea repo	✓	✓
Request changes post-launch	✓	✓

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5. User Flows & Journeys

Primary Flow — New Builder (Non-Technical Founder)

1. Lands on vibn marketing site (vibn.app)
2. Clicks "Get started free" → enters email
3. Completes Welcome phase: sees 5-step overview of what vibn does, clicks "Let's build it"
4. Discover phase: guided 6-question chat conversation — idea, problem, users, value, revenue, features. Sees live PRD panel filling in as they answer. Continues when all 6 answered.
5. Architect phase: Reviews AI-generated architecture (frontend, backend, auth, payments, email, hosting). Each block shows the chosen option and why. Can edit any block. Confirms with "Plan looks good — next: Design".
6. Design phase: Picks visual feel from 6 presets (Clean, Bold, Warm, Fresh, Electric, Luxury). Sees live mock of their app updating in real time.
7. Market phase: Sets brand voice (sliders for tone, style, personality). Reviews and edits 3 AI-generated content topics. Previews their marketing website style.
8. Build phase: Reviews full summary (auth, payments, email, style, website, topics, pages). Clicks "Build my MVP". Watches 12-step live build progress. Receives live URL + Gitea repo link.
9. Redirected to Dashboard — sees project as "Live" with URL, stats, and action buttons.

Secondary Flow — Returning User (Dashboard → Change Request)

1. Logs in → lands on Dashboard (projects screen)
2. Selects an existing project → clicks "Build" or "Grow"
3. Enters the relevant phase of the wizard in edit mode
4. Makes changes → re-triggers partial build
5. Returns to Dashboard, sees updated deployment

Secondary Flow — Agency Producer (Client Project)

1. Logs in → clicks "+ New project"
2. Tags project as "Client" and enters client name
3. Walks through wizard as normal (can be done with client present or on their behalf)
4. After build: sees project card with "Client" tag, cost breakdown, and "Bill →" button
5. Clicks "Bill →" → generates itemized invoice (LLM costs + compute + markup)
6. Views unbilled total across all clients in Billing screen

Onboarding Flow

1. Email signup → verify email
2. Welcome wizard (Welcome phase of builder)
3. First project created automatically — user is never left on an empty dashboard
4. If user exits mid-wizard, project is saved as draft and resumed on next login

Error / Recovery Flows

• Build fails mid-way: User sees which step failed, error plain-English explanation, and "Retry" button. Failed build does not charge full credits.
• Payment setup missing: If user chose Stripe billing in Architect but hasn't connected Stripe, they're prompted before Build is triggered.
• Custom domain fails DNS: In-app guide walks through DNS setup; app is still live on vibn subdomain in the meantime.
• User exits mid-wizard: Progress is auto-saved per phase. Resumable from Dashboard.

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6. Feature Requirements

6.1 Must Have (v1 Launch)

Builder Wizard — 6-Phase Flow

• Description: The core product experience. A sequential, guided wizard that takes a user from idea to deployed product.
• User story: As a non-technical founder, I want to answer plain-English questions and have AI figure out the architecture, code, and deployment — so I never have to think about technical choices.
• Acceptance criteria: All 6 phases completable end-to-end. Progress saved between sessions. Each phase produces a visible artifact (PRD, architecture plan, design preview, etc.).

Discover Phase — Conversational PRD Builder

• Description: 6-question guided chat. Each answer populates a live PRD panel. AI synthesizes answers into a structured product plan.
• Acceptance criteria: All 6 questions answered before proceeding. PRD panel shows structured output per question. "Plan looks good" CTA advances to next phase.

Architect Phase — Architecture Selection

• Description: AI proposes 6 architecture blocks (Frontend, Backend, Auth, Payments, Email, Hosting). Each block is explainable in plain English and editable.
• Acceptance criteria: All 6 blocks shown with default selection and rationale. User can change any block via dropdown/modal. Hosting block is locked to self-hosted (Coolify + Gitea). Pages list shown.

Design Phase — Visual Feel Picker

• Description: 6 visual presets. Selecting a preset updates a live app mock in real time.
• Acceptance criteria: 6 presets rendered correctly. Live mock updates within 300ms of selection. Continue CTA available once selection made.

Market Phase — Voice + Topics + Website

• Description: Brand voice sliders (tone, style, personality). AI-generated content topics (add/edit/remove). Website style picker with live preview.
• Acceptance criteria: Voice sliders affect AI content generation downstream. Topics editable with add/remove. Website preview updates with style selection.

Build Phase — Review + Deploy

• Description: Full summary of all decisions. "Build my MVP" button triggers 12-step build pipeline. Live progress shown. On completion: app URL + Gitea link.
• Acceptance criteria: All decisions shown accurately from prior phases. Build progress shows step-by-step status. On success: live URL displayed and functional. On failure: clear error + retry option.

Dashboard — Projects View

• Description: Home screen after login. Shows all projects with status, basic stats, and actions.
• Acceptance criteria: Projects shown as cards with status (Live/Building), URL, and key stats (visitors, signups, MRR). "Continue building" for in-progress builds. "+ New project" creates a new wizard session.

Dashboard — Billing View (Agency)

• Description: Client billing tab showing unbilled costs by client, LLM/compute/other breakdown, invoice generation.
• Acceptance criteria: Unbilled totals accurate. "Bill →" generates invoice. Cost log shows itemized charges.

Authentication

• Description: Email-based signup/login for the vibn platform itself.
• Acceptance criteria: Email + password signup. Email verification required. Forgot password flow. Session persists across browser restarts.

Deployment Integration (Coolify + Gitea)

• Description: Every built project is pushed to user's Gitea repo and deployed via Coolify automatically.
• Acceptance criteria: Gitea repo created on build start. Code committed on completion. Coolify deploy triggered automatically. App live on [project].vibn.app subdomain.

Floating AI Chat (Assist)

• Description: Phase-aware chat assistant available throughout the builder wizard. Persists across phase navigation.
• Acceptance criteria: Chat available from Discover through Build phases. Phase-specific starter suggestions. Chat history persists across phase changes. Does not reset on navigation.

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6.2 Should Have (Fast Follow — Months 2–3)

Custom Domain Support

• Users can connect their own domain to a deployed project.
• In-app DNS setup guide. SSL auto-provisioned via Coolify.

Post-Build Change Requests

• Users can request changes to their live product in plain English.
• AI interprets, diffs the codebase, applies change, redeploys.

Marketing Autopilot

• AI generates and schedules blog posts, email newsletters, and social content based on topics defined in Market phase.
• Initial manual approval required; can be set to auto-publish.

Credit Usage Display

• Show real-time credit consumption during builds.
• Warn before triggering tasks estimated to cost > X credits.
• User-configurable spending cap per project.

Template Marketplace Access

• Starter templates browsable before creating a project.
• Template selection sets pre-configured architecture defaults.

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6.3 Could Have (Future — Months 4–6)

Client-Facing Project Portal

• Agency clients can log in to review progress, approve phases, and view their live app — without accessing the vibn dashboard directly.

Stripe Connect for Invoice Payment

• Agency operators can receive payment from clients directly via vibn.

Analytics Dashboard (per project)

• Built-in lightweight analytics (page views, signups, MRR) sourced from the deployed app's database.

Invite Team Members

• Multiple vibn users can collaborate on a single project.

Mobile App (iOS/Android)

• Native app for monitoring live projects and approving content scheduled by marketing autopilot.

Template Marketplace (Sell/Buy)

• Third-party developers can submit templates; users can purchase premium templates.

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6.4 Explicitly Out of Scope (v1)

Feature	Reason excluded
Mobile app (iOS/Android) builder output	All v1 builds are web apps; native app generation is a later capability
Real-time multi-user collaboration on wizard	Single-user flow only in v1; collaboration is v2
Self-hosting vibn itself (white-label)	Not offered in v1; Enterprise tier future consideration
AI voice/video generation	Out of scope; vibn generates text and code only
Direct Stripe Connect marketplace	Invoice workflow is manual export only in v1
Custom AI model selection by users	Model routing is automatic; users do not choose models
Offline/desktop app	Web-only
HIPAA / SOC2 compliance	Out of scope for v1; required before any healthcare customers

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7. Screen-by-Screen Specification

7.1 Marketing Website (vibn.app)

• Purpose: Acquire non-technical founders. Convert to "Get started free" or "Log in".
• Key elements: Hero headline ("You have the idea. We handle everything else."), 5-step how-it-works, pull quotes from 3 founders, stats bar (280+ launched, 72h avg, 4.9 rating), empathy section, final CTA.
• Actions: Get started free → Welcome wizard. Log in → Dashboard.
• Notes: Lora serif + Inter sans, ink/parchment palette. No color accents.

7.2 Welcome Phase

• Purpose: Orient the user, set expectations, build confidence.
• Key elements: 5-step overview of the vibn process. "Let's build it →" CTA. Tagline: "From idea to live product. No code needed."
• Actions: "Let's build it" → Discover phase.

7.3 Builder Sidebar (phases 2–6)

• Purpose: Persistent navigation and progress tracking during the wizard.
• Key elements: vibn logo. Progress checklist (Product plan, Architecture, Product design, Marketing). Phase nav (Discover, Architect, Design, Market, Build MVP). User avatar + name + plan at bottom.
• Notes: Sidebar is hidden on Welcome and Website screens. Always visible during builder phases.

7.4 Discover Phase

• Purpose: Capture the product idea as structured data. Output: PRD.
• Key elements (left panel): Phase header, progress bar across 6 questions, AI message bubble per question, user input field.
• Key elements (right panel): "Your Product Plan" — live-updating sections: Idea, Problem, Users, Value, Revenue, Features. Each fills in as answered.
• Actions: User types answers. AI asks follow-up. After 6 questions: "Plan looks good — next: Architect →" CTA.

7.5 Architect Phase

• Purpose: Let user review and confirm the technical architecture in plain English.
• Key elements (center): Phase header. 6 architecture blocks as horizontal-scrollable cards (Frontend, Backend, Auth, Payments, Email, Hosting). Each card shows: icon, chosen option, plain-English explanation, "Change →" button. "Why?" expandable for each block. Infra note (Coolify + Gitea).
• Key elements (right panel): "Pages to Build" — grouped by Public, Auth, App, Payments.
• Actions: "Change →" opens selection modal with 2–4 alternatives per block. "Confirm — next: Design →" CTA.

7.6 Design Phase

• Purpose: Choose a visual style for the product.
• Key elements (left): 6 feel cards (Clean, Bold, Warm, Fresh, Electric, Luxury) — each with label, reference product, and color/style preview.
• Key elements (right): Live app mock that updates to reflect selected feel. Shows a plausible dashboard UI in that style.
• Actions: Click a feel card → mock updates. "Next: Market →" CTA.

7.7 Market Phase — Voice Tab

• Purpose: Set the brand voice for AI-generated content.
• Key elements: 3 slider pairs: Tone (Friendly ↔ Professional), Style (Conversational ↔ Precise), Personality (Warm ↔ Direct). "Voice preview" section shows how the brand would introduce itself.
• Actions: Sliders adjust in real time. Tab switches to Topics or Website.

7.8 Market Phase — Topics Tab

• Purpose: Define the content topics AI will generate and publish.
• Key elements: 3 pre-generated topic cards (title, angle, channels). Each editable. "Add topic" button. Remove button per card.
• Actions: Edit, add, remove topics. "Next: Website →" tab.

7.9 Market Phase — Website Tab

• Purpose: Choose the marketing website visual style.
• Key elements: 4 website style options (Editorial, Startup Energy, Ultra Minimal, Warm & Human). Live website preview panel updates on selection.
• Actions: Click style → preview updates. "Plan looks good — next: Build →" CTA.

7.10 Build Phase — Review Screen

• Purpose: Final review before triggering the build.
• Key elements: Summary grid (Auth, Payments, Email, Product Style, Website Style, Campaign Topics). Pages list (by group). Infra deployment note. "▲ Build my MVP" button. Disclaimer: ~15 minutes, refinable after launch.
• Actions: "Build my MVP" → transitions to Build Progress screen.

7.11 Build Phase — Progress Screen

• Purpose: Show real-time build progress.
• Key elements: 12-step checklist with: completed steps (green checkmark), active step (animated indicator), pending steps (grey). Step label + detail line. Progress header showing step count.
• On completion: "Your MVP is live" screen — app URL ("Open my app ↗"), Gitea link ("View in Gitea ↗"), "Your next 3 actions" card.

7.12 Dashboard — Projects Screen

• Purpose: Manage all projects from one place.
• Key elements: "Your projects" header with count. Unbilled total button (if agency projects exist). "+ New project" button. Project cards (2-column grid): status thumbnail, project identity (name, URL, client if applicable), status pill (Live/Building), cost strip (client projects), stats (visitors, signups, MRR), action buttons (Build, Grow, ↗). New project CTA card (dashed border, "+" icon).
• Activity feed: Recent events across all projects (content published, new signups, build events).

7.13 Dashboard — Billing Screen (Client Billing tab)

• Purpose: Manage invoicing for agency operators.
• Key elements: Summary stats (total unbilled, LLM costs, compute, other). Billing table (by client, by month). Each row: project, LLM, compute, other, total, status pill. "Invoice" button per unbilled row. "Generate invoice" button (global).

7.14 Dashboard — Billing Screen (Cost Tracker tab)

• Purpose: Understand AI and infrastructure cost breakdown.
• Key elements: LLM usage breakdown (code gen, content, chat assist) with bar charts. Infrastructure breakdown (hosting, database, email, domain). Recent charges log (time, description, project, cost).

7.15 Floating AI Chat (Assist)

• Purpose: On-demand AI help throughout the wizard.
• Key elements: Dark header with "Assist · [phase]" + live green dot. Message thread (user + assistant bubbles). Phase-specific starter suggestions (3 clickable). Input field + send button.
• Behavior: Persists open/closed state and message history across phase changes. Accessible via 💬 bubble button at bottom right.

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8. Business Model & Pricing

Revenue Model

Subscription + Credits (not unlimited AI)

The subscription covers fixed platform value (infrastructure orchestration, templates, UX, dashboard, Gitea/Coolify integration, team ops). Credits cover variable AI compute costs (LLM calls across Tier A/B/C, build pipelines, content generation).

Pricing Tiers

Tier	Price	Templates	Projects	Credits included	Target
Free	$0/mo	Starter only	1 active	50 credits/mo	Evaluators
Builder	$49/mo	Starter + Builder	3 active	500 credits/mo	Solo founders
Pro	$149/mo	All templates	Unlimited	2,000 credits/mo	Active builders + agencies
Enterprise	Custom	Custom + private	Unlimited	Custom	Teams, compliance needs

Credit top-ups: Available at $0.10/credit (10 credits = $1). Minimum top-up: $10.

AI Cost Structure (Internal)

Three-tier model routing:

• Tier A (40% of calls): Gemini Flash-class — orchestration, summaries, routing, log parsing. ~$0.0001/1k tokens.
• Tier B (45% of calls): Mid-tier coding model (GLM-5 or Qwen Coder via Vertex) — code gen, feature building, refactors. ~$0.002/1k tokens.
• Tier C (15% of calls): Premium escalation (Claude Sonnet or Gemini Pro) — architecture decisions, high-risk changes, repeated failures. ~$0.015/1k tokens.

Credit pricing: Each credit = approximately $0.10 of platform value (AI + margin). Exact credit cost per action surfaced to user before triggering high-cost tasks.

Cost Estimate Per Build (v1 template-based app)

Item	Estimated cost
Discover/Architect/Design/Market phases (Tier A/B)	~$0.80
Full code generation (Tier B, ~8,000 LOC)	~$2.40
Deployment orchestration	~$0.20
Total per build	~$3.40
Charged at markup	~40 credits ($4.00)

At $49/mo (500 credits), a Builder subscriber can complete ~12 full builds per month within plan.

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9. Integrations & External Dependencies

Integration	Purpose	Notes
Gitea (self-hosted)	Code storage and version control for every built project	Required. All repos pushed here on build completion.
Coolify (self-hosted)	Build pipeline, deployment, container orchestration	Required. Auto-deploys on Gitea push.
Google Vertex AI	Tier A/B/C model calls	Primary AI provider. Gemini Flash (A), mid-tier MaaS (B), Claude/Gemini Pro (C).
Stripe	Subscription billing for vibn platform fees	Customers pay vibn via Stripe. Stripe not required in built apps unless user selects it in Architect.
Resend / Postmark	Transactional emails (signup, password reset, notifications)	For vibn platform emails. Built apps may use same if email selected in Architect.
PostgreSQL	Platform database (conversations, project state, tasks, billing)	Self-hosted in hot tier.
Redis	Job queue, pubsub for build pipeline events	Optional but recommended for build reliability.

No external data import requirements in v1. Built apps start fresh; no migration tooling in scope.

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10. Non-Functional Requirements

Performance

• Wizard phase transitions: < 200ms
• Live design mock updates: < 300ms after style selection
• Build pipeline: Median < 15 minutes for a template-based app
• Dashboard load: < 1 second (projects list)
• AI chat response: First token within 1 second

Platform

• Primary: Web (desktop browser) — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge
• Secondary: Responsive mobile web for dashboard viewing (not wizard)
• Not in scope v1: Native iOS/Android apps

Accessibility

• WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for all interactive elements
• Keyboard navigable wizard phases
• Sufficient color contrast across all design tokens (ink on paper palette passes AA)

Compliance & Regulatory

• GDPR: Data processing agreements available for EU users. User data deletable on request.
• PCI DSS: vibn does not store card data; handled entirely by Stripe.
• HIPAA: Out of scope for v1. No healthcare data processed.
• SOC 2: Target for Enterprise tier; not required at launch.

Data Privacy & Security

• All user project code stored in user's own Gitea instance (user owns their data)
• vibn platform database stores: conversation history, project metadata, billing records
• AI conversations not used for model training (Vertex API terms)
• Secrets (API keys, Stripe keys) stored encrypted, never logged
• Build logs retained for 30 days, then purged

Scalability Assumptions (v1)

• Designed for 500 MAU at launch
• Build pipeline: 20 concurrent builds supported
• Horizontal scaling of worker pool via Coolify

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11. Risks & Mitigations

Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Mitigation
Build success rate < 85% due to AI code quality	Medium	High	Template-first architecture dramatically reduces open-ended generation. Fallback retry mechanism. Tiered escalation to better model on repeated failure.
LLM costs exceed credit pricing margins	Medium	High	3-tier routing keeps 85% of calls on cheap models. Per-step token limits. Aggressive context summarization. Max retries cap (3).
Users don't understand "credits" model	High	Medium	In-app cost estimation before every build. Plain-English explanations. "This build will use ~40 credits." Spending caps user-configurable.
Coolify/Gitea self-hosted infra reliability	Low	High	Hot tier always-on. Healthcheck monitoring. Auto-restart policies. Graceful failure messaging in build UI.
Non-technical users abandon wizard mid-way	High	Medium	Progress auto-saved per phase. Resume from dashboard. Floating AI chat for unblocking. Encourage "good enough" answers — no wrong answers in Discover.
Scope creep in wizard phases	Medium	Medium	Each phase has a strict set of decisions. No free-form architecture input. Locked hosting block prevents deviation.
Competition from Replit, Bolt, v0	High	Medium	Differentiator is self-hosted infra (user owns everything), template-first (higher success rate), and the end-to-end wizard (no coding literacy required).
Agency use case underperforms	Low	Low	Agency (Producer persona) is v1 secondary target. Builder persona is primary. Billing screen can be iterated post-launch.

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12. Open Questions & Assumptions

Open Questions

1. Template library scope at launch: How many starter templates exist at v1 launch? What are they? (Minimum: SaaS CRUD + landing page. What else?)
2. Subdomain structure: Are projects deployed to [project-name].vibn.app or [user-slug]-[project].vibn.app? (Collision risk if single namespace.)
3. Build pipeline timing: Is 15-minute median build time achievable for first template? What's the P95?
4. Gitea/Coolify provisioning: Is each user getting their own Gitea org? How are Coolify environments namespaced per user?
5. Free tier limits: Should free tier require a credit card? (Conversion vs. abuse risk tradeoff.)
6. Change requests post-launch: How are iterative changes billed? Per-change credit cost, or separate workflow?
7. Marketing autopilot publishing: In v1, does AI content require manual approval before publishing, or is auto-publish available?
8. Wizard re-entry: Can a user go back and redo an earlier phase after completing Build? Does this trigger a rebuild?

Assumptions Made

• vibn's Gitea and Coolify infrastructure are already operational and stable before v1 user onboarding begins.
• Template-based builds (vs. blank-page builds) keep success rates above 85%.
• Non-technical founders are willing to pay $49–$149/month for a solution that reliably delivers a live product.
• The 6-phase wizard is completable in one sitting (~20–30 minutes) for a user with a clear idea.
• Vertex AI API access and model availability (Gemini Flash, mid-tier MaaS) is stable and within budget.
• Users do not need to understand or manage their Gitea/Coolify infrastructure directly — vibn abstracts it entirely.
• The primary acquisition channel for v1 is content marketing and founder communities (not paid ads).

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13. Appendix

Glossary

Term	Definition
Build	The automated process of AI generating code, committing to Gitea, and deploying via Coolify
Wizard	The 6-phase guided flow: Discover → Architect → Design → Market → Build
Phase	A single stage of the wizard, each producing a specific artifact
Template	A pre-built starter codebase that vibn AI builds upon instead of generating from scratch
Credits	vibn's unit of AI compute consumption; consumed during builds, content generation, and chat
Hot tier	Always-running shared infrastructure (API gateway, orchestrator, Postgres, Redis, Gitea, Coolify)
Cold tier	Per-user on-demand containers (agent workspace instances, hibernated when inactive)
Tier A/B/C	Three levels of AI model quality/cost, automatically routed by the orchestrator based on task complexity
Producer	A vibn user building products for clients (agency use case)
Builder	A vibn user building a product for themselves (founder use case)
PRD	Product Requirements Document — the structured output of the Discover phase
Gitea	Self-hosted open-source Git service; stores all project codebases
Coolify	Self-hosted deployment platform; builds and runs all deployed apps

Reference Materials

• Product strategy document: product-idea-a.md
• Builder wizard UI prototype: preview-assist-ui/src/App.jsx
• Marketing website prototype: preview-assist-ui/src/Website.jsx
• Dashboard prototype: preview-assist-ui/src/Dashboard.jsx
• PRD agent system prompt: prd-agent-prompt.pdf

Competitor Reference

• Bolt.new / Lovable: AI coding from scratch; no deployment, no templates, requires iteration by user
• Replit: Strong coding environment; technical literacy required; no guided wizard
• Webflow: No-code UI builder; no real backend; visual but limited
• Bubble: No-code with backend; steep learning curve; proprietary lock-in
• v0 (Vercel): UI generation only; no deployment, no product planning
• Agencies: Custom development; 6–12 month timelines; $50k–$200k budgets