Product OS Framework

Turn ideas into shipped features—without losing the plot.

Product OS is a lightweight way to run product work inside Cursor. You get a clear path from “we should build this” to “it’s live and documented,” with your AI assistant acting like a focused PM and tech lead at each step. Your specs, backlog, and story files live next to your code, so product and engineering stay in sync.

Why teams use it

• Less thrash. One repeatable flow: shape the idea, check quality, build, ship—instead of ad‑hoc docs and forgotten Notion pages.
• Better AI conversations. Cursor slash commands give the model the right job at the right time (write the PRD, review it, implement it, close the loop).
• Visibility for everyone. A simple terminal dashboard shows what’s in progress, blocked, or done—no extra SaaS required.
• You own your work. Everything important stays in your repository. This framework repo is just the tooling and templates.

How it feels in practice

You’re not juggling fifteen templates. You’re moving a story through four natural phases:

Create → Verify → Build → Release

That’s it. Under the hood, Cursor runs four slash commands (you can rename them if you like). Together they keep requirements tight, code aligned, and shipping disciplined.

Get started (simple path)

1. Install once

You need Node.js on your machine (it includes npm). New to the terminal on Mac? Open Terminal from Spotlight—or ask a teammate for a five-minute setup.

Pick one of these:

A — Install from npm (easiest for most teams)

npm install -g prd-cli

B — Clone this repo (good if you want the source, a pinned version, or to contribute)

git clone https://github.com/nimidev/product-OS-framework.git
cd product-OS-framework
npm install
npm link

That registers the prd command on your computer from your local copy. Later, git pull in that folder to update, then run prd as usual.

(Advanced: you can also run node path/to/product-OS-framework/bin/prd.js without linking.)

2. Add Product OS to your project

Go to the top folder of the app you’re building—the same place your main code lives—and run:

cd /path/to/your-app
prd init

Answer the prompts (or say hello to the guided kickoff). Product OS will set up a dedicated product-docs area inside that project and can create a workspace file so Cursor can open your app and the framework together. You don’t need to memorize file names; the setup is guided.

3. Wire up Cursor (one-time)

Slash commands are defined in Cursor, not installed automatically. Copy the ready-made prompts from CURSOR_SLASH_COMMANDS.md into four commands—many teams call them /create, /verify, /dev, and /release. Takes a few minutes once; then the whole team benefits.

4. Write your first story

In Cursor chat, describe what you want to build and point at your backlog—Product OS uses a path like @product-docs/backlog.md so the agent knows where to track the work.

5. Glance at the big picture

From your project folder, run:

prd

You’ll see a colorful overview of stories, status, and progress—useful for standups, planning, or your own peace of mind.

Your four phases in Cursor

| Phase | Typical command | What you get | |--------|-----------------|--------------| | Shape | /create | A real PRD: problem, scope, acceptance criteria—refined with the AI until it’s solid. | | Quality check | /verify | A structured review that finds gaps before engineering invests weeks. | | Build | /dev | Implementation guided by the PRD and your team’s standards. | | Ship | /release | Merge, deploy, and documentation so nothing falls through the cracks. |

(You can use different command names—see the Cursor setup doc above.)

A peek at the dashboard

$ prd

  📊 PRODUCT STORIES DASHBOARD

  Summary: 5 stories · avg progress · what’s blocked

  Your stories appear here with status and progress—
  so the whole team sees the same picture.

What lives in your repo

Product OS keeps product artifacts alongside your code—backlog, story files, and a small context folder the AI reads so it doesn’t re-ask “who is the user?” on every feature. You stay in control; nothing is locked in a vendor silo.

Note: This GitHub repository only ships the CLI and templates. Your stories and backlog are created in your project when you run prd init—they are not bundled into public clones, so contributors get a clean download.

If you want to go deeper

• CURSOR_SLASH_COMMANDS.md — Full prompt text for each phase.
• CONTRIBUTING.md — How to improve the framework.
• prd --help — Command-line options when you need them.

Already using an older “separate docs repo” layout? The same prd CLI still discovers it—no need to migrate on day one.

Built for

Teams who ship in Cursor, care about clear requirements, and want AI that augments product and engineering—not replaces judgment.

Contributing

We welcome issues and PRs. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT

Product OS Framework · Built by Nimrod Margalit