Phase 9: Capstone — Ship a Real Project · 30 min · Any vibe coding tool

Planning Your Project

30 minutes of planning saves 3 hours of correction loops. Plan before you prompt.

Hiring signal: What changes when you use this: you can plan a project from idea to deployment — which means you start with clarity instead of confusion.

What you will learn

Choose a project that's ambitious but achievable
Define the MVP: what's in scope and what's out
Write the upfront context statement
Choose the right tool for the project
Set up a context file before building

Your Mission

Choose a capstone project, define the MVP, write the upfront context, and set up a context file. Output: project_plan.md.

You need: Everything you've learned in this course.

Time: 30 minutes.

Step 1: Choose Your Project (5 min)

Criteria for a good capstone:

You'll actually use it — a real problem you have
Achievable in 1-2 sessions — not a social network, not an OS
Requires a database — practices data patterns from Phase 6
Requires auth — practices auth patterns from Phase 6
Can be deployed — practices deployment from Phase 7

Project ideas:

Habit tracker — track daily habits, streaks, completion
Expense tracker — log expenses, categorize, see monthly summary
Reading list — track books, reading status, ratings, notes
Recipe box — save recipes, tag by category, search
Workout logger — log workouts, exercises, sets, reps
Idea journal — capture ideas, tag, search, revisit

Pick one. Don't overthink it. The goal is to ship, not to pick the perfect project.

Write in your file:

Unlock the full lesson

You've read the first 2 sections. The rest of this lesson covers Project Choice, Step 2: Define the MVP (5 min), MVP Definition, Step 3: Write the Upfront Context (10 min), Upfront Context, Step 4: Choose Your Tool (2 min), Tool Choice, Step 5: Set Up Your Context File (5 min), Context File, Step 6: Write Your First Prompt (3 min), First Prompt (Draft), You're Done — plus a hands-on lab, quiz, and project artifact.

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