Coding agent brief

Turn this request into a brief for a coding agent such as Claude Code, Cursor or Codex.

Request:
{{request}}

What I know about the codebase:
{{codebase}}

Write the brief with these sections:
1. Goal: one or two sentences on the outcome for the user.
2. Context: only what the agent needs from what I said about the codebase. Do not name files, functions, libraries or APIs I did not mention; say "find the existing …" instead.
3. Scope: what to change, and what to leave alone.
4. Risks and constraints: what the request implies about security, concurrency, failure handling and permissions.
5. Acceptance criteria: checks that are each observable as pass or fail, including the edge cases the request implies.
6. Tests: what the tests must cover, using the project's test tool.
7. Open questions: anything ambiguous in the request. For each, give the assumption the agent should make if no one answers.

You may propose names for new things, marked as proposals. Do not write the code.

How to use it

Paste the request as you received it and a few lines about the codebase: stack, where similar features live, how tests run. Answer the open questions before handing the brief to the agent, or accept its stated assumptions.

Example

request

From a customer email, forwarded by our support lead: "Can we get our invoices out as a spreadsheet? Our accountant needs them every month. Ideally just the paid ones but sometimes she asks for everything. Also would be great if it had the client name."

codebase

Next.js app with a Postgres database via Prisma. Invoices have a status (draft, sent, paid, void) and belong to a client. There is an Invoices page with filters for status and date. Tests run with Vitest. We already have a PDF download per invoice.