💻 Coding
Coding Project Prompt: Scoped Build Plan From Your Skills
Paste your skill level, stack, weekly hours, and goal to get 3 scoped project ideas, a spec, milestones with done checks, a file layout, and stretch goals.
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Prompt
Act as a senior software engineer and coding mentor who has reviewed hundreds of portfolio projects and knows which ones get finished. You scope projects to the time and skills I actually have. Inputs: - Current skill level, with languages, frameworks, and what I have already built: [SkillLevel] - Stack I want to use or learn, and anything I must avoid: [Stack] - Hours per week and the deadline, if any: [TimeBudget] - Goal: job portfolio, learning a concept, solving my own problem, or a side income test: [Goal] - A problem or interest from my own life the project could solve: [MyProblem] - Where it will run: local only, free hosting, phone, or a specific platform: [Deploy] Generate: 1. Three project ideas sized to TimeBudget, each with a one-line pitch, the concept it teaches, why it fits Goal, and a difficulty rating against SkillLevel. Mark the one you recommend. 2. Spec for the recommended project: user stories (5 to 8), what is out of scope, data it stores, and screens or commands. 3. Milestones by week, each with a demo I can show at the end and a done check I can test myself. 4. File and folder layout with one line per file explaining its job. 5. Data model or schema with field names and types. 6. First coding session plan: the exact first 90 minutes, ending with something that runs. 7. Testing plan: what to unit test, one end-to-end check, and how to run tests from the command line. 8. Risk list: the 3 parts most likely to stall me, and the smaller fallback for each. 9. Stretch goals in order, added only after the done checks pass. 10. README outline that shows recruiters or users what I built and how to run it. Rules: - Do not pick tools I did not list unless you explain why and give a choice. - Keep the first version small enough to finish in half of TimeBudget. - Ask me before adding paid services, API keys, or accounts.
Instructions
Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and describe your real skills and hours honestly. Build milestone 1 before asking for more, and paste errors back into the same chat when you get stuck.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
SkillLevel: about 6 months of Python, finished a course; built a CLI to-do app and a weather script that calls an API; know basic SQL, never used a web framework Stack: Python, want to learn Flask and SQLite; no JavaScript frameworks yet TimeBudget: 6 hours a week for 4 weeks Goal: first portfolio project for junior backend roles MyProblem: my climbing gym friends and I track our sessions in a group chat and lose track of which routes we sent Deploy: free hosting, a web page we can open on our phones
Example Output
1. IDEAS (6 h x 4 weeks = 24 hours) A. Send Log (recommended): Flask app where friends log climbing routes they attempted or sent, with a per-person history. Teaches routes, forms, SQLite, simple auth. Fits a backend portfolio. Difficulty: one step up from your CLI apps. B. Route Board API: JSON API only for route data, tested with pytest. Teaches REST and tests, but nothing to show friends on a phone. C. Session Reminder Bot: scheduled script that posts a weekly summary to a chat. Smaller, but depends on a chat platform API and tokens. 2. SPEC: SEND LOG User stories: - As a climber I can sign up with a username and password. - I can add a route with gym section, grade, and color. - I can log an attempt as "tried" or "sent" with a date. - I can see my history newest first. - I can see all routes and who has sent each one. - I can delete my own log entries. Out of scope for v1: photos, comments, leaderboards, email. Screens: login, sign up, routes list, add route, route detail, my history. 3. MILESTONES Week 1: Flask app runs; routes list reads from SQLite. Done check: add 3 routes by script, page lists them. Week 2: sign up and login with hashed passwords; add-route form. Done check: two test accounts each add a route. Week 3: logging attempts and history page. Done check: log tried then sent; history shows both in order. Week 4: deploy, tests, README. Done check: a friend logs a send from their phone. 4. LAYOUT sendlog/ app.py: creates the Flask app and registers routes db.py: opens SQLite and runs schema.sql schema.sql: table definitions auth.py: sign up, login, logout routes.py: list, add, detail views logs.py: log and history views templates/: one HTML file per screen plus base.html tests/test_logs.py: unit tests requirements.txt, README.md 5. SCHEMA user(id INTEGER PK, username TEXT UNIQUE, password_hash TEXT) route(id INTEGER PK, section TEXT, grade TEXT, color TEXT, created_by INTEGER FK user) log(id INTEGER PK, user_id INTEGER FK, route_id INTEGER FK, result TEXT CHECK in (tried, sent), logged_on DATE) 6. FIRST 90 MINUTES 0 to 15: virtual environment, install Flask, requirements.txt. 15 to 45: app.py with one route returning "Send Log". 45 to 75: schema.sql and db.py; insert 3 routes. 75 to 90: list routes on the page. Ends with: flask run shows your 3 routes. 7. TESTS Unit: a sent log appears in history; a user cannot delete another user's log; grade field rejects empty input. End to end: sign up, add route, log send, see it on route detail. Run: python -m pytest. 8. RISKS Auth stalls you: fallback is Flask-Login with its quick start, or a shared group password for v1. Deploy fails: fallback is a free tier that supports Python apps, tested in week 3, not the last night. Template layout eats time: fallback is one plain CSS file, no framework. 9. STRETCH 1) Filter routes by grade. 2) Group stats: sends per person this month. 3) Mark routes retired when the gym resets. 10. README What it does, a screenshot, tech used, how to run locally, how tests run, what you would build next.