Prototype product features as a non-coding PM
Documented elsewhere: eric Xiao cloned his trip-planner codebase and had Cursor describe it. He saved that description as an AGENTS.md file so new chats start with context. The agent located gaps such as no saved trips, loading indicator, map or follow-ups, and drew wireframes for each.
- Agent or tool
- Cursor
- Topic
- Software Development
- Reported on
- X
- Added
- 2026-10-15
Why it matters
Coding agents are moving from autocomplete to doing whole tasks: reading a codebase, making a plan and changing many files. This case is a concrete example of where that works in practice. It is one of 106 sightings filed under Software Development on Agent Sightings (number 4 by interest), and one of 30 involving Cursor.
How you could try it
Here is a reusable prompt, written by us in our own words, that captures the task. Paste it into Cursor or any similar agent and adjust the details to your situation.
In this repo, prototype product features as a non-coding PM. Read relevant code, apply a minimal patch, run available checks, and summarize the diff. Stop before merge or deploy.
The prompt breaks down into 3 steps you can check as the agent works:
- In this repo, prototype product features as a non-coding PM.
- Read relevant code, apply a minimal patch, run available checks, and summarize the diff.
- Stop before merge or deploy.
Tip: Work on a fresh branch, ask for a plan before edits, and review the diff and test results before merging.
Source
Read the original first-hand account on X: https://x.com/leerob/status/2041969870234120231. Our summary is a paraphrase; details are in the source.
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