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, this was written with the help of AI, but hear me out! Most tutorials and videos miss this detail, which is the right scope of work in the context of an AI coding tool (like Cursor, etc.). They might say, "keep it short," but what exactly is that? We've all been in a place where we go down a rabbit hole for hours and lose track. This article will help you get that under control!Using AI to Scope and Build Features in Your App: A Practical Guide
When you're working with AI in a chat window—like building a new feature in a SaaS multi-tenant app—it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. Should you build the whole thing at once? Go step by step? Here's a practical way to scope your work, avoid rabbit holes, and get the most out of your AI assistant.
? Recommended Scope: "One Logical Unit of Work" per Session
Break the feature into clear, atomic units of work that:
- Are easy to explain in a paragraph or less
- Produce a meaningful outcome (a code snippet, a design idea, a decision)
- Can be reasoned about, tested, and iterated on in isolation
1. Discovery & Planning
Ask:
What are the invitation use cases? (Admin invites user to org? Org to vault?)
What should the user experience look like?
Scope to use:
"Help me define the requirements and edge cases for an invitation system in a multi-tenant SaaS app using Supabase."
2. Data Modeling
Scope to use:
"Help me design Supabase schema for handling invitations between users, organizations, and vaults."
3. Invitation Generation (Backend)
Scope to use:
"Create an API endpoint in Next.js that generates an invitation for a user to join a vault in an organization, and stores it in Supabase."
4. Invitation Acceptance (Frontend + Backend)
Scope to use:
"How should I handle an invitation acceptance flow in Next.js when the user might be new or existing?"
5. Access Control + Edge Cases
Scope to use:
"Help me cover edge cases for invitation links (e.g., expired, already accepted, invalid token)."
? Final Integration
Once the atomic parts are ready, stitch them together into a cohesive flow. You can also use AI to review or refactor:
Scope to use:
"Review this invitation system implementation for a SaaS app and suggest improvements."
?️ What If You're Going Down a Rabbit Hole?
You’re in one if:
You're 5+ replies deep and still not producing code or decisions
- The conversation feels theoretical
- You're solving a sub-sub-problem of a problem you haven’t built yet
- You’re optimizing before validating
1. Zoom Out Prompt
"Let’s zoom out—what’s the simplest version of this I can build to validate it works?"
2. Checkpoint What You Have
"Here’s what we’ve covered so far. What’s still unclear? What can I build right now?"
3. Use the "Thin Slice" Rule
"How do I create and redeem a one-time invitation token for a single vault?"
4. Bookmark and Continue Later
"This is helpful but feels like a side path. Let’s bookmark it and return after we have X working."
? Mental Models That Help
- "Spike, then build" – 30-min investigation, then build the simplest version
- "Walking skeleton" – Get the end-to-end flow working first, then improve
- "Thin vertical slice" – Always ship something complete and narrow
Enhancing the Workflow: What Else Helps1. Track Progress with WIP and DONE
Ask AI to maintain a running checklist:
Invitation Feature Tasks
- [DONE] Define basic schema for invitations
- [WIP] Create invite generation API route
- [ ] Design invite email template
- [ ] Handle invite redemption flow
Say:
"Can you track these in a list as we go? Mark things as WIP or DONE."
2. Use Timeboxing or Timers
"Let’s take 15 minutes to spike this idea, then regroup."
"Give me the simplest version we can build in under 30 minutes of work."
Ask AI to alert you:
"If we go more than 5 messages without producing a real outcome, warn me."
? Putting It All Together: A Reusable Prompt
Here’s a format you can use to scope any feature-building session:
Let’s build [feature name]. Please:
1. Track our checklist as we go
2. Mark tasks as WIP or DONE
3. Warn me if we go more than 5 replies without progress
4. Keep the scope small—about 30 mins of dev time
Working with AI in this way turns your chat into a focused, iterative dev partner. The goal is to make steady progress, avoid spirals, and actually ship.
Happy building!