Use Case: AI Feature Ideation

Origin's Features workspace lets you describe what you want to build in plain language and receive a structured, implementation-ready specification in seconds. It suggests feature ideas based on your connected repository, asks scope-clarifying questions, and produces specs complete with user stories and metric areas, ready to be saved or converted directly into tasks.

This guide walks through a complete end-to-end example: taking a vague idea to a fully scoped spec and task plan.

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Overview

The Features workspace operates in three modes:

This use case focuses on the full flow: Ideation → PRD → Tasks.

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Step 1: Open the Features Tab

Navigate to your project and click the Features tab in the top navigation bar.

You'll land on the Feature Ideation screen. Two things are immediately available:

• Suggested ideas: Origin analyzes your connected repository and surfaces feature ideas that would fit naturally into your existing codebase. Click Refresh to regenerate suggestions.
• Context documents: any specs, READMEs, or project docs already attached to the project are listed on the left. The AI uses these when generating the spec so suggestions stay grounded in what you're actually building.

You don't have to use a suggested idea. You can type anything.

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Step 2: Describe the Feature

In the input at the bottom, describe the feature you want to build in plain language. Be as brief or as detailed as you like, Origin will ask follow-up questions to fill in the gaps.

Example prompt:

Add a project health dashboard with completion, blockers, and trend metrics.

Hit Enter or click the send button.

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Step 3: Answer the Scope Questions

Origin doesn't immediately generate a full spec. Instead, it asks one or two focused questions to clarify scope before committing to a design.

For the health dashboard example, Origin asks:

What scope should the dashboard operate at?

• Single project view only
• Portfolio / multi-project rollup
• Both, per-project with an optional portfolio rollup

These choices directly shape the spec. Select the option that matches your intent, or type a custom answer. Once you answer, Origin generates the full specification in the side panel.

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Step 4: Review the Generated Spec

The spec panel on the right populates with a structured feature document.

A typical generated spec includes:

Description: a concise summary of what the feature does and the problem it solves.

User Stories: role-based stories following the format:

As a [role], I want to [action] so that I can [outcome].

For the health dashboard, Origin generated stories for project managers, team members, stakeholders, and team leads, each with a distinct goal and success condition.

Core Metric Areas: the key data surfaces the feature needs to expose. For the dashboard example:

1. Completion Metrics: total vs. completed tasks, milestone rate, on-time breakdown, sprint progress
2. Blocker Metrics: active blockers by severity, average blocker age, resolution rate
3. Trend Metrics: velocity chart, burndown/burnup, blocker frequency trend, rolling completion rate

Review the spec and refine it by continuing the conversation, ask Origin to adjust scope, add a user story, or change a metric area.

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Step 5: Switch to PRD Creator (Optional)

If you need a more formal document, for stakeholder review, design handoff, or engineering planning, switch the mode dropdown to PRD Creator.

Origin expands the spec into a full PRD including:

• Problem statement and motivation
• Goals and non-goals
• Detailed functional requirements
• Acceptance criteria per story
• Open questions and risks

Save this as a context document to keep it attached to the project for future sessions.

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Step 6: Generate Tasks

Once the spec reflects what you want to build, click Generate Tasks at the bottom of the spec panel.

Origin switches to Tasks Planning mode and breaks the feature into discrete, actionable development tasks. Each task includes:

• A clear title and description
• Linked user stories from the spec
• Suggested effort level
• Dependencies on other tasks

Tasks are created directly in your project's task board, ready to be assigned, prioritized, and picked up in a Trial session.

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Step 7: Save the Spec

Click Save as New in the spec panel to persist the feature document as a named spec in your project. Saved specs:

• Appear in the Features list for the project
• Can be re-opened and updated at any time
• Are accessible as context documents in Trial sessions, so agents can reference the spec while implementing

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Tips for Better Specs

Be specific about the user. "As a project manager" produces tighter stories than "as a user." Name the role that will actually use the feature.

Let the scope questions do the work. Don't over-explain in the initial prompt. Origin's clarifying questions are designed to extract scope, a short prompt often produces a cleaner spec than a long one.

Attach relevant context. If your project has existing specs, API docs, or a design system doc, upload them as context documents before running ideation. Origin will align generated specs with your existing conventions.

Iterate in the chat. After the spec generates, ask follow-up questions directly: "Add an alerting user story", "Remove the portfolio rollup section", "Break Blocker Metrics into two separate areas." The spec panel updates live.

Generate tasks last. Switch to Tasks Planning only when the spec is stable. Task generation is based on the current spec state, regenerating tasks after a spec change replaces the previous task list.