Prompt Contracts: How I Stopped Vibe Coding and Started Shipping Real Software With AI (Build With AI)
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$28.99
Regular price $34.99
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Prompt Contracts: How I Stopped Vibe Coding and Started Shipping Real Software With AI (Build With AI)
Sale price
$28.99
Regular price $34.99
You typed a perfectly reasonable prompt. The AI gave you code that looked right. You pasted it, ran it, and something broke. Not with a dramatic error, but with the quiet wrongness of a function that handles the happy path and nothing else. No input validation. No error states. Auth that works in the demo and leaks in production.
So you reprompted. And reprompted. Three iterations later you're debugging code you didn't write, fixing problems you could have prevented.
The problem isn't the AI. You're handing it a napkin sketch and expecting architectural blueprints.
The framework at the center is the prompt contract: a structured spec you write before any code exists. It tells the AI what to build, how to build it, what not to do, and how you'll verify the result. Ten minutes of writing. Roughly half the total time per task. First-try code that survives production.
A prompt is "build me a login page." A prompt contract is a one-page document specifying the auth provider, the redirect behavior, the error states, the session handling, and the three things that must never happen or your users' data goes up in smoke. One produces demo code. The other produces production code.
Inside you'll find the complete framework with copy-paste templates, a full tech stack walkthrough, a deep tour of Claude Code that goes way beyond autocomplete, and the verification loop (how the AI tests its own code in the browser before you take delivery). A complete SaaS build from zero to first paying customer in a weekend. It's not magic, it's method. A chapter on replacing a $200/month AI subscription with a $15/month self-hosted setup. Five automation patterns that survive production in n8n and Make. An honest take on no-code tools.
Make.com is fine if your definition of "production" means a Zapier alternative for personal use. The moment you need real error handling, retry logic, or anything that keeps running at 3am without babysitting, you're going to have a bad time. The book covers this.
Then the real game of shipping solo: burnout, scope creep, money, loneliness. That chapter isn't technical. It might be the most useful one.
Every chapter includes a QR code linking to a companion GitHub repo with runnable code, importable workflows, and templates you can use today. The repo is half the product.
Already shipping AI-assisted production software smoothly, with contracts and verification loops baked into your workflow? You've built the scars. You don't need this book written down.
No sense of humor about software? We're going to have a rough time together.
Your AI has been waiting for better instructions. Give it a contract.
So you reprompted. And reprompted. Three iterations later you're debugging code you didn't write, fixing problems you could have prevented.
The problem isn't the AI. You're handing it a napkin sketch and expecting architectural blueprints.
Who this is for
You've used Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or ChatGPT to build software. You've shipped (or tried to ship) something real. You've hit the wall between "the demo works" and "a paying customer just found a bug I should have caught."- Maybe you're a bootcamp grad who can build a todo app but stalls on a payment webhook.
- Maybe you're a ten-year veteran using AI like autocomplete and you suspect there's a better way.
- Maybe you have seventeen half-finished vibe-coded projects and zero revenue.
What's inside
A field manual from a solo developer who ships production software with AI every day. Real products. Real users. Real billing. Not weekend demos that die Monday morning when the free tier expires.The framework at the center is the prompt contract: a structured spec you write before any code exists. It tells the AI what to build, how to build it, what not to do, and how you'll verify the result. Ten minutes of writing. Roughly half the total time per task. First-try code that survives production.
A prompt is "build me a login page." A prompt contract is a one-page document specifying the auth provider, the redirect behavior, the error states, the session handling, and the three things that must never happen or your users' data goes up in smoke. One produces demo code. The other produces production code.
Inside you'll find the complete framework with copy-paste templates, a full tech stack walkthrough, a deep tour of Claude Code that goes way beyond autocomplete, and the verification loop (how the AI tests its own code in the browser before you take delivery). A complete SaaS build from zero to first paying customer in a weekend. It's not magic, it's method. A chapter on replacing a $200/month AI subscription with a $15/month self-hosted setup. Five automation patterns that survive production in n8n and Make. An honest take on no-code tools.
Make.com is fine if your definition of "production" means a Zapier alternative for personal use. The moment you need real error handling, retry logic, or anything that keeps running at 3am without babysitting, you're going to have a bad time. The book covers this.
Then the real game of shipping solo: burnout, scope creep, money, loneliness. That chapter isn't technical. It might be the most useful one.
Every chapter includes a QR code linking to a companion GitHub repo with runnable code, importable workflows, and templates you can use today. The repo is half the product.
Who this is not for
Never written code? Looking for a programming course? This isn't it. The book won't teach you what a function is or how databases work. It assumes you already work with AI coding tools and want better output.Already shipping AI-assisted production software smoothly, with contracts and verification loops baked into your workflow? You've built the scars. You don't need this book written down.
No sense of humor about software? We're going to have a rough time together.
Your AI has been waiting for better instructions. Give it a contract.