# AGENTS.md — Build guide for Alchemer

## Project scope
Author a three-page customer survey with a qualifying answer, conditional follow-up, answer piping, response table and CSV export.

Catalogue verdict: kinda. The visible enterprise surveys loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Alchemer earns its keep through delivery, integrations, compliance, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope.
Use the implementation prompt below to define the deliverable. Complete each phase's acceptance checks before extending the scope.

## Working agreement
- Inspect the repository and its existing instructions before choosing paths, dependencies or commands. Keep one coherent stack and explain changes to the proposed architecture.
- Plan a vertical slice that accepts a real input and produces the useful output described below. Persist only the state the prompt calls for; respect memory-only and upstream-managed workflows. Use fixtures only when they are clearly labelled.
- After scaffolding, document the actual install, development, check and build commands in README and keep them synchronized with the package or project manifest. Do not report commands as successful unless they ran.
- Work in small steps. At handoff, list implemented flows, checks actually performed, remaining blockers, and any credentials or provider setup the owner must supply.
- Do not publish, spend money, contact customers, delete source data or run irreversible migrations without the project owner's authorization.

## Prerequisites
- Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation.
- Before starting: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery.

## Stack and architecture
- TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation
- Data design: Store SurveyVersion, Question, BranchRule, Response and Completion; responses retain the exact schema version, and skipped hidden answers cannot satisfy visible required questions.
- Setup: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery

## Security and data integrity
- Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses.
- Start with text, choice and rating questions. Detect cycles in branching before publish; webhook delivery failures must not erase accepted responses or imply enterprise compliance.
- Keep secrets outside client bundles and exported projects; document what leaves the device and make retention/deletion controls visible.

## Agent implementation rules
- Project rule — domain: Store SurveyVersion, Question, BranchRule, Response and Completion; responses retain the exact schema version, and skipped hidden answers cannot satisfy visible required questions.
- Project rule — scope and recovery: Start with text, choice and rating questions. Detect cycles in branching before publish; webhook delivery failures must not erase accepted responses or imply enterprise compliance.
- Project rule — acceptance: Answer Yes, fill its follow-up, then go back and choose No; the old follow-up is excluded from scoring/export and the server reaches the same branch as the browser.
- Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.

## Optional agent skills and references
- Recommended skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — review this PostgreSQL domain schema, uniqueness constraints, transaction boundaries and access-scoped queries; Supabase hosting is not required. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
- Recommended skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.

Read the linked SKILL.md and its dependencies before adding a skill. Select only the skills matching this project's runtime and task; their documentation does not supply API access, credentials or approval to perform external actions. Pin the reviewed revision where the tool supports it. Follow the chosen agent's documented project-level installation mechanism.

## Distribution ideas
These are optional planning notes. Obtain the owner's approval before publishing or contacting anyone.
- Demonstrate this working slice using synthetic or explicitly authorized non-sensitive examples: Author a three-page customer survey with a qualifying answer, conditional follow-up, answer piping, response table and CSV export.
- Share a synthetic example export and the acceptance walkthrough; keep real customer, health, financial and source data private: Answer Yes, fill its follow-up, then go back and choose No; the old follow-up is excluded from scoring/export and the server reaches the same branch as the browser.
- State the limits before asking someone to replace their existing tool: Start with text, choice and rating questions. Detect cycles in branching before publish; webhook delivery failures must not erase accepted responses or imply enterprise compliance.

## Engineering roadmap
1. Phase 1 — Pin the working slice and create its example input: Author a three-page customer survey with a qualifying answer, conditional follow-up, answer piping, response table and CSV export. Confirm setup: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery.
2. Phase 2 — Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store SurveyVersion, Question, BranchRule, Response and Completion; responses retain the exact schema version, and skipped hidden answers cannot satisfy visible required questions.
3. Phase 3 — Connect the working view to real saved state. Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses.
4. Phase 4 — Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Start with text, choice and rating questions. Detect cycles in branching before publish; webhook delivery failures must not erase accepted responses or imply enterprise compliance.
5. Phase 5 — Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Answer Yes, fill its follow-up, then go back and choose No; the old follow-up is excluded from scoring/export and the server reaches the same branch as the browser. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.

## Paid-product capabilities outside this build
- the broader question-type and survey-logic library
- multichannel survey distribution and reporting workflows
- maintained business-system integrations
- larger feedback-program administration and support

## Implementation prompt
Build the following focused alternative to Alchemer. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service.

WORKING SLICE
Author a three-page customer survey with a qualifying answer, conditional follow-up, answer piping, response table and CSV export.

SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Use TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation. Prerequisites: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success.

DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS
Store SurveyVersion, Question, BranchRule, Response and Completion; responses retain the exact schema version, and skipped hidden answers cannot satisfy visible required questions.

IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT
Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content.

APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY
Start with text, choice and rating questions. Detect cycles in branching before publish; webhook delivery failures must not erase accepted responses or imply enterprise compliance.

ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO
Answer Yes, fill its follow-up, then go back and choose No; the old follow-up is excluded from scoring/export and the server reaches the same branch as the browser. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested.

DELIVERY
Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product.

PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md
Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.

## Completion evidence
Demonstrate the prompt's acceptance scenarios against the scoped workflow. Include setup from a clean checkout and failure recovery. Check persistence across restart and export/restore only for the state the prompt says to store; for memory-only tools, confirm that temporary content is discarded as specified. Record actual results and remaining limitations. A detailed plan alone does not establish a working replacement.