Contractor‑Ready Launch Brief: One Page That Produces Mocks, API Stubs, Acceptance Tests, and a Paying Flow

Design the brief as a structured form that a founder can complete in 10–15 minutes. Each field should map directly to an output artifact so nothing is left ambiguous for contractors. Required fields (title, 1‑sentence outcome, primary user journey, success metric, paywall trigger, required screens/components, data model sketch) are non‑negotiable—missing any of these is the top cause of rework.

Include export rules and acceptance criteria inline with each screen. For example: 'Sign-up form — visible validation states, error copy, success redirect URL (/dashboard), fields: email, password, planId'. That same text maps to Figma frame names, OpenAPI paths, and Playwright assertions—so keep wording consistent across the brief.

Set a deliberate file structure: one prototype page per user journey, frames named with the consumer route (e.g., /signup, /pricing, /checkout). Pre‑set export settings on icons and illustrations (SVG for vectors, PNG @2x for raster UI bitmaps) and tag assets with exact usage (icon-check@32x). Figma’s export options and Dev Mode let you preset formats and avoid ad‑hoc requests from contractors.

For SVGs, choose whether text should be exported as outlines or as <text> (outlines guarantee visual fidelity across platforms; <text> keeps files selectable and smaller). Use Figma’s export settings or the REST file endpoints when you need programmatic pulls of assets for CI or asset pipelines.

Capture the API contract inside the brief as a minimal OpenAPI document: servers (baseUrl), path (e.g., POST /checkout/session), request body fields, success and error responses, and realistic examples. Adding example payloads in the spec lets mock servers return usable data immediately.

From that spec you can generate server stubs or run a mock server (Prism/Stoplight or OpenAPI Generator) so contractors and frontend work against a predictable API. Include a short snippet in the brief showing the command to run the mock server and the expected example response for the main paths.

Write acceptance tests as a one‑to‑one translation of the brief’s user journey and acceptance criteria. Each step in the journey becomes a Playwright test with explicit assertions for visible UI, network calls, and final state (for example: expect(page).toHaveURL('/dashboard') after successful payment). Use Playwright’s request API to assert the app calls the expected OpenAPI endpoint and returns expected status codes before asserting UI changes.

Include test fixtures in the brief: locators for critical elements, sample mock responses, and the exact success/failure strings to assert. This removes guesswork and enables contractors to deliver passing tests the first time. Put the Playwright commands in the brief so running the suite is one command in CI.

For most early products, Stripe Checkout or Payment Links are the fastest path to revenue. The brief should state which Stripe product to use, the exact product/price IDs (or a placeholder to be replaced), the expected webhook events to handle (checkout.session.completed), and the fulfillment action (redirect, email, grant access). Include code snippets showing server endpoints to create a Checkout Session and webhook handling notes.

Finish the brief with a handoff checklist contractors can tick off: Figma file (with exports), OpenAPI spec (validated), mock server running, acceptance tests passing, payment link created in Stripe test mode, webhook endpoint validated, and a deploy checklist for staging → production. That checklist reduces back‑and‑forth and shortens the time from contractor start to a paying customer in production.