Every decision traced from intent to ship.
TRACE is a Claude Code plugin that turns your PRD into a living document. You write the intent at the start of a project. Claude Code builds against it, and TRACE writes back: logging decisions, surfacing contradicted assumptions, and flagging new open questions as the build moves. At the end of the session, the document matches what shipped, not what you hoped.
trace-prd |
trace-prd-auto |
|
|---|---|---|
| How entries are captured | Claude offers entries at natural breaks; /trace-prd:review catches up from the conversation and git history |
Hooks record every tool event; /trace-prd-auto:review turns them into proposals |
| Background proposals after each turn | No | Optional, with your own API key |
| What it ships | Markdown only: one skill, two commands | Hooks and dependency-free Node scripts |
| Requirements | Claude Code | Claude Code and Node.js 18+ |
| Where to get it | Plugin directory, or this repo's marketplace | This repo's marketplace |
Most people should start with trace-prd. Install one edition per project, not both.
/plugin install trace-prd
Or from this repository's marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add shandar/trace
/plugin install trace-prd@trace-marketplace # markdown-only edition
/plugin install trace-prd-auto@trace-marketplace # hook edition
/trace-prd:init create TRACE.md and write the intent
/trace-prd:review catch the PRD up; accept, reword, or skip each proposal
Every entry lands in one of three sections of TRACE.md:
- Decision Log: what was chosen, and why.
- Assumption Ledger: what the plan took for granted, and what the build showed.
- Open Questions: unknowns that could change scope, design, or direction.
trace/
├── .claude-plugin/marketplace.json Lists both editions
├── plugins/
│ ├── trace-prd/ Markdown-only edition (directory listing)
│ └── trace-prd-auto/ Hook edition
└── TRACE.md This repo's own living PRD, written by TRACE
This repo's TRACE.md was written by TRACE itself.
Commit 797daaf is the first moment TRACE used TRACE to document itself: a Decision Log entry written by the hook, vetted through the review loop, committed to main. Every later entry in ## Decision Log, ## Assumption Ledger and ## Open Questions followed the same path.
Started at the Built with Opus 4.7 hackathon as a terminal CLI, and rebuilt as Claude Code plugins.
Shandar Junaid, UX designer turned AI product builder. Affordance Design Studio
Most of the code in this repo was written by Claude Code under direction. The product calls, the architecture decisions and the story are mine.
MIT. See LICENSE.