# Break a feature into small, shippable pull requests

Splits a large feature into a sequence of small, independently mergeable PRs with a safe order and clear scope for each.

- Topic: Software Development
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Coding, Summarize, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/break-a-feature-into-small-shippable-pull-requests

## Prompt

```text
Help me break a feature into a sequence of small pull requests.

**Feature:** [WHAT IT DOES FOR USERS]
**Spec or ticket:** [PASTE OR SUMMARIZE]
**Codebase areas involved:** [SERVICES, MODULES, DATABASE TABLES, FRONTEND PAGES]
**Constraints:** [e.g. "main deploys continuously", "we use feature flags", "mobile release cycle is 2 weeks"]
**Team size working on it:** [NUMBER]

Plan the PRs so that:
- Each one is mergeable and deployable on its own without breaking production.
- Each is reviewable in under ~30 minutes (aim for under 400 changed lines).
- Risky changes (schema, auth, public APIs) are isolated in their own PRs.
- User-visible behavior stays hidden behind a flag until the last step.
- Work that can run in parallel is marked so.

Typical order to consider: refactors and seams first, then schema changes (expand only), backend logic behind a flag, API, frontend, then cleanup and flag removal.

Return a table with columns: #, PR title, scope (what's in and explicitly out), depends on, can run in parallel with, tests required, risk level.

Then list:
- Anything in the spec that's too vague to split yet, phrased as questions for the product owner.
- The cleanup PRs that must not be forgotten (removing flags, dead code, old columns).
```

## What to fill in

- WHAT IT DOES FOR USERS
- PASTE OR SUMMARIZE
- SERVICES, MODULES, DATABASE TABLES, FRONTEND PAGES
- NUMBER

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.