Chapters & Narratives

In traditional development, a project is a static collection of files. But in the era of AI builders, a project is a sequence of decisions. We call this Narrative Architecture, and it's the core of the Portl experience.

What is a Narrative?

A Narrative (Project) is a high-level container for a specific application or product vision. It's the "Book" that holds your story. Within a Narrative, you have Chapters.

• Project (The Narrative): E.g., "SaaS Dashboard for Chefs"
• Chapters (The Artifacts): E.g., "Research", "Landing Page", "Auth UI", "Recipe Editor".

"Chapters are the beats of your build. Narratives are the soul of your product."

The Power of Order

Portl allows you to specify a chapter_order for your artifacts. This is crucial because it gives the AI (and your future self) a linear path to follow. By looking at Chapter 1 (Research) and Chapter 2 (PRD), the AI can provide smarter assistance for Chapter 3 (Code).

Creating a Narrative

When you publish your first artifact to a new project, you are creating a Narrative. You can customize your Project's appearance from the **Dashboard**:

• Status: Idea, Building, or Launched.
• Cover Color: Give each project a unique visual identity.
• Description: A high-level pitch that the AI uses as its primary context anchor.

Conclusion

Stop thinking in /src and /dist. Start thinking in **Intent** and **Outcome**. Every chapter you add is a step closer to a complete product story.