Checklists · The Build Playbook

Before you start coding

Prepare phases

0/9

I can say what my app does in one sentence

I know exactly who it's for, and I've talked to at least 3 of them

I've read what people complain about in competitor reviews

I've decided the platform

I've decided private or shared, login or no login, and where data lives

I have a design direction: colors, fonts and 3 personality words

I have mockups of the core screens

My app folder and GitHub repo exist

My architecture files are in the repo

Before you share a beta

Test with real people

0/13

Every main flow works start to finish on a real phone

Sentry is catching crashes

PostHog is on, with a way to send feedback

No keys or passwords in the code or on GitHub

Row Level Security is on for every table

I tested with two separate accounts and neither can read or change the other's data

Private files have storage policies that match the database ownership rules

Service-role and secret keys exist only on the server, never in browser code

Passwordless sign-in has sensible rate limits and bot protection if the app is public

Light and dark mode both look right

The largest text size doesn't break any screen

A brand new user's first screen makes sense

I've written 3 questions for testers

Before you submit to Apple

Ship it

0/9

Apple Developer account is active

Name, subtitle and keywords are ready

Privacy details match what the app really collects

If there's a login, "delete my account" works in the app

A demo login is ready for Apple's reviewer

Screenshots are ready in the required sizes

Tested on the latest iOS on a real phone

No placeholder text or "coming soon" buttons

When you actually need an engineer

Check any that apply. Two or more? Book a few hours of a senior engineer's review.

0/6

The same bug keeps coming back after 3 AI fixes

You're storing health, money or kids' information

You're handling payments beyond a standard checkout

Real people and real money depend on it, and you can't tell if it's secure

It's getting slow as more people use it

You're about to raise money or sign a big customer

Physical checkpoint

Milestone only. Open the real app and use it end to end.

0/10

I opened the app from a fresh start, not from the screen I was already working on

I completed the main user flow from beginning to end

I tapped every button or control involved in the feature I just changed

Back, close and cancel behavior all take me where I expect

Forms, keyboard, validation and error messages behave correctly

I closed and reopened the app, and the important state or saved data is still correct

I checked light mode, dark mode and the largest text size

I checked the smallest screen or device I support and nothing is cut off

I tried one obvious failure case, such as bad input, no data or a lost connection

What I see matches what we intended to build, not just what the code says should happen