Glossary
Core Terms
Vibe Coding
Using AI tools to build software by focusing on the behavior and experience you want — clear descriptions, examples, and references — rather than writing code yourself. This course explicitly teaches effective vibe coding as a physician-designer.
PRD (Project Requirement Document)
A Markdown file describing what you’re building, for whom, and how it should behave. Your PRD set is the “source of truth” for your project. Types include: masterplan.md, user-journey.md, design-guidelines.md, implementation-plan.md, data-model.md, tasks.md, rules.md.
Source of Truth
The document or file treated as the authoritative reference for an aspect of your project. When in doubt, the PRD is right — not your memory or a chat conversation.
Markdown (.md files)
A simple text format using symbols for headings, lists, and formatting. Both humans and AI can read it easily. All PRDs, handoff notes, and reflections are written in Markdown.
Handoff Document
A brief note at the end of a session recording what was decided, what’s open, and what’s next. Lets you (or your AI) resume later without re-deriving everything from memory.
Vision-First (Not Task-First)
Starting with the big picture — who it’s for, what problem it solves, what exists, what’s missing — before jumping to specific tasks like “build this screen.”
AI as Mirror, Not Oracle
Using AI to reflect your ideas back so you can see gaps and contradictions, rather than treating its output as authoritative truth.
Parallel Prototyping
Creating multiple different versions simultaneously (2–3 Lovable projects with different prompts), then comparing to find the best direction. Faster than iterating on a single version.
Context Window
The amount of conversation and data AI can “hold in mind” at once. Long threads lose earlier details — which is why we use PRD files and handoff docs to preserve context.
Daily Rep
A short focused exercise (9:00–10:00 each day) practicing the core loop: messy capture → AI structuring → human judgment and reflection.
Rules File (rules.md / agent.md)
A document telling the AI agent what to always do, what to never do, which files to read before acting, and what tone to use. Example: “Always read masterplan.md before editing. Never provide diagnostic advice. Use 8th-grade reading level.”
Technical Terms
LLM (Large Language Model)
The AI system behind tools like Claude. Not a database of answers — a probability engine that generates plausible continuations of text based on patterns learned during training.
Foundation Model
The base model created through pre-training on massive datasets. Think of it as the raw capability before any fine-tuning or alignment.
Alignment
The process of shaping an AI model’s behavior to be helpful, harmless, and honest. Includes techniques like RLHF where human experts (including physicians) rate AI outputs.
Hallucination
When an AI generates confident-sounding but incorrect information. Not “lying” — a predictable behavior of probability engines. This is why we verify outputs against domain knowledge.
Tokens
The units AI models use to process text. Roughly 1 token ≈ ¾ of a word. Relevant because models have token limits on how much they can process at once.
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
A technique where AI retrieves relevant documents before generating a response, reducing hallucination by grounding outputs in real data.
Jig
A small, low-investment AI tool or workflow that is repeatable and reliable enough to trust, but lightweight — not enterprise software. The bridge between a one-off prompt trick and a full product. (From Justin Massa’s framework.)
Tool Terms
Repository (Repo)
A folder managed by Git that tracks all changes to your files over time. Your GitHub repo stores PRDs, notes, reflections, and links to your apps.
Commit
A saved snapshot of your work. Like pressing “save” with a note about what changed. You’ll commit your PRDs and handoff notes regularly.
Branch
A parallel version of your repo where you can experiment without affecting the main version. Think of it as a draft workspace.
GitHub Pages
A free hosting service that turns a GitHub repo into a live website. Your profile page pre-work uses this.