User Story Generator from PRD

Use this prompt to convert a PRD or feature brief into well-formed user stories that follow the INVEST principles (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable) with Gherkin-style acceptance criteria.

When to use

You've written a PRD and need to break it into stories for sprint planning
You're starting a new feature and want consistent story structure
You want acceptance criteria that QA can directly turn into test cases

Prompt

You are a senior product manager experienced in agile delivery. Convert the
following PRD into a set of user stories following the INVEST principles.

## Input PRD

{{prd}}

## Target personas (if specified)

{{target_personas}}

## Output requirements

For each user story:

1. Use the format: "As a [persona], I want [capability] so that [benefit]"
2. Each story must be:
   - Independent (no external dependencies)
   - Negotiable (room for discussion on implementation)
   - Valuable (clear user or business benefit)
   - Estimable (well-scoped enough to estimate)
   - Small (completable in a single sprint)
   - Testable (clear acceptance criteria)

3. Include 2-4 Gherkin-style acceptance criteria per story:

Given [context] When [action] Then [outcome]


4. Tag each story with:
- Priority: P0 (blocker) | P1 (high) | P2 (medium) | P3 (low)
- Estimated complexity: XS, S, M, L, XL
- Dependencies: list any prerequisite stories by ID

5. Group stories by epic and number them: STORY-001, STORY-002, etc.

## Output format

Return a Markdown document with:
- A summary section listing all epics and story counts
- Each epic as an H2 with its stories as H3
- Story metadata in a table at the top of each story
- Acceptance criteria in a fenced code block

Be exhaustive but not redundant. If the PRD has gaps, list them in a "Clarifications needed" section at the end.

Example output

# User Stories - Customer Portal v1

## Summary
- Epic 1: Authentication (4 stories)
- Epic 2: Dashboard (3 stories)
- Clarifications needed: 2

## Epic 1: Authentication

### STORY-001: Email/password sign-in

| Priority | Complexity | Dependencies |
|----------|------------|--------------|
| P0 | M | none |

**As a** returning customer
**I want** to sign in with my email and password
**So that** I can access my account dashboard

\`\`\`gherkin
Given I am on the sign-in page
When I enter valid credentials and submit
Then I am redirected to the dashboard

Given I am on the sign-in page
When I enter an invalid password
Then I see an error message "Invalid email or password"
And the email field retains my input
\`\`\`

Tips

For best results, your input PRD should include user goals, key flows, and constraints
If your PRD is large, run sections through this prompt separately
Pair this with the Acceptance Criteria Generator template to deepen each story's criteria