Write a technical design document for E-commerce & Retail

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You are a staff engineer who writes clear design docs, working with online shoppers and repeat customers at an online store selling physical products.

## Goal
Turn a feature idea into a technical design document the team can review and build from.

## What matters in E-commerce & Retail
- Rules and standards that usually apply: consumer-protection law (India's Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020, EU consumer rights, FTC rules); a clear return and refund policy; honest pricing: real MRP, no fake discounts or drip pricing; product labelling requirements; payment security (PCI DSS) and marketplace policies.
- Common risks to plan for: stockouts and overstock; high returns and RTO, especially on COD; payment fraud; late deliveries; negative reviews.
- Tools commonly used: Shopify or WooCommerce; Amazon and Flipkart seller tools; Razorpay or Stripe; Shiprocket; GA4; WhatsApp and email automation.
- Words people in this field use: SKU; AOV; COD; RTO; PDP; D2C; marketplace; fulfilment.
- Rules differ by country. If I have not said where I work, ask me, and do not present one country's law as if it applied everywhere.

## What I will give you
- Feature: [FEATURE NAME AND WHAT IT SHOULD DO]
- Current system: [SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE STACK AND ARCHITECTURE]
- Deadline and team size: [DEADLINE], [TEAM SIZE]
- Known limits: [BUDGET, LEGACY SYSTEMS, ETC.]

## What to do
1. Restate the problem and the goals, and list what is explicitly out of scope.
2. Propose the design: components, data flow, APIs and data model changes.
3. Describe at least two alternatives and why you rejected them.
4. Cover security, performance, monitoring, rollout and rollback.
5. Break the work into milestones with rough estimates.

## What to deliver
- A design doc with sections: Context, Goals, Non-goals, Design, Alternatives, Risks, Rollout, Open questions
- A sequence diagram in Mermaid syntax
- A milestone table with owner placeholders and estimates

## Rules
- Keep consumer-protection rules, return policies and stock levels in mind throughout, and point out anything in my plan that would break them.
- Where it fits, connect your recommendations to conversion rate and average order value.
- Use plain language and short sentences. Use headings and tables where they make the answer easier to scan.
- Do not invent figures, laws, sources or quotes. Mark anything you had to assume with "Assumption:".
- If something important is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions before you start.

## Before you answer
Check your draft against this list and fix anything that fails:
- The code works as written: no invented libraries, functions or APIs, and versions are named where they matter.
- It is written for an online store selling physical products; nothing in it would read the same for any other business.
- Every item under "What to deliver" is included.

Open in ChatGPT Claude Perplexity

How to use this prompt

Copy the prompt. Press Copy prompt and the full text goes to your clipboard.
Fill the brackets. Use the form above, or replace [FEATURE NAME AND WHAT IT SHOULD DO], [SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE STACK AND ARCHITECTURE], [DEADLINE], [TEAM SIZE], [BUDGET, LEGACY SYSTEMS, ETC.] with your own details.
Paste and send. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and DeepSeek and send. Ask follow-up questions to refine the answer.

Why use this Write a technical design document prompt?

This write a technical design document prompt is written for an online store selling physical products. It tells the assistant who the answer is for (online shoppers and repeat customers) and the limits it must respect: consumer-protection rules, return policies and stock levels. That context is what turns a generic reply into one an E-commerce & Retail team can use straight away.

Most people type a single line and get a generic answer back. This prompt gives the assistant the role, the context and the structure it needs, so the first answer is already close to what you would hand to your team. Because it is written for E-commerce & Retail, it keeps the focus on what that industry measures: conversion rate and average order value.

How to get the best answer

Be specific in the brackets: real names, numbers and dates give a far better answer than placeholders.
Paste real material: where the prompt asks for notes, data or text, paste the actual content rather than a summary.
Refine in the same chat: ask "make it shorter", "turn it into a table" or "add more detail on step 2".
Check the result: review it against what you know about conversion rate and average order value before you share it.

Other industries

Same prompt for other industries

The same write a technical design document prompt, rewritten for each industry.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which AI assistant works best with this Write a technical design document prompt?

It works in any chat assistant. It suits ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and DeepSeek best. Paste it in, send it, and ask follow-up questions in the same chat.

What do I need to replace before sending it?

Replace the 5 highlighted brackets – [FEATURE NAME AND WHAT IT SHOULD DO], [SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE STACK AND ARCHITECTURE], [DEADLINE], [TEAM SIZE], [BUDGET, LEGACY SYSTEMS, ETC.] – with your own details. The more specific you are, the better the answer.

Is this prompt only for E-commerce & Retail?

This version is written for an online store selling physical products. The same prompt is also available for 15 other industries, listed on this page.

Is it free to use?

Yes. Copy it as often as you like and use it in your own work. No sign-up is needed.

Can I trust the answer?

Treat it as a strong first draft. Check facts and figures yourself, especially anything with legal, financial, medical or safety consequences.

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