> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://doc.getrationale.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is Rationale? AI workspace for product teams

> Learn what Rationale is, who it's built for, and how it closes the gap between product specs, designs, and costly engineering handoffs.

Rationale is an AI workspace for product teams. It brings your PRD and Figma designs together in one place, audits the gap between what was specced and what was designed, and produces a dev-ready handoff doc when everything checks out. The goal is simple: catch missing logic, edge cases, and contradictions before they turn into engineering rework.

## Who it's for

Rationale is built for everyone who touches the space between a written spec and a shipped product.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Product managers" icon="clipboard-list">
    Get a single source of truth that spans PRD and design before engineering starts building. Every audit shows exactly where the story doesn't add up.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Founders" icon="rocket">
    Move fast without losing alignment. Rationale keeps your spec and your design in sync as requirements evolve, so you ship what you actually intended.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Product designers" icon="pen-ruler">
    Get your work reviewed in context, not in isolation. Rationale explains each gap in plain language so you know precisely what to fix before handoff.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Engineers" icon="code">
    Start a sprint with fewer surprises. The audit catches missing logic, undefined error paths, and contradictory copy before they reach a ticket — or your codebase.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## The problem Rationale solves

Product teams waste significant time on rework that was predictable. A PRD describes a behavior the screens never show. A design adds an empty state the spec never mentions. An edge case gets missed by everyone until an engineer hits it mid-sprint.

These aren't failures of effort — they're failures of alignment. The spec lives in Notion, the designs live in Figma, and nobody has a reliable way to check whether the two tell the same story. Rationale is that check.

## Key capabilities

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Match specs with designs" icon="file-search">
    Bring PRDs, design, and implementation context into one review so you can quickly spot where the story doesn't fully line up.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Catch logic drift" icon="triangle-exclamation">
    Flag contradictions, missing logic, edge cases, and unclear requirements before they turn into delays, back-and-forth, or rework.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ready-for-build plan" icon="clipboard-check">
    Turn messy product context into a clearer, aligned plan that helps teams decide whether something is actually ready for development.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gap explanations" icon="message-lines">
    Each issue is explained in plain language so you understand why something is missing or inconsistent — not just that it is.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Unified context" icon="layer-group">
    Merge PRDs, Figma frames, and notes into one source of truth so the whole team reviews the same product picture.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Handoff export" icon="file-export">
    Export a cleaner spec once the workflow passes review, so engineering starts with fewer surprises and less rework.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Three workflows, one source of truth

Rationale meets you where your project is. You don't need a finished spec and polished designs to get value — you can start from either end, or watch for drift as both evolve.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Watch for drift">
    The **Match** workflow connects your PRD and your Figma file. Every time Figma is saved, Rationale re-audits the designs against the spec and flags any new gaps. Use this when both a PRD and designs already exist and you want continuous alignment as both evolve.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Designs → PRD">
    The **Design to PRD** workflow reads every frame in a Figma file and writes the requirements document for you. Use this when design is ahead of the spec and you need to catch up on documentation.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="PRD → Brief">
    The **PRD to design** workflow takes a spec and produces a screen-by-screen design brief — components, states, edge cases — that a designer can build from directly. Use this when you have a written spec but no designs yet.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Integrations

Rationale connects to the tools your team already uses.

* **Figma** — pull designs directly from any Figma file or frame URL
* **Notion** — import a PRD by picking any page from your workspace
* **Linear** — push audit findings as a parent issue with per-gap sub-issues, including the relevant screen and PRD excerpt
* **Slack** — receive audit summaries in a channel of your choice whenever Figma triggers a re-audit
* **File upload** — bring in specs as PDF, Word, Markdown, or plain text
* **URL** — paste any public Google Doc, Confluence page, or doc link

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Get started" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Create your first project and run your first audit in a few minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Watch for drift" icon="eye" href="/workflows/match">
    Link a Figma file and a PRD and let Rationale monitor alignment automatically.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Designs → PRD" icon="file-lines" href="/workflows/design-to-prd">
    Drop a Figma file and get a requirements doc written for you.
  </Card>

  <Card title="PRD → Design brief" icon="pen-line" href="/workflows/prd-to-design">
    Turn a written spec into a screen-by-screen brief your designer can build from.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>