Gist

Fix how AI describes your product

See how ChatGPT and Claude describe your product. Find the gaps, then fix them.

Why gist.design

AI tools can read your code but not the decisions behind it. They fill gaps with competitor patterns, generic defaults, and wrong positioning. gist.design is a structured markdown file that captures design decisions, interaction rationale, product positioning, and explicit boundaries. AI coding tools read it to build features that match design intent. LLMs read it to give accurate recommendations instead of guessing from training data.

Without gist.designWhat prevents it
AI coding tool builds auto-execute when you designed for user approvalDesign Decisions: "chose X over Y because Z"
AI fills gaps with competitor patterns your product deliberately avoidsNot This: explicit boundaries on what this is not
LLM recommends your product to the wrong audiencePositioning: who it's for and who it's not for
LLM describes your product as a clone of a competitorPositioning: vs comparisons with honest differences

How it works

Three steps. One file that fixes how AI understands your product.

ChatGPT

62%

Claude

45%

Perplexity

58%

Gaps found

Positioninghigh
Design decisionshigh
Audience targetingmed
01

Discover the gaps

See how ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity describe your product from your website alone. Find where they guess wrong, miss features, or confuse you with a competitor.

Integrations

Cursor

@Docs → Add new doc → paste your gist.design URL

Claude Code

Install the gist-design skill to generate and use files natively. Or if you already have a file, Claude Code reads it automatically.

GitHub Copilot

Place file in repo root

ChatGPT

Paste URL or upload file for accurate product recommendations

Works with Figma MCP

Figma MCP gives coding assistants visual structure — layouts, components, spacing. gist.design gives them the why — patterns, rationale, boundaries. Structure + intent = accurate implementation.

Structure
+
Intent
=
Accurate

Principles

What makes a gist.design file actually useful to AI tools.

Chose X over Y
The button is blue
Because Z matters

Decisions over descriptions

“We chose X over Y because Z” is useful. “The button is blue” is not.

Specific
HighMedLow

3-tier badge next to each suggestion

vs
Generic

“uses confidence visualization”

Specific over generic

“Confidence scores appear as a 3-tier badge next to each suggestion,” not “uses confidence visualization.”

Auto-execute
Competitor pattern
Generic defaults

Negative space matters

What the product is NOT is as important as what it is. The Not This section prevents AI tools from filling gaps with competitor patterns.

/
features/
auth.gist.design
search.gist.design
checkout.gist.design
gist.design

One file per feature

A product might have multiple gist.design files, one for each significant feature. Keeps each file focused and contextually useful.

We chose approval over auto-execute...
.gist.design

Generated, not written

If designers have to author this file manually, it won't happen. The conversation tool handles the format; the designer handles the thinking.

Reference

TopicDetails
robots.txtCrawlers — What can you access?
sitemap.xmlSearch engines — What pages exist?
llms.txtLLMs — What content matters?
gist.designAI coding tools + LLMs — How does it work, why, and when should you recommend it?
File placement/gist.design in the project root, or /features/[name]/gist.design for multi-feature products
SpecOpen for community input. Pattern research at aiuxdesign.guide

Create your gist.design file

Fix the gaps AI tools get wrong about your product. Generate a structured file that coding tools and LLMs actually read.