GuidesHow to2 min
How to go from prototype to production
Production means auth, real data, a kill switch, and a URL the company can send. The path in between, without a two-year programme.
Most “innovation” dies between Figma and Friday. The prototype looked finished. Nobody could log in. Name production while the prototype is still ugly enough that people tell you the truth: auth, real data, a kill switch, a URL the company can send.
SINLE ships weekly increments you can click. Acceptance is a non-engineer completing the job on staging. A prototype that lives in the agency account is a hostage — the repo transfers on final payment. We will not polish a demo until those lines exist.
The sequence below is the path without a two-year programme. A clickable prototype is not a product.
The bar for “done”
Done is a non-engineer completing the job on staging, with a login, last week’s data, and a way to turn the new path off. The repo is in an account you own. A clickable file in the agency’s Figma is not done. Weekly increments you can click beat a launch-day reveal.
Name production while the prototype is still ugly. That is when people tell you the truth.
The sequence
Do these in order. Skip a line and you are back to a workshop.
- 01
Prototype the job, not the brand
One flow a person already does. If the prototype needs a manifesto, it is a deck.
- 02
Put real data in week two
Empty screens lie. A row from last week tells you if the product is real.
- 03
Name production before you fall in love
Login, backups, who owns the keys, what happens if a model is off.
- 04
Ship a thin slice to people who will complain
Staff or a paying user. Not a steering committee.
- 05
Write what done means
Acceptance is a non-engineer completing the job on staging.
- 06
Transfer the repo on final payment
A prototype that lives in the agency account is a hostage.
Keep these
- A clickable prototype is not a product.
- Weekly increments you can click beat a launch-day reveal.
Do this before you spend
- 01Put one real row from last week into the prototype.
- 02Write what done means: who clicks, on which URL, without you in the room.
- 03Name who holds the repo on final payment.
If the thin slice survived, Invent is the production scope. If it only works as a demo, we will say so before you fund the rest.
Questions
- How do you take a prototype to production?
- Keep the job, add auth and real data, name the kill switch, ship to people who will complain, then transfer ownership. Do not polish the demo until those exist.
Next how-to
- How to test an idea before you buildA test is a user, a thin lie, and a number. If you cannot fake it this week, you are not ready to spend on the real thing.
- How to scope an MVPMinimum means one core workflow in a real user’s hands. It does not mean half of everything. A 90-day shape you can actually calendar.
- How to ship an agent with a human lockThe lock is the product. The model is the clerk. Auth, keys, evals, a kill switch, and a person before money or a send.
Next
Take the slice that survived into production.
Invent is $10–25k. Auth, real data, a kill switch, a URL you can send. The repo transfers on final payment.