Quickstart for PMs

This guide walks you through the real creation flow — from a blank ticket to a forged AEC. Everything happens in the web app.

Prerequisites

• A Forge account (sign up with Google or GitHub)
• A team (created automatically on first login)

Step 1: Start the Creation Wizard

From the ticket dashboard, click the Create button (top right). You'll see three options:

• New ticket — Start from scratch
• Import — Pull an existing issue from Jira or Linear
• Breakdown — Paste a PRD and let AI split it into multiple tickets

Choose New ticket to start the guided wizard.

Step 2: Describe What You Need

The wizard opens with a clean input screen. Fill in:

Type and Priority — Select from the top bar:

• Type: Feature, Bug, or Task
• Priority: Low, Medium, High, or Urgent

Ticket Description — The main input. Describe what you want built in plain language. Be specific about the outcome, not the implementation. You can also press S to dictate your description using speech-to-text.

Minimum 2 words, maximum 500 characters. The AI uses this to generate clarification questions and the final spec.

Repository Context (optional but powerful) — Toggle on "Include repository context" to connect a GitHub repo. Select the repository and branch. Forge's AI will scan the codebase to understand your tech stack, patterns, and file structure before generating the spec.

Reference Materials (optional) — Upload images, PDFs, or docs as additional context. Useful for mockups, PRDs, or design references.

Click Next to proceed. If you included a repository, Forge analyzes it first (you'll see a progress indicator).

Step 2b: Generation Options

Before questions begin, you can toggle optional AI generation:

• Wireframes — Generate an interactive HTML wireframe of the proposed UI
• API Spec — Generate REST endpoint definitions

For Features, both are enabled by default. For Bugs and Tasks, both are off. You can toggle them freely. These appear in the ticket's Design and Technical tabs after generation.

Step 3: Answer Clarification Questions

Forge's AI generates targeted questions based on your description. These fill the gaps needed for a complete spec.

Questions appear one at a time. For each question, you'll see either:

• Pre-defined options — Radio buttons with common answers. Pick one, or choose "Type your own answer" for a custom response.
• Free text — Type your answer directly.

After you answer, the wizard auto-advances to the next question. You can also:

• Skip a question you can't answer yet
• Skip all remaining if you want the AI to use defaults
• Go back to change a previous answer

📘 Better answers produce better specs. If you're unsure about a technical question, skip it — the developer can fill it in later during their review.

Step 4: Review the Generated Spec

After all questions are answered, Forge generates the full technical specification. You'll see a "Ticket Ready" summary with:

• Quality Score — A percentage (0–100) showing how complete the spec is. Color-coded: green (75+), amber (50–74), red (below 50).
• Files Affected — How many files the implementation will touch
• Acceptance Criteria — Number of Given/When/Then scenarios
• Test Plan — Number of test cases generated

Below the stats, you'll see collapsible sections: Problem, Solution, File Changes, API Endpoints, Acceptance Criteria, and Test Plan. Expand any section to review the details.

Click View Ticket to go to the full ticket detail page. From there you can edit, assign, and manage the ticket through its lifecycle.

Step 5: Explore the Ticket Detail

The ticket detail page shows everything about your AEC in three tabs:

The AEC Crown Card at the top shows the full contract in XML format (click "Show" to expand). This is what AI agents and developers execute against.

Step 6: Assign and Wait for Developer Review

Use the assignee selector in the overview bar to assign a developer. They'll use the Forge CLI to:

1. Review the spec with additional code context
2. Submit a Q&A session with their technical questions and answers

When they submit, the ticket moves to Review status and you'll see their Q&A in the ticket detail.

Step 7: Review, Re-bake, Approve

In the Developer Review Q&A section, read through the developer's questions and answers. This is where they add real-world context — which patterns to follow, edge cases from experience, existing code to reuse.

Click "Approve & Forge AEC" to:

1. Re-enrich the spec with the developer's Q&A context
2. Lock the AEC as verified

The ticket transitions to Forged status. The AEC is now a verified contract — the developer knows exactly what to build.

👍 After forging, the AEC is locked. The quality score is 75+ and every section has been validated.

Alternative: Import from Jira or Linear

Instead of creating from scratch, you can import existing issues:

1. Click Create → Import
2. Select Jira or Linear
3. Enter the issue ID (e.g., PROJ-123)
4. Preview the imported content
5. Select a repository for context
6. Forge enriches the imported issue into a full AEC

This lets you take vague tickets from your existing backlog and run them through Forge's enrichment flow.

Organizing with Folders

As your ticket count grows, use folders to group related tickets. Click "+ Folder" at the top of the feed to create one, then drag tickets into it — or use the right-click "Move to..." menu. See the Web App Guide for details.

What's Next?

• The AEC — Understand every section of the Agent Execution Contract
• Ticket Lifecycle — See how tickets move through statuses
• Web App Guide — Detailed walkthrough of every feature