Planning Overlays

When you plan new work in Opheleon, the result is a small set of focused documents called overlays. A goal-based project produces one or two:

• PRD overlay — the product layer: who the change is for, what users can do, default behavior, edge cases, non-goals, and success criteria.
• Tech Approach overlay — the technical layer: architecture, key technical decisions, security and failure modes, rollout, and an implementation plan that becomes tasks.

Each overlay is drafted by Opheleon, reviewed by your team, and approved before the next stage builds on it.

Two ways to plan a goal

Opheleon picks the path that fits the work:

• Goal → PRD → Tech Approach. When the product requirements aren’t figured out yet, Opheleon drafts the PRD overlay first and you approve it, then it drafts the Tech Approach overlay — so product decisions are settled before engineering commits to an approach.
• Goal → Tech Approach. For tech-driven work like refactors, migrations, and infrastructure changes — or when you already have a concrete PRD — Opheleon skips the PRD overlay and drafts only the Tech Approach overlay.

Reviewing an overlay

While drafting, Opheleon asks you a few focused questions when something important isn’t clear, and pauses for your approval once the overlay is ready. You can approve it or send it back with feedback for Opheleon to revise. See Human Review Gates.