--- name: sales-userforge description: "Userforge platform help — an AI-assisted user-persona, user-story, and journey-mapping workspace for product and GTM teams, and the persona-cluster member that bridges a persona into a build spec: it maps user stories (User Story + Job Story formats) to personas and to the screens they touch, then exports a build-ready spec for coding agents, syncs stories to Jira as issues, and round-trips code with GitHub (Power plan). Use when generating user personas or user stories in Userforge, mapping a customer journey, exporting a persona/story spec for Claude Code or Cursor to build, syncing user stories to Jira, setting up GitHub code sync, sharing a persona via public link or inviting collaborators, comparing plan limits, or asking whether Userforge has an API (it does not — no public API/webhooks/MCP). Do NOT use for comparing persona/idea tools across the market or the validate-before-building method (use /sales-idea-validation), or building the smoke-test landing page (use /sales-funnel)." argument-hint: "[describe what you need help with in Userforge]" license: MIT version: 1.0.0 tags: [sales, idea-validation, platform] --- # Userforge Platform Help Userforge is an AI-assisted workspace that builds **user personas**, writes **user stories** (User Story and Job Story formats), and lays them out on an interactive **journey map** — then hands the result to a build tool as a spec (coding-agent export, Jira story sync, GitHub code round-trip). It's the **team-collaboration / build-handoff** member of the persona cluster: closest to UXPressia, but distinguished by user stories mapped to personas + screens and a spec-to-code pipeline. ## Step 1 — Gather context If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge. Ask only what you can't infer: 1. **What are you trying to do?** (multi-select) Generate a persona · write/organize user stories · build a journey map · export a spec for a coding agent · sync stories to Jira · set up GitHub code sync · share with stakeholders/invite collaborators · compare plans. 2. **Solo or team?** (drives the plan recommendation and the collaborator/seat limits.) 3. **What's downstream of the persona?** Building the MVP yourself (Claude Code / Cursor) · handing stories to a dev team via Jira · just aligning stakeholders. This decides whether the spec-export / GitHub / Jira features matter. Skip-ahead: if the user's prompt already has enough context, go to Step 2. ## Step 2 — Route or answer directly | If the user's real question is… | Route to | |---|---| | "Which persona/idea tool should I use?" (comparing across the market) | `/sales-idea-validation` | | "Does a generated persona mean people want this?" (validate demand) | `/sales-idea-validation` | | "Build the smoke-test / waitlist landing page" | `/sales-funnel` | | "How do I write good user stories / slice an MVP?" (tool-agnostic method) | `/sales-idea-validation` (persona/story method) | | Anything Userforge-specific (features, plans, journey map, exports, Jira/GitHub sync) | Answer here with Step 3 | When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: `/sales-{skill} {the user's question}`" ## Step 3 — Userforge platform reference **Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for the full reference — capabilities and automation surface, pricing/plan gates, the persona/story/journey data model, and integration recipes (Jira sync, GitHub code round-trip, spec export for coding agents). For the exact integration/export surface (there is no public REST API), read `references/userforge-api-reference.md`. Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the whole guide. ## Step 4 — Actionable guidance - **State the plan gates as best-effort and point to userforge.com/pricing.** The build-handoff features are tier-gated: **spec export for coding agents is Pro+**, and **GitHub code sync (spec round-trip, push/pull) is Power-only**; the Free tier is capped (a couple of personas, ~10 stories, a few map locations, a couple of collaborators). Pricing is presented inconsistently across the site (an annual Pro figure alongside a monthly Power figure) — flag it as best-effort and tell the user to confirm current tiers on the pricing page before committing. When recommending a plan, recommend the **lowest tier that unlocks the feature the user actually needs** (coding-agent spec export = Pro; GitHub code sync = Power) rather than defaulting to the top plan. - **There is no public API, no webhooks, and no MCP server.** If the user wants to automate persona or story *generation* programmatically, say so plainly and give the workaround: call an LLM API directly and rebuild the artifact in Userforge for the canvas, or use the surfaces it does have — the manual **CSV / spec-folder** export, the **Jira** story sync (user stories out as issues), and the **GitHub** spec/code round-trip (Power plan). Don't imply an export API exists. - **A generated persona or user-story spec is NOT validated demand.** Correct this whenever the user treats the output as evidence — a persona and a tidy backlog describe a *hypothesis* about who buys and why; the go/no-go comes from a real behavior test (a smoke test, a click on "buy", a pre-sale). Route the actual test to `/sales-idea-validation` and `/sales-funnel`. - **Output quality tracks input depth.** A one-line product description yields a generic persona; a specific customer + the exact problem + how they solve it today yields a usable one. Push the user to feed real detail (and real research, if they have it) rather than accept the first AI draft — every persona and story is an editable starting point, not a finding. - **For the vibe-coder handoff, treat the export as a spec, not a build order.** The coding-agent export / GitHub round-trip is a starting scaffold for Claude Code or Cursor — review the stories and acceptance criteria before letting an agent build against them, because the agent will faithfully build whatever the (unvalidated) spec says. If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not in `references/learnings.md`, append it there. ## Gotchas *Best-effort from research (2026-07) — review these, especially plan-gated features and integration details that may be outdated; confirm on userforge.com.* - **Pricing is presented inconsistently.** The site mixes an annual Pro price with a monthly Power price, so the *effective* cost ordering is confusing — always state pricing as best-effort and send the user to the live pricing page. - **The build-handoff features are the paywall.** Coding-agent spec export is Pro+; GitHub code sync is Power-only. A user on Free who expects to push a spec into their repo will hit the gate. - **No public API / webhooks / MCP.** The only programmatic-ish surfaces are the Jira story sync and the GitHub code round-trip. There's no way to pull persona/journey JSON out via an API. - **A persona/story map is a communication artifact, not proof.** It aligns a team around a hypothesis; it does not measure whether strangers will pay. - **Free-tier limits are small.** ~2 personas / ~10 stories / a few map locations / ~2 collaborators — fine for one small project, tight for a real team or multiple products. ## Related skills - `/sales-idea-validation` — Compare persona/idea tools across the market and run the validate-before-building method (a generated persona is not validated demand) - `/sales-uxpressia` — The other journey-mapping / team-collaboration persona tool (CX canvas: personas, journey maps, impact maps, service blueprints; no API, manual export) - `/sales-kollabe` — Kollabe platform help (the **free, simpler cousin** — a free persona generator + free user-story toolkit [User Story + Story Splitter + Acceptance-Criteria] with no journey map and no build-handoff/Jira/GitHub sync; reach for Kollabe for a quick free persona→story draft, Userforge when you need the spec-to-build pipeline) - `/sales-funnel` — Build the smoke-test / waitlist landing page the real demand test runs on - `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code` ## Examples ### Example 1: Turn a persona into something my coding agent can build **User says**: "I made a persona and some user stories in Userforge — how do I get them into Claude Code to actually build the MVP?" **Skill does**: Explains the build-handoff path — the coding-agent spec export (Pro+) and the GitHub code round-trip (Power) — notes those features are plan-gated, and warns that the export is an *unvalidated* spec: review the stories and acceptance criteria before letting an agent build against them. Flags that a persona/story spec is not validated demand and points to `/sales-idea-validation` for the real test. ### Example 2: Sync my Userforge stories to my dev team's Jira **User says**: "Can Userforge push my user stories into Jira as tickets?" **Skill does**: Confirms the Jira integration syncs generated user stories out as issues (from `references/userforge-api-reference.md`), explains what it does and doesn't carry over, and notes there is no public API/webhooks — Jira and GitHub are the only outbound surfaces — so anything beyond those needs a manual export or an LLM API rebuild. ### Example 3: Free vs Pro vs Power — which do I need? **User says**: "I'm a solo founder about to build. Is the free plan enough or do I need to pay?" **Skill does**: Lays out the plan gates as best-effort (Free = ~2 personas/~10 stories/few collaborators; spec export is Pro+; GitHub sync is Power-only), points to userforge.com/pricing to confirm, and ties the recommendation to the user's downstream goal — if they just want to vibe-code the MVP, they need at least the tier that unlocks the coding-agent spec export. ## Troubleshooting ### The spec export / GitHub sync option is greyed out **Symptom**: The user can't export a build spec or connect GitHub. **Cause**: Those are plan-gated — coding-agent spec export is Pro+, and GitHub code round-trip is Power-only; the Free tier doesn't include them. **Solution**: Confirm the user's plan against userforge.com/pricing (best-effort), and if they only need the spec for a coding agent, recommend the lowest tier that unlocks export rather than the top plan. ### "I want to pull my personas out via an API" **Symptom**: The user is trying to script persona/journey export. **Cause**: There is no public REST API, no webhooks, and no MCP server. **Solution**: Set the expectation plainly: use the built-in exports (CSV / spec folder), the Jira story sync, or the GitHub round-trip — and to *generate* personas programmatically, call an LLM API directly and rebuild in Userforge for the canvas. ### "The persona/idea scored well — should I build?" **Symptom**: The user treats the generated persona and story map as validation. **Cause**: A persona and a backlog are hypotheses about who buys and why, not measured demand. **Solution**: Keep the structured output (persona, stories, journey) to sharpen the build, but take the go/no-go from a real behavior test — a smoke-test landing page to a pre-set conversion bar, then a pre-sale. Route to `/sales-idea-validation` and `/sales-funnel`.