64 A tracker and written decisions before any build

What people usually ask

Build me an app to log my lab's sample inventory.

What comes back

Files arrive one at a time, each guessing how the others connect, and the first screen works until a second person opens it.

Ask this instead

First
Write no app code yet. In the repository, create:
1. tracker.md: the features from the attached paragraph as rows, each with a status (not started, in progress, done).
2. next_steps.md: the next five steps, one line each.
3. decisions.md: every design decision (database, login, how a sample id is formed) with the reason and a link to an outside reference, not only your own opinion. At the top, a scope changes list with a date on each line, kept whenever the scope moves.
4. security.md: a checklist against the OWASP Top Ten, each item marked done, not needed with a reason, or open.
Stop and show me the four files.

Then
Build a throwaway spike in spike/ that proves the stack: one page that writes one sample row to the database and reads it back. No styling, no login. Touch nothing outside spike/. Stop when it runs and show me the command that proves it.

Attach: A paragraph on what the app must do and who uses it.

Why it works: The plan sits in files that both the agent and the reader can open, and the spike shows the stack works before any feature rests on it.