Markdown Editor

Copilot and Agent PRD Template

Copilot and agent requirements: jobs, autonomy levels, actions and undo, approval points, eval acceptance criteria, latency and cost, failure UX, rollout

AI・データフルIndustry practice; Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction (CHI 2019); PAIR Guidebookcopilotprd

使い方: Use it when an AI feature chats, plans or takes actions on behalf of users; use the AI Feature PRD for single-prediction features. Fill the autonomy levels and the actions table with undo paths first, then write acceptance criteria as evaluations. The main pitfall is shipping the happy path and leaving failure UX to the model's default text.

プレビュー

Copilot and Agent PRD: [Product or feature name]

Product requirements document for a copilot or agent: an AI feature that works alongside users and can take actions on their behalf. It records users and jobs, the autonomy level per action, actions with their undo path, human approval points, eval-driven acceptance criteria, quality, latency and cost targets, failure UX, transparency, telemetry and rollout. Based on common industry practice for AI product requirements, informed by the Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction (Amershi et al., CHI 2019) and the Google PAIR People + AI Guidebook. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

FieldValue
Document ID[CPRD-001]
Product or feature[Name]
Version[0.1]
Status[Draft / In review / Approved / Superseded]
Owner[@product-manager]
Approvers / reviewers[@eng-lead], [@design-lead], [@ml-lead], [@security], [@legal]
Target release[Example: Beta in Q3, GA in Q4]
Surface[Example: Side panel in web app; Slack app]
Last updatedYYYY-MM-DD
Classification[Internal / Confidential]
Upstream documentsAI Opportunity Canvas (ai-data/ai-opportunity-canvas), AI Use Case Intake (ai-data/ai-use-case-intake)

Approvals

RoleNameDecisionDate
Product[@name][Approve / Approve with conditions / Reject]YYYY-MM-DD
Engineering[@name][Decision]YYYY-MM-DD
Design and research[@name][Decision]YYYY-MM-DD
Security and privacy[@name][Decision]YYYY-MM-DD
AI governance[@name][Decision]YYYY-MM-DD

Revision history

VersionDateAuthorChange summary
0.1YYYY-MM-DD[@name]First draft
0.2YYYY-MM-DD[@name]Example: Added send_email action at autonomy level 2 with approval
1.0YYYY-MM-DD[@name]Example: Approved for beta

Contents

1. Problem, users and jobs

1.1 Problem statement

[Describe the problem in user terms and its cost today.]

Example: Account managers spend about 5 hours a week preparing for renewal calls: pulling usage data, reading recent tickets and drafting a summary email. Preparation quality varies, and 1 in 5 renewals reaches the call without a usage review.

1.2 Users

PersonaContextExpertiseWhat they must stay in control of
Example: Account managerWeekly renewal prep, desktopExpert in accounts, novice with data toolsAnything sent to the customer
Example: Sales managerReviews pipelineExpertDiscount approvals
[Persona][Context][Expertise][Control]

1.3 Jobs to be done

IDJobFrequencyVerifiable by user?Copilot role
CPRD-JOB-001 (Example)Summarise an account's last 90 days before a callWeekly per accountYes, against source linksDraft
CPRD-JOB-002 (Example)Draft a renewal email with usage highlightsWeeklyYesDraft, user sends
CPRD-JOB-003 (Example)Log call notes to the CRMAfter each callYesAct with confirmation
CPRD-JOB-004 (Example)Propose a discountRareHardOut of scope
[ID][Job][Frequency][Yes / No][Suggest / Draft / Act]

2. Goals, non-goals and scope

TypeStatement
GoalExample: Cut renewal prep time from 5 hours to 2 hours per week per account manager
GoalExample: 95% of renewal calls preceded by a usage review
Goal[Goal]
Non-goalExample: The copilot does not negotiate prices or send anything to customers without the user pressing Send
Non-goalExample: No access to HR or payroll data
Non-goal[Non-goal]

In-scope systems: [Example: CRM (read and write notes), product analytics (read), ticketing (read), email (draft only).]

Out-of-scope systems: [Example: Billing, contract management.]

3. Autonomy levels

LevelNameWhat the copilot doesWhat the user does
0InformAnswers questions, explains, retrievesDecides and acts
1SuggestProposes an action or draftEdits and executes it
2Act with approvalPrepares and executes after explicit confirmationApproves each action
3Act and notifyExecutes within limits, then reportsReviews, can undo
4Act autonomouslyExecutes and reports in a periodic digestAudits samples
Job or actionLevel at launchTarget levelEvidence required to raise
CPRD-JOB-001 Summarise account (Example)00Not applicable
CPRD-JOB-002 Draft renewal email (Example)11Never auto-send to customers
CPRD-JOB-003 Log call notes (Example)23Edit rate below 10% over 4 weeks and zero wrong-account writes
[Job][Level][Level][Evidence]

4. Actions, undo and approval points

IDActionSide effectAutonomy levelApproval pointUndo pathUndo windowBlast radius
CPRD-ACT-001 (Example)create_crm_noteWrites a note to an account2Preview card with ConfirmDelete note from the action history30 daysOne account
CPRD-ACT-002 (Example)update_next_stepChanges opportunity next step and date2Diff view with ConfirmRevert to previous value7 daysOne opportunity
CPRD-ACT-003 (Example)create_email_draftCreates a draft in the user's mailbox1None (draft only)Discard draftUntil sentNone until sent
CPRD-ACT-004 (Example)schedule_meetingSends invitations to external people2Confirm with attendee list shownCancel meeting (notification already sent)PartialExternal recipients
[ID][Action][Effect][Level][Approval][Undo][Window][Radius]

Approval point rules:

  • Show exactly what will change, on which record, before the user confirms. Never ask for approval of an action the user cannot inspect.
  • Group approvals only when the actions are of the same type and target the same record set; show the count.
  • If the user does not respond, the action does not run. Pending actions expire after [Example: 24 hours].
  • Actions that reach people outside the organisation always require approval, regardless of autonomy level.

5. Interaction design

5.1 Entry points

Entry pointContext passedTypical job
Example: "Prep this renewal" button on the account pageAccount ID, user roleCPRD-JOB-001
Example: Side panel chatCurrent page, selectionAny
Example: Post-call prompt after calendar event endsMeeting ID, attendeesCPRD-JOB-003
[Entry point][Context][Job]

5.2 Main flow

Describe the main flow for the most frequent job. Example: renewal preparation, from the account page to a logged next step.

5.3 Steering and correction

  • Users can edit any draft inline before acting on it.
  • Users can say what to change in plain language ("shorter", "mention the outage") and see a revised draft.
  • Users can stop a running multi-step task at any time; partial results remain visible and no further actions run.
  • [Additional steering control]

6. Eval-driven acceptance criteria

IDCriterionDatasetMetricThresholdGate
CPRD-EVAL-001 (Example)Summaries are faithful to source data200 real accounts, labelled by 3 account managersShare of summaries with no unsupported claimat least 95%Blocking
CPRD-EVAL-002 (Example)Every factual claim links to a sourceSame setCitation coverageat least 98%Blocking
CPRD-EVAL-003 (Example)Actions target the right record150 scripted tasksWrong-record actions0Blocking
CPRD-EVAL-004 (Example)Task completion for multi-step jobs150 scripted tasksCompleted without user correctionat least 80%Blocking for level 3
CPRD-EVAL-005 (Example)Resistance to instructions embedded in tickets60 adversarial ticketsUnauthorised actions0Blocking
CPRD-EVAL-006 (Example)Draft usefulness50 drafts rated by usersMean rating out of 5at least 4.0Non-blocking
[ID][Criterion][Dataset][Metric][Threshold][Blocking / Non-blocking]

Re-run all blocking criteria on every change to model, prompt, tools or retrieval index. Record results in the release notes.

7. Quality, latency and cost targets

JobTime to first token (p95)Time to complete (p95)Max tool callsCost per task
CPRD-JOB-001 (Example)1.5 s12 s6USD 0.03
CPRD-JOB-002 (Example)1.5 s8 s2USD 0.01
CPRD-JOB-003 (Example)1.0 s5 s2USD 0.005
[Job][Target][Target][Limit][Cost]

Monthly cost estimate (Example): 400 account managers x 25 tasks per week x 4.3 weeks x USD 0.02 average = USD 860 per month. Budget alert at USD 1,200.

Degradation rules: when a budget is exceeded, the copilot [Example: stops after 6 tool calls, shows partial results and asks whether to continue].

8. Failure UX

IDFailureDetectionWhat the user seesRecovery
CPRD-FAIL-001 (Example)Data source unavailableTool error"Usage data is unavailable right now. The summary below covers tickets and notes only."Retry button; summary marked partial
CPRD-FAIL-002 (Example)Low confidence or no source foundRetrieval score below threshold"I could not find support for this in the account records."Offer search link; no claim made
CPRD-FAIL-003 (Example)Ambiguous requestPlanner detects two matching accountsShort clarifying question with both optionsUser picks one
CPRD-FAIL-004 (Example)Action failed after approvalTool returns errorClear error, nothing partially writtenRetry or open record manually
CPRD-FAIL-005 (Example)Request out of scopePolicy classifierStates what it cannot do and where to goLink to the right tool or team
CPRD-FAIL-006 (Example)Wrong output noticed by userThumbs down or undoUndo confirmation and optional reason fieldFeedback logged for review
[ID][Failure][Detection][Copy][Recovery]

Rules for failure copy: say what happened, what was and was not done, and what the user can do next. Do not blame the user. Do not apologise repeatedly. Never claim an action succeeded until the tool confirms it.

9. Transparency and user control

RequirementImplementationStatus
Users know the copilot is AIExample: Label "AI copilot" on panel header and on every AI-written CRM note[Planned / Done]
Capabilities and limits explainedExample: First-run card listing what it can read and change[Status]
Quality expectations setExample: "Check drafts before sending; summaries may miss recent changes"[Status]
Sources shownCitations link to the record or ticket[Status]
Action historyExample: Panel tab listing every action, time, target and Undo[Status]
Global controlsExample: Settings to turn off proactive prompts and to limit which systems the copilot may read[Status]
Change noticesExample: Release note in the panel when abilities change[Status]
Legal disclosure where requiredExample: AI interaction disclosure per applicable law; see AI Content Transparency Plan (ai-data/ai-content-transparency-plan)[Status]

Run a full review of the interaction against the 18 guidelines using the Human-AI Interaction Review (ai-data/human-ai-interaction-review).

10. Telemetry and feedback

EventFieldsPurposeRetention
copilot_invoked (Example)Entry point, job type, user roleAdoption by entry point13 months
action_proposed (Example)Action ID, level, target typeFunnel to approval13 months
action_approved / action_rejected (Example)Action ID, time to decideTrust and friction13 months
action_undone (Example)Action ID, time since executionQuality signal13 months
feedback_given (Example)Rating, reason code, optional textQuality review90 days for free text
trace (Example)Tool calls, latency, tokens, model versionDebugging, cost30 days, redacted
[Event][Fields][Purpose][Retention]

Production quality metrics: acceptance rate of drafts, edit distance before send, undo rate per action, rejection rate at approval points, escalations to support, and the guardrail metrics from section 6. Trace format and dashboards follow the LLM Observability Specification (ai-data/llm-observability-spec).

11. Rollout plan

StageAudienceAutonomyEntry criteriaExit criteriaRollback trigger
Internal dogfood (Example)20 volunteersLevels 0 to 1Blocking evals pass2 weeks, no severity-1 issuesAny wrong-record write
Beta (Example)10% of account managersLevels 0 to 2Dogfood exit met4 weeks, goals trending to targetUndo rate above 15%
GA (Example)All account managersLevels 0 to 2Beta exit met; launch review approvedNot applicableSeverity-1 incident
Level raise (Example)GA users opt inLevel 3 for CPRD-ACT-001Evidence in section 3 met4 weeks stableAny wrong-record write

Launch readiness is confirmed in the AI Launch Review (ai-data/ai-launch-review). A kill switch disables all actions within [Example: 5 minutes] while keeping read-only answers available.

12. Risks, dependencies and open questions

IDTypeDescriptionMitigationOwner
CPRD-RISK-001 (Example)Over-relianceUsers stop reading summaries and repeat errors to customersCitations, sampled QA, training[@product-manager]
CPRD-RISK-002 (Example)Indirect prompt injectionTicket text instructs the copilot to change recordsTool permission limits; approval on writes; eval CPRD-EVAL-005[@security]
CPRD-RISK-003 (Example)DependencyCRM API rate limits at peakCaching; backoff; partial results[@eng-lead]
[ID][Type][Description][Mitigation][@owner]

Open questions:

  • [Example: Should sales managers see their team's copilot action history? Owner: [@product-manager], decide by YYYY-MM-DD.]
  • [Question, owner, decision date]

13. Traceability and glossary

13.1 Traceability matrix

JobActionsAcceptance criteriaFailure statesTelemetry
CPRD-JOB-001 (Example)None (read only)CPRD-EVAL-001, CPRD-EVAL-002CPRD-FAIL-001, CPRD-FAIL-002copilot_invoked, feedback_given
CPRD-JOB-002 (Example)CPRD-ACT-003CPRD-EVAL-006CPRD-FAIL-005action_proposed
CPRD-JOB-003 (Example)CPRD-ACT-001, CPRD-ACT-002CPRD-EVAL-003, CPRD-EVAL-004, CPRD-EVAL-005CPRD-FAIL-003, CPRD-FAIL-004action_approved, action_undone
[Job][Actions][Criteria][Failures][Events]

13.2 Glossary

TermMeaning in this PRD
AgentAn AI system that plans steps and calls tools to reach a goal
Approval pointA step where the user must confirm before an action runs
Autonomy levelThe degree to which the copilot acts without per-action confirmation (section 3)
Blast radiusThe scope of harm if an action goes wrong
CopilotAn AI assistant embedded in a user's workflow that informs, drafts or acts
Undo windowThe time during which an action can be fully reversed

13.3 References

  • Amershi, S. et al. (2019). Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction. CHI 2019. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300233
  • Google PAIR, People + AI Guidebook (living document): https://pair.withgoogle.com/guidebook/
  • Related templates: AI Feature PRD (ai-data/ai-feature-prd), AI Agent Specification (ai-data/ai-agent-spec), Agent Evaluation Plan (ai-data/agent-evaluation-plan), Human Oversight Design (ai-data/human-oversight-design), AI Launch Review (ai-data/ai-launch-review).

Standard and licence note

Based on common industry practice for writing product requirements for AI copilots and agents, informed by the Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction (Amershi et al., CHI 2019) and the Google PAIR People + AI Guidebook, which are cited and not reproduced. The autonomy levels, IDs and examples are original to this template; example numbers and prices are illustrative. Check the current versions of the cited sources before use. Template licence: MIT.

関連テンプレート