Product Context — Journey Discovery Engine

Free skill from Growth Engineering. For auto-instrumentation, auditing, and MCP tools, install the full package.

Context

This skill scans a Laravel application's routes, controllers, and Eloquent models to discover user journeys and propose a product context with event names following the AARRR (Pirate Metrics) framework.

Scope: Laravel applications using Eloquent, Blade, Inertia, or Livewire. Outputs .growth/PRODUCT.md and per-domain journey files.

Activate when:

• The user asks to "map journeys", "define product context", or "what should I track"
• .growth/PRODUCT.md exists but still has placeholder values (e.g., [Your Product Name])
• The user wants to discover or define their product's user journeys

Prerequisites:

1. A Laravel application with routes, controllers, and models
2. Laravel Boost installed (provides list-routes, database-schema, and tinker tools)

If .growth/PRODUCT.md doesn't exist yet, create it during Step 12.

Rules

Key Principles

1. Propose, don't ask — Present concrete proposals based on what the codebase reveals. Never show blank templates.
2. Confirm per domain — Present each journey domain separately and get confirmation before moving on.
3. Incremental refinement — Start with what the code reveals, then let the user correct and refine.
4. Plan before writing — Steps 1–10 are read-only discovery. Enter plan mode at the start and do not write any files until the user approves the final plan.

Step 1: Enter Plan Mode

Enter plan mode before beginning discovery. Steps 1–10 are read-only — you will not write any files until the user approves the consolidated plan in Step 11.

Step 2: Discover Routes

Read routes/web.php and routes/api.php. Check for Folio page-based routing in resources/views/pages/. Use the list-routes tool from Laravel Boost to get the full route table. Present a summary to the user.

Step 3: Map Controllers

For each route group, read the associated controllers. Note which models are referenced, events fired, jobs dispatched, notifications sent, and form request classes used.

Step 4: Identify Domain Entities

List all models in app/Models/, read their relationships/casts/scopes, and use database-schema to inspect table structures. Identify the central model (most relationships, most user interaction). Ask the user to confirm.

Step 5: Detect Frontend Stack

Check composer.json for Inertia or Livewire, package.json for frontend framework, and resources/views/ for Blade views. Report the detected stack.

Step 6: Classify Routes into Journey Domains

Classify routes using the AARRR framework: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral.

Read references/classification-rules.md for the route-to-domain table and the Acquisition vs Activation boundary rules.

Present classified routes grouped by domain. Ask the user to confirm or reassign any misclassified routes.

Step 7: Propose Journeys

For each confirmed domain, propose a journey flow with specific event names derived from the controllers.

Read references/examples.md for journey flow format and examples.

Present each journey and ask: "Does this flow match how users actually use the product?", "Are there any steps I'm missing?", "Should any events be renamed?"

Step 8: Identify Core Action

Based on the central model and the value delivery journey, propose the core action. Ask the user to confirm or provide an alternative.

Step 9: Detect Usage Pattern

Examine the codebase for signals that reveal how frequently users interact with the product.

Read references/classification-rules.md for the usage pattern detection table and success metrics per pattern.

Present the detected pattern with evidence. Ask the user to confirm or correct.

Step 10: Define Success Metric

Based on the core action AND the detected usage pattern, propose a success metric. Do not default to Weekly Active Users — choose the metric that fits the pattern.

Read references/classification-rules.md for pattern-to-metric mapping.

Step 11: Present Consolidated Plan

Present a single consolidated plan summarizing everything discovered and confirmed:

• Product overview (name, one-liner, stage, value prop)
• Central model and core action
• Usage pattern and success metric
• All journey domains with their flows and event names

Ask the user to approve the plan before proceeding. Do not write any files until the user explicitly approves.

Step 12: Write Results

After the user approves the plan, exit plan mode and write the files:

1. Create .growth/ directory if it doesn't exist, with subdirectories: journeys/, experiments/, research/, decisions/, channels/, segments/, digests/
2. Write .growth/PRODUCT.md with confirmed values
3. Create journey files in .growth/journeys/ — one file per domain

Read references/output-formats.md for the PRODUCT.md and journey file templates.

Read references/examples.md for complete output examples.

Anti-patterns

• Don't show blank templates. Never present an empty PRODUCT.md and ask the user to fill it in. Always propose concrete values based on what the codebase reveals.
• Don't ask per-field questions. Scan the code and propose answers. Let the user correct, not create.
• Don't classify without reading controllers. Route URLs alone are insufficient. Read the controller code to understand what each endpoint actually does.
• Don't default to WAU. Match the success metric to the detected usage pattern.
• Don't skip confirmation. Present each domain's journey separately and get explicit confirmation before moving on.
• Don't invent events. Every proposed event name should map to a real controller action or route discovered in the codebase.

References

• Dave McClure — Startup Metrics for Pirates (2007) — Original AARRR framework
• Lenny Rachitsky — What Is a Good Activation Rate? — Activation benchmarks (median 25%, SaaS avg 36%)
• Lenny Rachitsky — How to Determine Your Activation Metric — Finding your aha moment
• Reforge — Define Customer Activation Moments — Setup / Aha / Habit sub-moments
• Reforge — Define Your Aha Moment — How to identify and validate aha moments
• Growth Engineering — Full package with auto-instrumentation, tracking audits, and PostHog MCP tools
• Laravel Boost — Required for list-routes, database-schema, and tinker tools
• PostHog — Event naming conventions and property standards