Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before you start.
What is Zalcro?
Zalcro is your AI tech lead for building with AI. Instead of jumping straight into prompting and hitting the "doom loop," you describe what you're building in plain language, and Zalcro guides you through a structured planning conversation to lock in your technical decisions before writing any code. Acting as the senior technical advisor for your software project, Zalcro produces a complete Architecture Design Document (ADD), visual diagrams, and a ready-to-use plan tailored to your workflow: paste-ready prompts for vibe coders (Lovable, Bolt, Replit) and agent-ready tickets for developers and agentic builders (Cursor, Claude Code, Jira, Linear).
Who is Zalcro for?
Zalcro is designed for anyone building software with AI tools or managing technical projects: Vibe Coders using Lovable, Bolt, or Replit to prevent the AI "doom loop"; Agentic Builders using Cursor or Claude Code who need a persistent project memory layer with agent-ready tickets; Product Managers & Tech Leads making critical architecture decisions and trade-offs; and Solutions Architects who need to rapidly baseline system designs and export validated tasks to Jira, Linear, or ClickUp.
What do I get on the free tier?
The free tier gives you one Architecture Design Document and one Architecture Diagram per month. Your projects are saved permanently, so you can return to them at any time and continue the conversation. You also get the first phase of your implementation plan, your first set of tickets, and your first prompt for free. To access the full Implementation Plan and tickets or prompts for the rest of your phases, you need a Builder subscription.
How is Zalcro different from asking ChatGPT or Claude for a plan?
General AI chatbots just answer the questions you ask. They don't interview you for missing details or structure their answers for AI coding tools to read. Zalcro acts as your AI tech lead by asking you the right questions upfront to uncover hidden technical decisions. Instead of giving you a one-off text response, Zalcro builds a connected planning system—where your tickets, implementation plans, and architecture documents all link together to address gaps and keep tools like Cursor, Claude Code, or Lovable on track.
Does this work with Lovable, Bolt, or Replit?
Yes. Zalcro is designed specifically for vibe coding tools like Lovable, Bolt, and Replit. The Vibe Coding workflow produces a Prompt Pack, which is a set of platform-specific paste prompts you can use directly in your tool of choice. Each prompt gives your coding tool the architectural context it needs to build in the right direction from the start.
What is a Prompt Pack?
A Prompt Pack is a set of structured prompts tailored to a specific vibe coding platform (such as Lovable, Bolt, or Replit). Each prompt encodes the architecture decisions from your planning session so you can paste it into your tool at the right moment and have it build with full context. Prompt Packs are generated as part of the Vibe Coding workflow and are available on the Builder tier. Free tier users receive the first prompt.
What is an Architecture Design Document?
An Architecture Design Document (ADD) is a structured written document that describes the technical architecture of a software product. It covers the technology stack, database design, main system components, key trade-offs considered, and the recommended implementation approach. In Zalcro, every ADD also includes a plain language summary, the requirements that shaped the architecture, implementation risks, and a "what to build first" checklist. The ADD is the first document Zalcro generates and the foundation everything else builds on.
Do I need to be technical to use Zalcro?
No. Zalcro is designed for people who are building software but do not have a technical background. The elicitation conversation is in plain language. You do not need to know what a database is, what hosting means, or how APIs work. Zalcro will explain options in plain terms, give you a recommendation, and flag decisions that matter without overwhelming you with the ones that do not. That said, technical users will also find value in Zalcro. The outputs are structured for coding agents to consume directly, and experienced builders can use the Architecture Design Document as a reference throughout development.
How long does it take to get my documents?
The elicitation conversation typically takes five to ten minutes depending on how much detail you provide. Architecture Document and diagram generation takes about a minute, depending on the complexity of your project. The Implementation Plan and tickets are generated on demand after you review and approve the architecture, and each phase of tickets generates in about a minute.
What happens to my projects if I downgrade from Builder to free?
Your documents are never deleted. If you downgrade, you retain access to your Architecture Design Document and diagram. Access to the full Implementation Plan and tickets beyond Phase 1 is gated to Builder subscribers, but the documents remain stored and are unlocked immediately if you re-subscribe.
Can I use the outputs in my own tools?
Yes. Architecture Design Documents can be exported as Markdown, PDF, or DOCX. Diagrams can be exported as images or Draw.io XML. Tickets can be copied as structured text compatible with Linear, Jira, and ClickUp. DOCX and Draw.io XML export are Builder tier features.
What coding tools does Zalcro work with?
Zalcro produces outputs designed for use with any AI coding environment. The Vibe Coding workflow produces platform-specific prompts for Lovable, Bolt, Replit, and v0. The Agentic workflow produces structured documents designed to be consumed by Claude Code, Cursor, and similar tools. The Architecture Design Document and tickets can be used with any coding agent that accepts text context.