Live

Web app (installable PWA)

Brief Builder

A brief your client can actually fill in.

Brief Builder helps freelancers put together a client questionnaire from reusable sections and send it as a fillable PDF. The client completes it in any PDF reader and sends it back. No accounts, no portal, no back-and-forth over email threads.

Open Brief Builder

Type
Installable web app (PWA)
Platform
Any modern browser, desktop and mobile; works offline once loaded
Data
Stored in the browser only (IndexedDB). Backups are files the user keeps
Output
Fillable PDF, A4 or Letter
Built with
Preact, pdf-lib, no build-time dependencies
Hosting
Cloudflare Pages
Status
Live. Version 2, running in the browser
brief-builder-6jo.pages.devLive · captured 2026-10-15
Brief Builder on desktop, Sections step: a brief called Studio website and identity with sections for the project, website details, brand identity details, and budget and timeline.
Brief Builder on a phone, showing the same brief’s Sections step.

01Story

The problem

A good brief is the first real conversation of a project, yet it usually starts as a copied document or an online form the client has to sign up for. Questions that don’t apply get asked anyway, and the answers come back scattered.

What we built

Brief Builder turns the brief into something you assemble: choose the project type, add sections from a catalogue, let questions appear only when they apply, then export a tailored, fillable PDF. Everything stays in your browser.

Why it is interesting

The rules behind conditional questions never guess. A question is shown only when its condition is definitely true, so an unanswered or hidden question can never open the wrong branch, and broken rules are flagged before anything is sent.

Who it is for

Freelancers and small studios who start projects with a client brief.

02Capabilities

What it does

  1. Four-step flow

    Basics, Sections, Review, then Scenario and PDF. Changes save automatically.

  2. Reusable sections

    A catalogue of section templates, suggested by project type: website or online shop, brand identity, product visuals.

  3. Conditional questions

    Sections and questions can depend on earlier answers. Rules may only look backwards, and problems are flagged in Review.

  4. Tailored PDF

    Pick the client’s situation and sections that don’t apply are left out of the fillable PDF.

  5. Safe edits

    Deleting something other questions rely on lists what is affected and asks what to do. Nothing changes silently.

  6. Private by design

    No backend and no accounts. Briefs live in the browser, work offline, and can be backed up to a file you keep.

03In detail

Starting a new brief: choosing one or more project types, or Not sure yet.
Starting a brief. The project type decides which sections are suggested first.
The Review step of a brief in Brief Builder.
Review: what the client will see, with any rule problems flagged before export.
The Scenario and PDF step in Brief Builder.
Scenario and PDF: tailor the brief to the client’s situation, then export.

04Honest limits

What it doesn’t do yet

  • Briefs exist only in the browser that created them, so backups matter. The app says so permanently.
  • PDF viewers can’t reliably hide fields, so conditional questions appear in the PDF with a short note rather than disappearing.
  • Sections and questions can’t be reordered yet; they appear in the order they were added.

→Start here

Have something worth building?

Tell us what you’re trying to improve, build or figure out. We’ll help you work out what makes sense.

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