The Thought Layer

We are all product managers now. The Thought Layer is a free, privacy-first workflow for the thinking before the first AI prompt: validate the idea, model the business, design the product, and brief an AI coding agent. Six areas, 20 sections, 37 questions. It runs entirely in your browser, a workflow from We Are All Product Managers Now, created by Jeremy Johnson and operated by Hobocode LLC.

AI compressed the cost of building software. It did not compress the cost of knowing what to build, for whom, and why. This tool is for that part. You answer the hard questions, then your chosen AI provider challenges weak assumptions, missing evidence, vague users, fragile pricing, and unclear product scope. You bring your own AI provider key from Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or OpenRouter. Everything you write stays in your browser, on your machine. We run no servers of our own and use no analytics or trackers. There is no account to create and no sign in required; we collect nothing about you.

What you work through

The core build workflow is six areas, 20 sections, and 37 questions, with an exportable artifact at every stage.

The Big Idea. Name what you are building, prove people want it, and pick the market to win first. Produces a pitch deck and a landing page.
Business Model. Turn your assumptions into a numeric projection covering pricing, customer acquisition cost, and break-even. Produces a numeric model.
Brand. Generate a brand style guide, logo concepts, and a look book that flow into every other asset. Produces a brand kit.
Market Research. Characterize the market, the players, and the moats. Produces a market brief.
Strategy. Synthesize everything into a SWOT analysis.
The Product Brief. A guided interview that turns the idea into a complete product brief (PRD) and a build prompt for an AI coding agent. Produces a build kit.

Two more areas sit alongside the core workflow:

Decision Support (additional). Pressure-test a real decision with Decision Quality, the framework rooted in Stanford decision analysis. Produces a decision record. This sits outside the core build workflow.
Library. The bibliography behind the whole toolkit.

How it works

Bring your own AI key, so the app can give you feedback billed to your own account. There is no server: your answers live only in your browser's local storage and are never used for training. The tool is free, and you pay your provider directly for what you use, usually pennies, with no markup, ads, or investors.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need my own AI key?

Yes. The point of the tool is that your chosen AI challenges your weak assumptions, missing evidence, and fragile pricing, so a key from Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini is required. You paste it once, it stays only in your browser, and your provider bills you directly for what you use.

Is my data private?

Yes. There is no server. Your answers, business model, and product brief all live in your browser's local storage. Nothing is sent anywhere except the AI provider you choose, and nothing is stored or used for training.

How much does it cost?

The tool is free. You pay your AI provider directly for what you use, usually pennies, with no markup, no ads, and no investors.

What do I end up with?

A validated idea, a numeric business model, a product brief (PRD) with an AI build prompt, a brand kit, and a SWOT. Everything exports so you can keep working in your own tools.

Can I lose my work?

Because your work is stored locally in your browser, clearing browser data, using private mode, or switching devices can remove it. Export your work regularly to keep a copy.

The Thought Layer Kit

The same rigor also runs in your own coding agent. The Thought Layer Kit packages it as portable Agent Skills, a Pi package, and a command-line tool, so it works inside Claude Code, Pi, or any agent you already use, and can build and deploy the result to a URL you own. It is open source (MIT) and bring your own key. See the guides for Pi and Claude Code.

Writing

Read the blog, including When something gets cheap, there's a lot of value right next to it, on where value goes when technology compresses a layer of your business.

More: Blog, Kit, Contact, Privacy, Terms, YouTube, Instagram, Jeremy Johnson on LinkedIn.

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