replica-recon

Everything else in the pack builds on what this writes. A bad recon map means a bad clone.

Output in the user's project:

replica/region.txt      ru, global or both
replica/recon.md        the recon map (template: recon-map.md in this folder)
replica/features.csv    the feature matrix (template: features.csv in this folder)
replica/screens/        reference screenshots of the original. Never shipped.

The rules, before anything else

This rebuilds functionality and UX patterns, clean-room style: what the app does and how a user moves through it. Never what the app owns.

• Public sources and the user's own account only. Never another person's account, never a password, never past a paywall or a login by any trick.
• Reading, not scraping. No crawlers, bulk downloads or loops. With a browser tool, read at human speed with the user present.
• No source code, no private APIs. Do not save or read the app's JavaScript bundles, decompile its binary or log its network calls to copy endpoints. Public API docs are fine.
• Check the terms. If the user's account terms forbid using it to build a competitor, say so and work from public sources only.
• Screenshots are reference: for layout comparison, never in the clone.

Step 1: scope, three questions

1. Which app and platform: web, iOS, Android.
2. Which slice. "All of Notion" is not a project; "pages, blocks and sharing" is. Default to the core loop: the one flow users pay for.
3. Where it will be sold: Russia (ru), the rest of the world (global), or both. Write replica/region.txt. Selling in Russia changes the stack (personal data stored in Russia), the payments (54-FZ receipts) and the stores (RuStore; Google Play does not pay Russian accounts). Decide it now, not at deploy.

Step 2: sources table, a URL on every row

Help center and docs (the fullest feature list there is), pricing page (which features matter: they gate them), changelog, store listings (App Store, Google Play, RuStore), public walkthrough videos, marketing site, public API docs, the user's own account.

Step 3 onwards

• Screens S01, S02... with route, purpose, components and every state seen: empty, loading, filled, error, no permission, mobile. An empty state not recorded is an empty state not built.
• Flows F01... as screen sequences with edge cases. Count the clicks on the happy path: the number to beat.
• Components: name, variants, states, which screens use it.
• Inferred data model: entities and fields, each with its evidence and a confidence. Guesses are marked as guesses.
• Feature matrix features.csv: feature, area, priority (must/should/could), original, clone (starts at no), notes.
• Out of scope, honestly, as skip rows with a reason: licensed content, the network and its users, data the app owns, partner deals, regulated licences.
• Size: S a weekend, M weeks, L a quarter, XL rescope. No promise of a perfect clone.

Output

The files above and five lines: the core loop, screen and flow counts, the three hardest parts, what is out of scope, the region. Next: /replica-architect.