---
type: concept
title: "Prototype as a Coding Blueprint"
description: "Using a finished no-code workflow as a visual reference (exportable as JSON) that directly guides the coding phase."
tags: [ai-coding, prototyping, process, no-code]
videos: [pydantic-ai-deepseek-v3-the-best-ai-agent-combo]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# Prototype as a Coding Blueprint

Prototype as a coding blueprint is the practice of building a working no-code prototype first, then feeding it to a coding agent as the visual and structural reference for the real implementation. The prototype is "a visual representation... of what we're going to make in Pydantic AI and it actually just makes it so much easier to code the agent." Instead of describing the desired system in prose alone, you hand the agent an artifact that already encodes the intended structure, so it starts with a concrete picture of what it needs to build.

The bridge from prototype to code is a machine-readable export. Cole takes "a Json representation of this workflow and give it to an AI coding assistant like Windsurf or Cursor so it also has a good understanding of what it needs to build for me." The exported JSON captures nodes, connections, and logic that would be tedious and lossy to convey by hand, giving the agent the same understanding a human reviewer would get from looking at the diagram. This makes the no-code prototype a planning artifact, not a throwaway demo. It plays a role adjacent to a PRD or spec: a reviewed representation of intent that de-risks the implementation phase before a line of production code is written.

## Part of

- [Agentic Coding](./agentic-coding.md) - one concrete way to generate the reference an agent builds from.
- [AI Coding Harness](./ai-coding-harness.md) - the exported blueprint is a form of curated context fed into the build.

## Contrasts with

- [Vibe Coding](./vibe-coding.md) - improvising code from a prompt, versus building from a visual blueprint of the target system.

## Related

- [Rapid Prototyping](./rapid-prototyping.md) - the fast, throwaway build that here becomes a reusable reference.
- [No-Code AI Agents](./no-code-agents.md) - the visual tools whose exports serve as the blueprint.
- [Planning with AI](./planning-with-ai.md) and [PRD-First Development](./prd-first-development.md) - other ways to produce the reviewed artifact that guides implementation.

## Sources

- [Pydantic AI + DeepSeek V3 - The BEST AI Agent Combo](../sources/pydantic-ai-deepseek-v3-the-best-ai-agent-combo.md) - "[0:04:23] it's a visual representation like I already said of what we're going to make in Pydantic AI and it actually just makes it so much easier to code the agent"
- [Pydantic AI + DeepSeek V3 - The BEST AI Agent Combo](../sources/pydantic-ai-deepseek-v3-the-best-ai-agent-combo.md) - "[0:05:09] I can take a Json representation of this workflow and give it to an AI coding assistant like Windsurf or Cursor so it also has a good understanding of what it needs to build for me"
