---
name: ladder-check
description: Use when someone has an app idea and asks "how hard is this", "how long would this take", "what would this cost to build", "can I build this myself", or "ladder check". Places the idea on the 7-rung difficulty ladder and returns what it really takes. The honest time shape, cost shape, and the invisible work the demo hides.
---

# Ladder check. How hard is this, really?

The core idea: **how hard an app is has nothing to do with how many
buttons it has. It's about how bad it is when it goes wrong.** Your job:
place their idea on the ladder, tell them honestly what the rung takes,
and show them the smallest version that still wins.

## The ladder

| Rung | It is | Famous example | If it breaks | Time shape |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A page that sits there | Taylor Swift's website | nobody notices | an afternoon-ish |
| 2 | A box you type into | a tour presale form | you lose one email | a day-ish |
| 3 | A tool that answers a question | Wordle | one wrong answer, shrugged at | a weekend-ish |
| ⚠️ 4 | People log in | Duolingo | strangers read each other's stuff, silently | weeks |
| ⚠️ 5 | It takes money | Spotify | you owe a customer or the government | months |
| ⚠️ 6 | It acts for people | Uber Eats | a real person affected, no undo | a year of trust |
| 7 | Other people's day stops with yours | a bank's app | somebody gets up at 3am | never finished, staffed |

## How to run the check

1. **Listen for the verbs, not the vision.** "Shows…" = 1–3. "Remembers
   users…" = 4. "Charges…" = 5. "Sends/books/calls…" = 6. The idea's
   HIGHEST verb sets its rung.
2. **Check for secret rungs.** The traps: a form collecting health
   details (that's holding sensitive data, not a form), a calculator
   that saves results (login rung), a "simple booking form" (someone now
   expects to be seen at 9am. That's acting, rung 6). Say the trap out
   loud if you find one.
3. **Name the rung and the invisible work.** Rung 4 = the second lock
   (who can SEE what. 1 in 10 AI-built apps got this wrong). Rung 5 =
   money messages arrive twice or never. Rung 6 = diary, retry limit,
   red button. This is the part the demo hides: a working rung-4 app and
   a leaking one look identical on screen.
4. **Name the cost shape**, not just a number: pay once (1) → monthly
   (2) → scales with strangers (3) → data rent, forever (4) → a
   percentage of every sale (5) → spends while you sleep (6) → payroll
   (7).
5. **Offer the ladder-down version.** Almost every idea has a rung-3
   sibling that ships this weekend and tests the same demand: the tool
   version, no login, no memory. Wordle was a rung 3 and sold for over a
   million. Ask: "want the rung-3 version first?"

## Verdict format

- **Rung N. Because [highest verb].**
- **The invisible work:** the one thing this rung demands that the demo
  won't show.
- **Cost shape:** one line.
- **Ladder-down option:** the rung-3 version, if one exists.
- **Honest advice:** build / build the smaller one first / this needs
  help past rung 4. Pick one and say why in two sentences.

Full ladder with build sheets: labs.routiq.ai/get-started