{"head":{"title":"What Is a Clickable Prototype? Definition | OceanLab","description":"A clickable prototype is a set of linked screens you can click through before any real software exists. What it is for, an example and the usual mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/clickable-prototype"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"clickable prototype","path":"/glossary/clickable-prototype"}],"slug":"clickable-prototype","term":"Clickable prototype","aka":["interactive prototype"],"category":"Buying software","short":"A set of linked screens you can click through, built to test a design before the real software exists.","body":[["A clickable prototype looks and moves like the finished product: you tap a button and the next screen opens. Behind it there is no real database, no real logins and no real integrations. The data is sample data and the logic is faked, so it can be built and changed quickly."],["It sits between a sketch and an ",{"href":"/glossary/mvp","text":"MVP"},". A sketch shows an idea; a prototype shows the flow, the layout and the words on each screen; an MVP is real software people use for real tasks."]],"why":["Changing a screen in a prototype takes minutes. Changing the same flow after it is built in code takes days, because the database, the API and the tests change with it. A prototype lets users, stakeholders and engineers agree on what to build while change is still cheap, and it gives the engineering team something concrete to estimate against."],"example":["A clinic wants an app for booking follow-up visits. Before writing code, the team builds a prototype of the booking flow and runs it past five front-desk staff. Two of them get stuck choosing a doctor, so the flow is changed to pick a time first. That change cost an afternoon, not a sprint."],"inBuild":null,"mistakes":[["Treating the prototype as nearly done software. It has no back end, so the build still has to happen."],["Only showing it to managers. The people who will use it daily find the real problems."],["Prototyping the easy screens and skipping the hard states: errors, empty lists, permissions and edge cases."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/mvp","label":"MVP (minimum viable product)","detail":"The smallest version of a product that real users can use, built to test whether the core idea works."},{"href":"/glossary/fixed-price","label":"Fixed-price contract","detail":"A contract where the price for an agreed scope is set up front."},{"href":"/glossary/technical-debt","label":"Technical debt","detail":"The future cost of shortcuts taken in code today."},{"href":"/glossary/time-and-materials","label":"Time and materials (T&M)","detail":"A contract where you pay for the hours actually worked, at agreed rates."}],"tools":[{"href":"/tools/software-development-cost","label":"Software development cost","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/project-timeline-estimator","label":"Project timeline estimator","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/project-brief-template","label":"Project brief template","detail":"Free tool"}],"links":[{"href":"/software","label":"Software by industry","detail":"Systems we build per industry, with guides and tools."},{"href":"/case-studies","label":"Case studies","detail":"Product builds by OceanLab, by industry."}],"sources":[],"legal":false,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}