Wrike
Track projects through tasks, boards, custom fields, and team dashboards
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Wrike, track projects through tasks, boards, custom fields, and team dashboards. The hard boundary is enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance, plus collaboration, integrations, and organizational trust.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance
- deep integrations
- enterprise permissions
- large-scale reporting
- battle-tested notifications and mobile apps
Why people still pay
People still pay for Wrike because teams pay because project state has to remain authoritative through staff changes, outages, and years of accumulated workflow exceptions. The recurring cost buys auth, permissions, notifications, search, migrations, audit history, integrations, backups, and uptime, not just the visible interface.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions.
- Implementation components: Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace.
- Scope boundary: enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Optional external skill: vercel-react-best-practices — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: web-design-guidelines — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Project rule — data model: projects, task hierarchies, custom fields, milestones, dependency edges, assignments and workload assumptions
Project rule — preserve this invariant: Dependency cycles are invalid; workload is an estimate and cannot infer employee performance or silently count duplicated tasks twice.
Project rule — acceptance evidence: Move a task between projects and retain discussion/assignment history; a cyclic dependency is rejected with the path causing the cycle.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Plan a small team's projects in list and board views, link milestone dependencies and review workload from explicit estimates. Keep activity history and a limited dashboard grounded in actual task states. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations
Phase 2
Durable model. Model projects, task hierarchies, custom fields, milestones, dependency edges, assignments and workload assumptions Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Dependency cycles are invalid; workload is an estimate and cannot infer employee performance or silently count duplicated tasks twice.
Phase 3
Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record.
Phase 4
Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results.
Phase 5
Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README.
Phase 6
Acceptance scenarios. Move a task between projects and retain discussion/assignment history; a cyclic dependency is rejected with the path causing the cycle. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder.
WORKING SLICE Plan a small team's projects in list and board views, link milestone dependencies and review workload from explicit estimates. Keep activity history and a limited dashboard grounded in actual task states. Build this scoped Wrike-inspired workflow with a documented data model and visible failure states. Architecture - Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. - PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. Prerequisites and limits A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions. Outside this release: enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations Data model and correctness projects, task hierarchies, custom fields, milestones, dependency edges, assignments and workload assumptions Invariant: Dependency cycles are invalid; workload is an estimate and cannot infer employee performance or silently count duplicated tasks twice. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. Security and privacy Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Recovery and export Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Implementation order 1. Phase 1 — Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Plan a small team's projects in list and board views, link milestone dependencies and review workload from explicit estimates. Keep activity history and a limited dashboard grounded in actual task states. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations 2. Phase 2 — Durable model. Model projects, task hierarchies, custom fields, milestones, dependency edges, assignments and workload assumptions Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Dependency cycles are invalid; workload is an estimate and cannot infer employee performance or silently count duplicated tasks twice. 3. Phase 3 — Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. 4. Phase 4 — Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results. 5. Phase 5 — Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README. 6. Phase 6 — Acceptance scenarios. Move a task between projects and retain discussion/assignment history; a cyclic dependency is rejected with the path causing the cycle. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder. Acceptance Move a task between projects and retain discussion/assignment history; a cyclic dependency is rejected with the path causing the cycle. Use real source data or clearly labeled fixtures. Explain unsupported input and provider failures; do not fabricate analytics, delivery receipts, accuracy claims or security guarantees. Optional agent guidance Optional external skill: [vercel-react-best-practices](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/react-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Project rule — data model: projects, task hierarchies, custom fields, milestones, dependency edges, assignments and workload assumptions Project rule — preserve this invariant: Dependency cycles are invalid; workload is an estimate and cannot infer employee performance or silently count duplicated tasks twice. Project rule — acceptance evidence: Move a task between projects and retain discussion/assignment history; a cyclic dependency is rejected with the path causing the cycle.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md · generated from this app's build plan
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Alternatives to building your own
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Wrike pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | Essential task and project management; the current public page does not disclose numeric user, storage or task capsA permanent Free plan is listed, but its numeric ceilings were not exposed. |
| team | — | $10/user | 2–15 users and Wrike AI EssentialsDisplayed per-user monthly equivalent is billed annually. |
| business | — | $25/user | 5–200 users, advanced resource planning/reporting and part of Wrike AI EliteDisplayed per-user monthly equivalent is billed annually. |
| pinnacle | — | — | Custom plan with advanced analytics/resource management and 3× more AI actions than BusinessCustom annual quote. |
| apex | — | — | Custom plan with 10× more AI actions, unlimited whiteboards and Wrike Integrate/SyncCustom annual quote. |
free tierFree plan exists, but the live public page does not expose numeric user, storage or task caps
billingFree + annual-billed paid plans; Business and above annual only; 14-day trial, no card
hidden costsSeats are sold in bundles: up to 30 in groups of 5, 30–100 in groups of 10 and above 100 in groups of 25. Whiteboard is $15/user/month; Integrate, Sync, Datahub, Lock and AI-action packs are separately quoted. Taxes are extra, and guided deployment is required for 20+ users.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Wrike
Can you build your own Wrike with AI?
Partly. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Wrike, track projects through tasks, boards, custom fields, and team dashboards. The hard boundary is enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance, plus collaboration, integrations, and organizational trust.
What does the Wrike build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Plan a small team's projects in list and board views, link milestone dependencies and review workload from explicit estimates. Keep activity history and a limited dashboard grounded in actual task states. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations; enterprise permissions. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Wrike prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Wrike project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Wrike?
enterprise workflow, approvals, integrations, reporting, and governance; deep integrations; enterprise permissions; large-scale reporting; battle-tested notifications and mobile apps. People still pay for Wrike because teams pay because project state has to remain authoritative through staff changes, outages, and years of accumulated workflow exceptions. The recurring cost buys auth, permissions, notifications, search, migrations, audit history, integrations, backups, and uptime, not just the visible interface.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Team plan is $10/mo per seat (monthly per user), checked 2026-07-31. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Wrike?
Plane: Linear-and-Jira-shaped work tracking without the subscription; the stack behind it is not small. OpenProject: The enterprise project suite; free in money, expensive in menus. Leantime: A small-team project suite that remembers goals and timesheets, not just tickets. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/wrike/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.