01-brainstorm

name: 01-brainstorm description: "Discover requirements through structured multi-round dialog. Use when the request is ambiguous, needs discovery, or describes a new idea/product."

Brainstorm

Use this skill when the request is ambiguous, needs requirements discovery, or the user describes a new idea/product.

See shared pipeline instructions for model routing and pipeline behavior.

Core rules

• Use brainstorm_dialog to manage multi-round conversations (start → refine → summarize).
• Ask one question at a time.
• Compare 2-3 approaches when multiple directions are plausible.
• Keep focused on what to build, not implementation details.
• Explicit user approval required before handoff to 02-plan.
• Write result to docs/brainstorms/ as durable requirements document.

Mode selection

After initial context, determine mode via ask_user_question:

What's your goal?

• Building a startup → Startup Diagnostic
• Intrapreneurship → Startup Diagnostic
• Side project / hackathon → Builder Mode
• Adding a feature → CE Brainstorm

Skip question if mode is obvious from request.

Mode mapping:

• Startup / intrapreneurship → Startup Diagnostic (see references/startup-diagnostic.md)
• Side project / hackathon → Builder Mode (see references/builder-mode.md)
• Feature addition → CE Brainstorm (see references/ce-brainstorm-mode.md)

Mode summaries

See reference files for full question sets and patterns.

Premise Challenge

After mode-specific questions, run Premise Challenge. See references/premise-challenge.md.

Design checklist

Before summarizing, ensure the design answers:

• What are we building?
• Why does it exist?
• What files/modules will change?
• What are the responsibility boundaries?
• What can fail, and how?
• How will we verify success?

Domain vocabulary (optional)

After mode-specific questions, check if the project has a CONTEXT.md at root. If not, and the brainstorm reveals 3+ domain-specific terms with ambiguous meanings, offer to create one using references/context-glossary.md. Update it inline during the session — don't batch. If it exists, cross-reference and flag conflicts:

"Your CONTEXT.md defines 'cancellation' as X, but you seem to mean Y — which is it?"

Stop conditions

Stop and ask instead of guessing when: requirements conflict, success criteria unclear, task spans multiple systems, or user hasn't approved design.

Approval gate

Required: Explicit user approval before handoff to 02-plan.

Workflow

1. Scan repository for nearby context
2. Check for existing CONTEXT.md at repo root
3. Determine mode (Startup / Builder / CE)
4. Run mode-specific questions (use reference files)
5. Run Premise Challenge
6. Generate 2-3 alternatives (minimal viable + ideal architecture)
7. Validate against design checklist
8. Offer to create/update CONTEXT.md if domain terms emerged
9. Use brainstorm_dialog summarize to finalize
10. Capture requirements in docs/brainstorms/
11. Get explicit user approval
12. Handoff to 02-plan using references/handoff.md

Artifact contract

Use references/requirements-template.md to structure the document. Keep implementation details out unless specifically about architecture.

Before finishing this skill, apply the completion checklist in shared pipeline instructions.