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brainstorming skill

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/cli-tool/components/skills/development/brainstorming

This skill helps convert ideas into structured designs and specs through guided, iterative brainstorming and incremental validation.

This is most likely a fork of the brainstorming skill from openclaw

npx playbooks add skill davila7/claude-code-templates --skill brainstorming

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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SKILL.md

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---
name: brainstorming
description: "You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation."
---

# Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

## Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.

Start by understanding the current project context, then ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're building, present the design in small sections (200-300 words), checking after each section whether it looks right so far.

## The Process

**Understanding the idea:**
- Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
- Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
- Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too
- Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions
- Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria

**Exploring approaches:**
- Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
- Present options conversationally with your recommendation and reasoning
- Lead with your recommended option and explain why

**Presenting the design:**
- Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
- Break it into sections of 200-300 words
- Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
- Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
- Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense

## After the Design

**Documentation:**
- Write the validated design to `docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md`
- Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available
- Commit the design document to git

**Implementation (if continuing):**
- Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"
- Use superpowers:using-git-worktrees to create isolated workspace
- Use superpowers:writing-plans to create detailed implementation plan

## Key Principles

- **One question at a time** - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
- **Multiple choice preferred** - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
- **YAGNI ruthlessly** - Remove unnecessary features from all designs
- **Explore alternatives** - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
- **Incremental validation** - Present design in sections, validate each
- **Be flexible** - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense

Overview

This skill guides structured brainstorming before any creative or engineering work. It helps surface intent, constraints, and success criteria through single-question interactions and converts validated ideas into bite-sized design sections ready for review. The process emphasizes alternatives, incremental validation, and practical next steps for documentation and implementation.

How this skill works

Start by inspecting the current project context: files, docs, and recent commits. Ask one focused question at a time, preferring multiple-choice when possible, to refine requirements and constraints. After understanding goals, propose 2–3 alternative approaches with trade-offs, recommend one, then present the design in 200–300 word sections, asking for validation after each. When designs are approved, write a dated plan file and prepare the repo for implementation if requested.

When to use it

Before adding new features, components, or behavior changes
When requirements are vague or stakeholders disagree
Prior to major architecture or data-flow changes
When preparing a design document for review or handoff
To validate scope and avoid overengineering

Best practices

Always ask one question per message to keep focus and get clear answers
Prefer multiple-choice questions to speed decisions; use open-ended only if needed
Propose 2–3 approaches and lead with a recommended option and rationale
Keep design sections short (200–300 words) and request validation after each
Apply YAGNI: remove features that don’t meet defined success criteria
Document the approved design to a dated file and commit it before implementation

Example use cases

Define feature scope and success criteria for a new CLI command in the Claude Code tool
Resolve API contract decisions by presenting 2–3 approaches and trade-offs
Design error-handling and monitoring for configuration workflows
Create a small incremental plan for migrating a component with validation checkpoints
Produce a review-ready design document that can be committed and tracked

FAQ

What happens if stakeholders disagree after a design section?

Pause and ask one focused question to identify the disagreement. Explore alternatives or adjust constraints, then present an updated 200–300 word section for validation.

Can this skill generate code directly?

Not by default. It produces validated designs and implementation plans. If you want to continue, it can set up an isolated workspace and produce detailed tasks for coding, commit-ready.