1---
2name: brainstorming
3description: "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."
4---
5 
6# Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs
7 
8Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.
9 
10Start 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 and get user approval.
11 
12<HARD-GATE>
13Do NOT invoke any implementation skill, write any code, scaffold any project, or take any implementation action until you have presented a design and the user has approved it. This applies to EVERY project regardless of perceived simplicity.
14</HARD-GATE>
15 
16## Anti-Pattern: "This Is Too Simple To Need A Design"
17 
18Every project goes through this process. A todo list, a single-function utility, a config change — all of them. "Simple" projects are where unexamined assumptions cause the most wasted work. The design can be short (a few sentences for truly simple projects), but you MUST present it and get approval.
19 
20## Checklist
21 
22You MUST create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:
23 
241. **Explore project context** — check files, docs, recent commits
252. **Offer visual companion** (if topic will involve visual questions) — this is its own message, not combined with a clarifying question. See the Visual Companion section below.
263. **Ask clarifying questions** — one at a time, understand purpose/constraints/success criteria
274. **Propose 2-3 approaches** — with trade-offs and your recommendation
285. **Present design** — in sections scaled to their complexity, get user approval after each section
296. **Write design doc** — save to `docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md` and commit
307. **Spec self-review** — quick inline check for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguity, scope (see below)
318. **User reviews written spec** — ask user to review the spec file before proceeding
329. **Transition to implementation** — invoke writing-plans skill to create implementation plan
33 
34## Process Flow
35 
36```dot
37digraph brainstorming {
38    "Explore project context" [shape=box];
39    "Visual questions ahead?" [shape=diamond];
40    "Offer Visual Companion\n(own message, no other content)" [shape=box];
41    "Ask clarifying questions" [shape=box];
42    "Propose 2-3 approaches" [shape=box];
43    "Present design sections" [shape=box];
44    "User approves design?" [shape=diamond];
45    "Write design doc" [shape=box];
46    "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)" [shape=box];
47    "User reviews spec?" [shape=diamond];
48    "Invoke writing-plans skill" [shape=doublecircle];
49 
50    "Explore project context" -> "Visual questions ahead?";
51    "Visual questions ahead?" -> "Offer Visual Companion\n(own message, no other content)" [label="yes"];
52    "Visual questions ahead?" -> "Ask clarifying questions" [label="no"];
53    "Offer Visual Companion\n(own message, no other content)" -> "Ask clarifying questions";
54    "Ask clarifying questions" -> "Propose 2-3 approaches";
55    "Propose 2-3 approaches" -> "Present design sections";
56    "Present design sections" -> "User approves design?";
57    "User approves design?" -> "Present design sections" [label="no, revise"];
58    "User approves design?" -> "Write design doc" [label="yes"];
59    "Write design doc" -> "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)";
60    "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)" -> "User reviews spec?";
61    "User reviews spec?" -> "Write design doc" [label="changes requested"];
62    "User reviews spec?" -> "Invoke writing-plans skill" [label="approved"];
63}
64```
65 
66**The terminal state is invoking writing-plans.** Do NOT invoke frontend-design, mcp-builder, or any other implementation skill. The ONLY skill you invoke after brainstorming is writing-plans.
67 
68## The Process
69 
70**Understanding the idea:**
71 
72- Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
73- Before asking detailed questions, assess scope: if the request describes multiple independent subsystems (e.g., "build a platform with chat, file storage, billing, and analytics"), flag this immediately. Don't spend questions refining details of a project that needs to be decomposed first.
74- If the project is too large for a single spec, help the user decompose into sub-projects: what are the independent pieces, how do they relate, what order should they be built? Then brainstorm the first sub-project through the normal design flow. Each sub-project gets its own spec → plan → implementation cycle.
75- For appropriately-scoped projects, ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
76- Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too
77- Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions
78- Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria
79 
80**Exploring approaches:**
81 
82- Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
83- Present options conversationally with your recommendation and reasoning
84- Lead with your recommended option and explain why
85 
86**Presenting the design:**
87 
88- Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
89- Scale each section to its complexity: a few sentences if straightforward, up to 200-300 words if nuanced
90- Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
91- Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
92- Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense
93 
94**Design for isolation and clarity:**
95 
96- Break the system into smaller units that each have one clear purpose, communicate through well-defined interfaces, and can be understood and tested independently
97- For each unit, you should be able to answer: what does it do, how do you use it, and what does it depend on?
98- Can someone understand what a unit does without reading its internals? Can you change the internals without breaking consumers? If not, the boundaries need work.
99- Smaller, well-bounded units are also easier for you to work with - you reason better about code you can hold in context at once, and your edits are more reliable when files are focused. When a file grows large, that's often a signal that it's doing too much.
100 
101**Working in existing codebases:**
102 
103- Explore the current structure before proposing changes. Follow existing patterns.
104- Where existing code has problems that affect the work (e.g., a file that's grown too large, unclear boundaries, tangled responsibilities), include targeted improvements as part of the design - the way a good developer improves code they're working in.
105- Don't propose unrelated refactoring. Stay focused on what serves the current goal.
106 
107## After the Design
108 
109**Documentation:**
110 
111- Write the validated design (spec) to `docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md`
112  - (User preferences for spec location override this default)
113- Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available
114- Commit the design document to git
115 
116**Spec Self-Review:**
117After writing the spec document, look at it with fresh eyes:
118 
1191. **Placeholder scan:** Any "TBD", "TODO", incomplete sections, or vague requirements? Fix them.
1202. **Internal consistency:** Do any sections contradict each other? Does the architecture match the feature descriptions?
1213. **Scope check:** Is this focused enough for a single implementation plan, or does it need decomposition?
1224. **Ambiguity check:** Could any requirement be interpreted two different ways? If so, pick one and make it explicit.
123 
124Fix any issues inline. No need to re-review — just fix and move on.
125 
126**User Review Gate:**
127After the spec review loop passes, ask the user to review the written spec before proceeding:
128 
129> "Spec written and committed to `<path>`. Please review it and let me know if you want to make any changes before we start writing out the implementation plan."
130 
131Wait for the user's response. If they request changes, make them and re-run the spec review loop. Only proceed once the user approves.
132 
133**Implementation:**
134 
135- Invoke the writing-plans skill to create a detailed implementation plan
136- Do NOT invoke any other skill. writing-plans is the next step.
137 
138## Key Principles
139 
140- **One question at a time** - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
141- **Multiple choice preferred** - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
142- **YAGNI ruthlessly** - Remove unnecessary features from all designs
143- **Explore alternatives** - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
144- **Incremental validation** - Present design, get approval before moving on
145- **Be flexible** - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense
146 
147## Visual Companion
148 
149A browser-based companion for showing mockups, diagrams, and visual options during brainstorming. Available as a tool — not a mode. Accepting the companion means it's available for questions that benefit from visual treatment; it does NOT mean every question goes through the browser.
150 
151**Offering the companion:** When you anticipate that upcoming questions will involve visual content (mockups, layouts, diagrams), offer it once for consent:
152> "Some of what we're working on might be easier to explain if I can show it to you in a web browser. I can put together mockups, diagrams, comparisons, and other visuals as we go. This feature is still new and can be token-intensive. Want to try it? (Requires opening a local URL)"
153 
154**This offer MUST be its own message.** Do not combine it with clarifying questions, context summaries, or any other content. The message should contain ONLY the offer above and nothing else. Wait for the user's response before continuing. If they decline, proceed with text-only brainstorming.
155 
156**Per-question decision:** Even after the user accepts, decide FOR EACH QUESTION whether to use the browser or the terminal. The test: **would the user understand this better by seeing it than reading it?**
157 
158- **Use the browser** for content that IS visual — mockups, wireframes, layout comparisons, architecture diagrams, side-by-side visual designs
159- **Use the terminal** for content that is text — requirements questions, conceptual choices, tradeoff lists, A/B/C/D text options, scope decisions
160 
161A question about a UI topic is not automatically a visual question. "What does personality mean in this context?" is a conceptual question — use the terminal. "Which wizard layout works better?" is a visual question — use the browser.
162 
163If they agree to the companion, read the detailed guide before proceeding:
164`skills/brainstorming/visual-companion.md`
165