| name | dx-brainstorm |
| description | Think through a raw idea before committing to it — weigh alternatives, price doing nothing, and route to a change, an effort, or nothing at all. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| argument-hint | ["idea or question"] |
dx-brainstorm
Runs before dx-new on an idea nobody has yet decided is worth building. Concluding that nothing should be built is a success, not a run that failed to produce work.
Guards. context/ unscaffolded (changes/ and efforts/ absent — empty is normal) → stop, say to run /dx-init. No user available to answer → stop; don't invent the appetite and constraints you came here to ask about. And "this is simple enough to just do it now" is the red flag, not the shortcut — whether it's simple enough is the conclusion, not the bypass.
1 — Sources before questions
A question whose answer already sits in the repo is homework, not conversation. Climb in order, stopping as soon as something answers: foundation/glossary.md + lessons.md → context/standards/ → context/changes/** and context/archive/** (already decided, shipped, or rejected?) → the codebase → the user.
2 — Diverge
Before converging — unless §1 found this already shipped, which settles the ramp:
- Restate the problem without the user's proposed solution. It arrives pre-shaped; the problem underneath is usually wider or narrower.
- ≥2 genuinely different alternatives, plus a priced do-nothing. Different mechanism, not the same idea at two sizes. Price what the pain costs per week and who absorbs it. Strawmanning it is the failure mode.
- The riskiest assumption and the cheapest test of it. If a one-day spike settles it, that spike may be the whole change.
- Refuse vague framing. "Improve X" — push to an observable difference, or there's nothing to build.
- The bundling test — would each capability function without the other? Yes → effort. No → change. It only decides ramps 3 vs 4.
- "What breaks if this succeeds?"
3 — Converge
Invoke dx-references with topic interview — one question at a time, and run step 5's adversarial pass before presenting the conclusion, since routing is hard to reverse once a container exists. A critical objection goes back to the user as a question; don't self-resolve it.
Stop when one ramp fits, every unknown that would change the routing is resolved, and the user signals enough. Routing-sufficiency, not exhaustiveness — the rest belongs to dx-frame and dx-plan.
4 — Take one of four exit ramps
- Nothing worth building — no container, no artifact, no
Next: line. State the conclusion and why the do-nothing won.
- Already covered by an open or archived container — cite its path and stop.
- One shippable unit →
context/changes/<id>/change.md (invoke dx-references with topic change-md) + brainstorm.md, whose shape is ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/brainstorm-md.md — read it before writing. Stamp type — normally feature; it gates the plan's characteristics, so decide it rather than leaving it to be guessed.
- ≥2 independently shippable capabilities →
context/efforts/<id>/effort.md (invoke dx-references with topic effort-md) + brainstorm.md, same shape. Identity file only — no roadmap.md, though the reference describes one, because the slices aren't yours to cut. Efforts carry no type; don't invent one.
Ramps 1–2 write nothing and never load that reference; when the rejection is load-bearing, offer /dx-lesson — the one durable trace either leaves. Ramps 3–4: propose the <id> so the user can redirect it (kebab-case, space-free).
Tie-breakers: don't manufacture work to have a handoff. Already shipped → ramp 2, never ramp 1. Appetite is the user's call. If naming the affected areas took real work, that's ramp 4 over 3.
Not a chain
Creating the container is this skill's deliverable; the no-auto-chain rule binds the step after it. Never run /dx-plan, /dx-frame, or /dx-roadmap. Slices stay dx-roadmap's, child changes dx-new's.
Done when
One ramp taken, its artifacts (if any) written, the outcome printed. The left-hand label selects the case — print only what follows it, plus any caveat the adversarial pass left standing. Then stop:
No user: <what couldn't be asked — and that no appetite or constraint was invented>
Nothing to build: <one-line conclusion — why the do-nothing won>
Already covered: Covered by <path> (status: <status>)
One change: Brainstorm written: context/changes/<id>/brainstorm.md
Next: /dx-frame <id> → /dx-plan <id> (frame optional)
An effort: Brainstorm written: context/efforts/<id>/brainstorm.md
Next: /dx-frame <id> → /dx-roadmap <id> (frame optional)
