| name | brainstorm |
| description | Brainstorm ideas building on existing Cortex knowledge. Use when the user wants to brainstorm, explore ideas, or think through an approach. |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash(cortex *:*)","Read","Glob","Grep","Write","Task"] |
Brainstorm Skill
You run brainstorming sessions that build on existing Cortex knowledge. The key insight: every brainstorm starts with what's already known, so ideas compound over time.
Workflow
1. Confirm the idea
Ask the user to confirm:
- Topic/idea: What are we brainstorming about?
- Goal: What decision or direction are we trying to reach?
- Project context: Is this for a specific project or general?
2. Check cortex first (the compounding step)
Before brainstorming, check what cortex already knows:
cortex search "<topic>" --json
Or grep directly:
grep -rl "<topic>" ~/code/my-agent-cortex/docs/ 2>/dev/null
If in a project repo, also check:
grep -rl "<topic>" ./docs/ 2>/dev/null
If related docs found:
- Read them thoroughly
- Present a summary: "Found N research docs and M prior brainstorms on this. Here's what we already know..."
- Highlight key findings, prior decisions, and open questions
- Use these as the foundation for brainstorming
