start

name	start
description	Brainstorm and capture requirements for a new feature or bug fix
when_to_use	TRIGGER when: user says "start", "new feature", "build me", or describes new work. DO NOT TRIGGER when: feature already exists in .planning/features/.
effort	high
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Glob, Grep, AskUserQuestion
argument-hint	[feature description]

Active Feature State

!for f in .planning/features/*/CONTEXT.md; do [ -f "$f" ] && d=$(dirname "$f") && echo "$(basename "$d"): $(sed -n 's/^status: *//p' "$f")"; done 2>/dev/null; true

Start a new feature brainstorming session.

Setup

1. Ensure .planning/features/ directory exists. Create it if not.

2. First-run detection: If .planning/features/ was just created or is empty (no existing feature directories), this is the user's first feature. Show a brief welcome:

   Welcome to Ship! This is your first feature. Here's how Ship works:

   1. Brainstorm — I'll ask 5-10+ questions to deeply understand your needs
   2. Plan — I'll explore your codebase and design a step-by-step plan
   3. Build — I'll implement the plan with atomic git commits
   4. Verify — I'll check that all acceptance criteria are met

   Let's start by understanding what you want to build.

3. Derive a feature name (kebab-case slug) from the user's input:

   • $ARGUMENTS → convert to a short kebab-case slug (e.g., "user authentication" → user-auth, "fix login bug" → fix-login-bug)
   • If no arguments provided, ask the user to describe what they want to build or fix

4. Check if .planning/features/{name}/ already exists:

   • If it exists and status is done, tell the user this feature is complete. Ask if they want to start a new related feature.
   • If it exists and status is not done, tell the user this feature already exists and suggest /ship:resume instead.

5. Create the feature directory: .planning/features/{name}/

Brainstorm

IMPORTANT: Do NOT launch a subagent for brainstorming. The brainstorming process requires interactive user input via AskUserQuestion, which only works correctly in the main conversation — not inside a subagent.

Read .claude/agents/ship-brainstormer.md and follow its instructions directly in this conversation with:

• Feature name: {name}
• Feature idea: $ARGUMENTS

You must ask the user 5-10+ questions using AskUserQuestion, explore the codebase, and write .planning/features/{name}/CONTEXT.md.

$ARGUMENTS