| 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
If nothing found:
- Note it: "No prior cortex knowledge on this. We're starting from scratch."
- Consider suggesting
/cortex-engineering:research first if the topic is complex
3. Run the brainstorm
Structure the brainstorm around:
- Context framing -- state what we know (from cortex + user input)
- Key questions -- what are we trying to answer?
- Approach generation -- explore 2-4 distinct approaches
- Trade-off analysis -- pros, cons, effort for each
- Decision or next steps -- land on a direction or identify what research is still needed
Brainstorming style:
- Ask the user probing questions -- don't just present options
- Challenge assumptions from prior research
- Look for creative combinations of approaches
- Be concrete: include rough effort estimates, tech choices, architecture sketches
- If the user seems stuck, offer provocative "what if" questions
4. Synthesize and write
Delegate to the frontmatter skill for correct doc structure:
- Use the
brainstorm doc type
- Fill in all sections: Context, Questions, Approaches, Decision, Next Steps
- Reference prior cortex docs by filename in the Context section
File location:
- If in a project repo:
./docs/brainstorms/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
- If no project context:
~/code/my-agent-cortex/docs/brainstorms/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
5. Confirm
Tell the user:
- Where the brainstorm was saved
- Summary of the decision/direction (or "no decision yet")
- Suggest next step: "When you're ready to plan implementation, run
/cortex-engineering:plan" (future) or "Need more data? Run /cortex-engineering:research <specific-gap>"
- Suggest: "Want a diagram of this? Run
/cortex-engineering:visualize <saved-path>"
Example Frontmatter
---
created: 2026-02-27
title: "CLI Tool Architecture Brainstorm"
type: brainstorm
tags: [cli, architecture, bun, typescript]
project: my-agent-cortex
status: draft
---
Key Principles
- Knowledge compounds -- always start from what cortex already knows
- Brainstorms are collaborative -- ask questions, don't just present
- Approaches need trade-offs -- never present options without pros/cons
- Decisions are optional -- it's OK to end with "needs more research"
- Reference prior work -- link to research docs that informed the brainstorm
