| name | brainstorming |
| description | Use when the user wants to brainstorm or explore an idea — a feature, product direction, or "what if" — before deciding whether it deserves a plan. Ideation only — ends in an idea brief, not a design. |
Brainstorming
Turn a fuzzy idea into a clear direction through conversation. Brainstorming answers what are we trying to do? — how will we build it? belongs to grill-with-docs, so when the conversation drifts toward architecture, code, or "how should this fit this repo?", stop and offer to move there. The brief below is the only artifact this skill produces: no specs, issues, commits, or code.
If invoked with no idea attached, read references/gamechanging-feature.md and follow it to surface a candidate.
Diverge
- Name the raw idea. Restate it in one or two sentences so the user can correct you early.
- Ask one question per turn about purpose, audience, pain, outcome, constraints, and non-goals. Make each easy to answer: concrete options, multiple choice when it helps, your recommended answer included.
- Sketch what has shape. When the idea is visual — UI, workflow, comparison, diagram, mental model — a sketch beats another paragraph, so reach for the companion routinely. Offer it in its own message and wait:
Want me to spin up a local browser companion for sketches and diagrams? It's token-heavier but often clearer than text. (Requires opening a local URL.)
If they agree, read references/visual-companion.md and follow it; if they decline, continue text-only.
- Offer 2–3 directions with plain-language trade-offs.
Converge
When you can fill every field of the brief from the user's own answers — not your guesses — produce it:
## Idea brief
Idea:
Audience:
Problem / pain:
Desired outcome:
Non-goals:
Promising directions:
1.
2.
3.
Recommended direction:
Open questions for `grill-with-docs`:
-
-
Then ask (use AskUserQuestion if available):
Want to run grill-with-docs to refine this idea further?
Want to save this idea to the backlog to pick up later?
If they save it: write the brief to ai-docs/plans/<YYYY-MM-DD-project>/idea.md (today's date, short kebab-case project slug; create the directory), and if the visual companion ran, copy its mockup HTML files from the session's screen_dir into mockups/ beside the brief. Then add it to the backlog using the backlog skill. In that same directory, /to-spec will later write spec.md and /to-tickets will write issues/<NNN>-<name>.md.
