| name | idea |
| description | Captures ideas into structured nuggets for later evaluation. Use when the user says "I have an idea" or "note this down." Also activate when a specific actionable concept crystallizes during conversation. Ideas and sparks stay capture primitives routed through triage, which files worth-keeping items as backlog issues or hands them to pitch or shape. Not for problem discovery (use pitch), processing the intake queue (use triage), shaping a bounded issue (use shape), or agent-side divergent inquiry when direction is undecided (use explore as a technique). |
Idea
Capture ideas quickly with minimal friction.
Input: $ARGUMENTS
Contents
- Critical Rules
- Verification
- Quick Reference
- Purpose
- Process
- Guardrails
- Related Skills
Critical Rules
- Speed over completeness -- capture quickly, shape later
- 2-3 questions maximum -- don't turn capture into an interview
- Infer metadata automatically -- don't ask for tags, title, or links
- One idea per captured row/artifact -- keep them atomic
- No shaping, pitching, or filing issues here -- problem discovery is pitch; bounding is shape; dispositions are triage
- Capture through
loaf idea capture --title ... when SQLite state is
initialized; log notable context with loaf journal log
Verification
- The idea appears in
loaf idea list and loaf idea show <ref> with status open
- If promoted from a spark,
loaf spark promote recorded the relationship
- No shaping, status transition, or promotion happened here — dispositions belong to triage
Quick Reference
| Operation | Command |
|---|
| Capture | loaf idea capture --title "<title>" |
| Read back | loaf idea show <ref> |
| List open | loaf idea list |
Purpose
Ideas are raw nuggets — unprocessed, unshaped, but worth remembering. The goal is speed of capture, not thoroughness. An idea is retained material, nothing more: filing it as a backlog issue, handing it to pitch for problem discovery, handing it to shape when already well-understood, or archiving it are triage dispositions chosen later by the user.
Process
- Parse input. If
$ARGUMENTS contains the idea, capture directly. If empty, ask at most 2-3 questions: core idea, problem/opportunity, immediate constraints.
- Capture. Run
loaf idea capture --title "..." with the inferred title; log notable context with loaf journal log.
- Announce. Report the captured alias and point at triage for disposition.
Guardrails
- Speed over completeness — capture quickly, disposition later
- 2-3 questions max — don't turn this into an interview
- Infer, don't ask — metadata should be automatic
- One idea per captured row — keep them atomic
- No lifecycle here — no status transitions, promotion, or shaping; triage owns dispositions and the CLI performs them
Related Skills
- triage — process the intake queue and choose dispositions (file as backlog issue, hand to pitch, or hand to shape)
- pitch — problem-discovery ceremony when a captured idea needs a brief before shaping
- shape — develop a well-understood direction into a bounded issue
- explore — agent technique when direction is genuinely undecided (not a user front door)
