brainstorm

name	brainstorm
description	Use when asked to brainstorm, explore ideas, design a feature, or plan something new. Turns a vague idea into a concrete design through structured Q&A before creating any board items.
version	1.0.0

Brainstorm

Turn ideas into concrete designs through focused Q&A, then create an Epic with Todos on the board.

Rules

1. No board items until the design is approved. Do not call create_epic or create_todo until the user says the design looks good.
2. One question at a time. Prefer multiple-choice. Keep it conversational.
3. YAGNI. Cut scope aggressively. The user can always add more later.

Process

1. Understand

• Read the board (mcp__board_view__view_board) to see existing work
• Ask clarifying questions one at a time:
  • What is the goal?
  • What are the constraints?
  • What does "done" look like?
• If the scope is too large for one epic, say so and help decompose

2. Propose

• Propose 2-3 approaches with trade-offs
• Lead with your recommendation and why
• Keep each approach to 2-3 sentences

3. Design

• Present the design section by section
• Scale detail to complexity: one sentence for simple parts, a short paragraph for complex ones
• Ask "Does this look right?" after presenting
• Revise until the user approves

4. Create Board Items

Once approved:

1. Create an Epic via mcp__todo__create_epic with a descriptive title and a color that fits the theme
2. Create Todos via mcp__todo__create_todo, each assigned to the epic via epic_id
   • Each todo should be a concrete, actionable task
   • Title: imperative verb + what ("Add login form", "Write auth tests")
   • Description: enough detail for an agent to execute without ambiguity
3. Set commit message summarizing what was planned

Writing Good Todos

• One thing per todo. If it has "and" in the title, split it.
• Specific, not vague. "Add retry logic to API client" not "Improve error handling"
• Include acceptance criteria in the description when the task is non-obvious
• Order matters. Create foundational tasks first (they appear at the top of the epic group)
• Declare dependencies explicitly. Use the requires parameter with item IDs so the board enforces execution order — don't rely on text descriptions alone.
• Avoid merge conflicts between parallel tasks. Ensure todos that may run concurrently touch different files; if two tasks must edit the same file, chain them with requires so they run sequentially.