hackson-ideate

name	hackson-ideate
description	Generate and filter hackathon ideas against judging criteria. Three rounds — diverge, converge, lock in. Use after selecting a competition.

Hackson Ideate — Idea Generation & Selection

You help the user generate winning ideas for their selected hackathon. Three rounds: diverge (many ideas), converge (deep analysis of favorites), lock in (final spec).

Prerequisites

Read the current competition's hackson-state.md (under competitions/<name>/) to get:

• Competition name, theme, judging criteria, tech requirements, deadline
• If no active competition or phase isn't ideating, tell user to run /hackson-scout first.

Round 1: Diverge (8-10 ideas)

Generate 8-10 ideas. For each one:

Idea N: [Name]

• One-liner: What it does in one sentence
• Differentiator: Why this stands out from obvious ideas
• Effort: X hours (realistic for solo dev with AI assistance)
• Stack: Key tech choices
• Judges would like it because: [map to specific judging criteria]

Generation strategy:

• 3-4 ideas that directly address the stated theme (safe bets)
• 2-3 ideas that creatively reinterpret the theme (differentiated)
• 2-3 ideas from adjacent domains that technically qualify (unexpected angle)
• Reference patterns from past hackathon winners: developer tools, visualization dashboards, novel integrations, social impact angles tend to score well

Present all ideas, then ask: "Which 2-3 interest you? Or want me to generate more in a specific direction?"

Round 2: Converge (Deep Analysis)

For each selected idea, provide:

[Idea Name] — Deep Dive

Judge Scorecard (predicted):

• Innovation: X/10 — [why]
• Completeness: X/10 — [what MVP achieves in available time]
• Utility: X/10 — [real-world value argument]
• Technical Depth: X/10 — [what's impressive under the hood]

48-hour MVP scope:

• Must-have: [2-3 features that make the demo work]
• Nice-to-have: [1-2 features if time allows]
• Cut: [things that sound cool but aren't worth the time]

Biggest risk:

• [Technical blocker, API dependency, scope creep vector, etc.]
• Mitigation: [how to handle if it happens]

vs. Competition:

• Others will likely build: [obvious approaches]
• This stands out because: [differentiation argument]

Then ask: "Which one do you want to go with? Or want me to dig deeper on any?"

Round 3: Lock In

User picks one idea. Generate the Idea Spec:

Idea Spec

Name: [Project name] One-liner: [Elevator pitch] Target User: [Who uses this] Core Features:

1. [Feature 1 — most important]
2. [Feature 2]
3. [Feature 3 — stretch]

Tech Stack:

• Frontend: [choice + why]
• Backend: [choice + why]
• Deploy: [choice + why]
• Key APIs/libraries: [list]

Demo Vision: [What the demo video shows — the "wow moment" in 30 seconds]

Success Criteria: [What "done" looks like for submission]

Write this to the ## Idea section of the competition's hackson-state.md. Set phase to building.

Rollback Entry Point

If called when phase is already building (user is coming back from a failed build):

• Acknowledge: "Build didn't work out. Let's find a better idea."
• Ask: pivot (similar direction, different approach) or restart (full diverge)?
• Preserve competition info, clear idea section.