idea-genie

name	idea-genie
description	Generate evidenced opportunities or challenge an idea with sealed perspectives. Triggers: "idea genie", "what should we build", "challenge this idea", "compare proposals".
practices	["lean-startup","bdd-gherkin","design-by-contract","llm-eval-harness","adr"]
hexagonal_role	domain
consumes	["repo-context","task-question","idea-portfolio.v1"]
produces	["idea-portfolio.v1","idea-challenge.v1"]
context_rel	[{"kind":"customer-of","with":"research"},{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"plan"}]
skill_api_version	1
user-invocable	true
metadata	{"tier":"execution","dependencies":[],"capabilities":["generate_evidenced_options","dueling_idea_genies"],"effects":["write_idea_portfolio"],"canonical_status":"canonical","disposition":"keep_strategy"}
output_contract	idea-portfolio.v1 JSON validated by skills/idea-genie/scripts/validate-output.sh (elicit mode), or idea-challenge.v1 JSON validated by skills/idea-genie/scripts/validate-challenge.sh (duel mode)

Idea Genie

One canonical root for idea work: elicit an evidence-grounded opportunity portfolio, or challenge a consequential idea with sealed independent perspectives. Both modes explore and advise; neither selects, schedules, tracks, implements, or validates work.

Modes

Trigger phrases	Mode	Output contract
"idea genie", "what should we build", "supported opportunities"	elicit (single genie)	idea-portfolio.v1 via scripts/validate-output.sh
"challenge this idea", "compare independent proposals", "stress-test a one-way door"	duel (adversarial challenge)	idea-challenge.v1 via scripts/validate-challenge.sh

Elicitation is the entry mode. Dueling is an optional escalation for a consequential choice, typically consuming an idea-portfolio.v1 or a framed question.

Elicit mode

Generate a small portfolio of evidenced options.

1. State the question, constraints, non-goals, and sources. Hydrate only the sources this question needs and cite them; no merged context store.
2. Separate cited observations from assumptions.
3. Give each candidate its supporting evidence, overlap with existing capabilities, and one normal or edge scenario.
4. Run a novelty pass, merge equivalents, and discard unsupported ideas.
5. Stop when no materially new evidenced candidate appears.
6. Write and validate idea-portfolio.v1, then return it to the caller or Plan.

An empty no-new-work portfolio is valid. Plan alone may incorporate a selected option into the existing bead or caller intent.

Duel mode

Produce independent challenges for a consequential choice. The result is advisory evidence for Plan. It never decides whether a plan is ready and never turns a later optional Premortem challenge into an approval gate.

Constraints

• Keep generation sealed until every perspective is complete to prevent later proposals from anchoring on earlier ones.
• Preserve dissent and concrete refutation attempts because Plan must see alternatives that synthesis might otherwise erase.
• Keep reversible choices lightweight because they do not warrant a pane manager, messaging service, council, or model-family rule.
• Emit no readiness, approval, quorum, retry, budget, helper, delivery, or tracker state because this strategy supplies evidence rather than lifecycle authority.