ideation

name	ideation
description	Produce a short idea memo for later research or design. Lightweight front door — no review ceremony, no design pipeline. Use when the user wants to capture a thought, not commit to building anything yet.
argument-hint	[topic or one-line idea]
disable-model-invocation	false

Capture idea $ARGUMENTS as a short memo.

When to Use

• User has a thought they want recorded before forgetting it
• Pre-research phase — not yet worth @research or @deep-research
• Pre-concept phase — not yet committed to an HLD/PRD
• Routing unclear — "I'm not sure if this is a feature or a rethink of something"

When NOT to Use

• Bug fix / hotfix — use @hotfix
• Deep technical/business question with existing signals — use @research or @deep-research
• Ready to produce HLD/PRD — use @concept (Phase B) or @design-pipeline
• Info-only question with no intent to build — use @general-question

Instructions

Step 1: Write a 1-page memo

Produce .workitems/ideas/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{slug}.md with this shape:

---
title: {one-line title}
created: {YYYY-MM-DD}
status: raw
next: [research|concept|design|defer]
---

## Idea
{2–4 sentences — the thought itself}

## Why now
{1–2 sentences — what prompted this, what would change if this existed}

## Open questions
- {question 1}
- {question 2}

## Suggested next step
{routing — see below}

Keep it under 40 lines. No design, no tasks, no tests. If the idea demands more structure, it belongs in @concept or @design-pipeline, not here.

Step 2: Suggest routing

Based on the memo, recommend one of:

Suggested next	When
@research	Needs external facts / tech comparison / precedent scan
@deep-research	Needs multi-source deep dive (business + technical)
@concept	Clear enough to draft HLD + PRD — user ready for a structured interview
@design-pipeline	Large enough to warrant the full 11-stage design
defer	Not actionable yet — memo filed, revisit later

Set the next: field in the memo frontmatter accordingly.

Step 3: Hand off or stop

• If next: defer — stop. The memo is filed at .workitems/ideas/.
• Otherwise — offer to invoke the recommended next skill immediately. User confirms or declines; either way, the memo stays as the trail.

No Review Ceremony

Ideation memos are single-author artifacts with no review gate. They are not production collateral — they are seeds. If an idea survives to @concept or @design-pipeline, those skills apply their own review rounds to the HLD/PRD/design that follows.

Cross-References

• @research / @deep-research — next step when idea needs facts
• @concept — next step when idea is ready for structured HLD/PRD interview (Phase B)
• @design-pipeline — next step for full 11-stage design
• @general-question — if user decides this was really just a question, not an idea