idea

name	idea
description	Idea-refinement workflow (PM phase, front of the VI-creation flow). Takes one source — an inline prompt, a markdown file (with wikilinks/images), a community post, or an exported RFE Jira ticket — and, through a bounded one-question-at-a-time grill (--deep for relentless), authors a well-refined idea.md: a lean one-page brief that seeds the future create-vi:. Writes to the vault (keyless); no Jira, no code, no specs write. Activated when the user prompt starts with "idea:".
allowed-tools	view, edit, create, bash, glob, grep, task, web_fetch, ask_user

Refine an idea into idea.md: the argument (text following the idea: trigger)

idea: is the front door of the VI-creation flow (PM phase) — upstream of create-vi: (future) and the existing pipeline. It ingests one source, refines it through a grill, and writes a lean one-page idea.md (per ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/idea-format.md) that seeds the Value Increment. It is not a VI: no Jira write, no code change, no specs-repo write. Output lands keyless in the vault; create-vi: relocates it under $SPECS_PATH once a Jira key exists.

Flag: --deep switches the grill from bounded (≤5 questions) to relentless (until convergence).

---

Phase 0 — Validate environment + resolve model routing

1. Validate $VAULT_PATH. It must be set, an existing directory, and writable — the env var is the user's explicit declaration of their personal store; the plugin trusts it and does NOT require an Obsidian .obsidian/ marker. If any check fails, STOP and offer:

   choices: ["Enter a directory to write idea.md into", "Cancel", "Other… (describe)"]
   

   On a user-supplied directory, validate it exists and is writable, then use it as the write root for this run. NEVER write into the current working directory (it may be a code repo). This is an environment halt, not a plugin-gap halt — do NOT emit-block.

2. Resolve model routing. Load and follow the model-routing policy at ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/model-routing.md, then record:

   model_routing:
     classification: MODERATE          # idea refinement is typically MODERATE
     reason: <one-line>
     current_model: <the model this orchestrator/grill is running under>
     detection_model: <§2.1 detection chain: claude-sonnet-4.6, fallback claude-sonnet-4.5/gpt-5.4>   # idea-reader
     authoring_model: <= current_model>   # the interactive grill + idea.md authoring (session model, not a delegated subagent)
     opus_available: <true if a §2 Opus model resolved, else false>
     notes: <any §2/§2.1 fallback or degradation>
   

   The grill + authoring run inline on current_model (the §2 Opus chain — interactive judgment, not a delegated subagent). idea-reader runs on detection_model. If no Opus resolves, degrade to the best available and record the degradation in notes and the final report — do NOT hard-block (a PM must not be blocked from capturing an idea by a momentary Opus outage).

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Phase 1 — Classify the source

Classify the argument (text following the idea: trigger) (minus the --deep flag) by precedence:

1. Matches the Jira-key regex ^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*-\d+$ → rfe (an exported Product-Enhancement ticket under $VAULT_PATH/jira-products/<KEY>/).
2. An existing .md path or an @wikilink → markdown (a community post is just a markdown file, typically under Projects/Products/… — the reader tags it community-post; an existing idea.md passed back for re-refinement is detected here too).
3. Otherwise → prompt (the argument text is the raw idea).

Surface a one-line confirmation before ingesting:

choices: ["Read this as <detected-type> (Recommended)", "It's actually a <other-type>", "Cancel", "Other… (describe)"]

(A dedicated --as prompt|file|rfe override is future work — the confirmation covers a mis-detection.)

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Phase 2 — Ingest the source (idea-reader)

Dispatch idea-reader to read the source and return a structured digest:

→ task(agent_type: "dev-workflows:idea-reader", model: <detection_model — §2.1 detection chain>):

"Ingest this idea source and return the structured digest:

argument: [the resolved argument] provenance_hint: [prompt | markdown | community-post | rfe from Phase 1] vault_path: [resolved $VAULT_PATH]"

Wait for the digest. If status: NOT_FOUND (invalid RFE key / missing file), surface:

choices: ["Re-enter the source", "Cancel", "Other… (describe)"]

This is an environment/user halt — do NOT emit-block. On OK, carry forward raw_context, signals, images, candidate_title, candidate_slug, source_refs, provenance, and the followed/broken wikilinks — source_refs/provenance feed the sources: frontmatter entry in Phase 4.

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Phase 3 — Refine via grill

Interview technique (grilling — embedded; no runtime dependency). Follow the shared technique in ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/grilling-technique.md — one question at a time, recommend each answer, fact-vs-decision split (look up facts from the idea-reader digest / vault, put only decisions to the user), walk the design tree in dependency order. Depth: bounded by default (below); --deep = relentless.

Scan for gaps against an idea-stage ambiguity taxonomy: problem clarity, target users, desired outcome/value, scope boundaries, evidence/demand sufficiency, success signal, terminology. Rank gaps by Impact × Uncertainty.

• Default (bounded): ask ≤5 questions across the ranked gaps, then stop. Remaining high-impact gaps become - [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: <question>] in the idea.md Open questions & assumptions section, capped at 3; reasonable defaults are recorded as - **Assumption:** <text>.
• --deep: relentless — keep walking the design tree one question at a time until you and the user reach shared understanding; the cap does not apply.

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Phase 4 — Write idea.md

Author idea.md per ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/idea-format.md into the write root resolved in Phase 0:

• Path: <write-root>/Projects/<area>/<candidate_slug>/idea.md, where <area> = Products when the source already lives under Projects/Products/…, else ideas.
• Existing file: if idea.md already exists at that path, offer:

  choices: ["Refine the existing idea.md (Recommended)", "Create a new one (you'll be prompted for a slug)", "Cancel", "Other… (describe)"]
  

  On refine, re-open it, resolve its open [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] items, and append the new source to sources.
• status: set frontmatter status: refined IFF zero [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] markers remain; otherwise status: draft.

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Phase 5 — Handoff: adaptive next-phase offer

Report where idea.md was written and its status, then offer the next phase — adapted to status:

• refined: "Idea refined. Next: create the VI — first create an empty Jira workitem, then run create-vi: <JIRA-KEY> @<idea.md path>."
• draft (N open clarifications): "This idea has N open clarification(s). You can (a) run idea: @<idea.md path> --deep to resolve them, or (b) proceed to create-vi: <JIRA-KEY> @<idea.md path>, which will grill you on the rest."

create-vi: is a separate command; this offer is guidance the user acts on — it never auto-invokes another command. (Per ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/next-phase-offer.md — the plugin-wide next-phase-offer contract; idea: is one reference implementation.)

Context hygiene

Continuing to create-vi: (still the PM phase)? → run /compact to free context; your idea.md is already on disk. (No resume pointer or /rename label here — the VI-Key is minted later, and the ideation phase is short.) Guidance only — see ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/session-hygiene.md.

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Phase 6 — Session maintenance & feedback

Terminal phase — runs after Phase 5, NEVER interrupts an earlier phase.

Capture-at-block invariant. If an EARLIER phase halts on a plugin / skill / command / reference gap (a capability the run needed but the plugin lacked), emit-block (per ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/feedback-emission.md) at that halt before escalating — so a run abandoned at the block still records the gap. NEVER emit-block for an environment / user halt (bad $VAULT_PATH, source-not-found, cancellation).

Session-hygiene invariant. End Phase 5 with a ### Context hygiene note per ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/session-hygiene.md — a same-role /compact suggestion (no resume.md, no /rename: pre-VI, short PM phase). Guidance only, never auto-run.

1. Invoke impl-maintenance (agent_type: "dev-workflows:impl-maintenance", model: <detection_model — §2.1 detection chain>):

   "Analyse this session and return a Lessons Learned report.

   Session handoff:

   • Command run: idea:
   • What was done: [one-paragraph summary of the idea refined + source type]
   • Key events: [source-detection corrections, unresolved clarifications, broken wikilinks — or 'none']
   • Workarounds used: [manual steps not automated by the workflow — or 'none']
   • Review verdict: N/A (no reviewer in idea:)
   • Test result: N/A (no tests in idea:)
   • Project root: [the idea.md folder]"

2. Persist plugin feedback (automatic). Cite ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/skills/_shared/feedback-emission.md and call its emit-auto entry point (§6) with the Lessons Learned report, command: idea:, jira_key: null, the run's source, and plugin_version (read from ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/ihudak-copilot-plugins/dev-workflows/.plugin/plugin.json). It renders only the plugin-facing slice (§4), dedupes by stable id (§3), resolves the target via the §2 specs-first ladder, and writes silently. Surface the persisted path (or "no plugin-facing signal — nothing persisted"). ADDITIVE — this phase NEVER fails the run, NEVER commits, and NEVER writes into a code/docs repo or the current working directory; no user name is ever written.

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Final report

Report: the idea.md path + status (refined / draft with N open clarifications); the source type and sources; the count of [NEEDS CLARIFICATION] items and Assumptions; any source-detection correction or broken wikilinks; the resolved model routing (+ any Opus degradation); the feedback path; and the adaptive next-phase recommendation.