| name | constructing-idea-genomes |
| description | Use when constructing idea genomes is required during creativity work, especially when the result must be traceable, independently reviewable, and safe to hand to another agent. |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | ForgeOS-compatible Agent Skills hosts; no provider-specific model required. |
| metadata | {"author":"forgeos-community","version":"0.2.0","pack":"creativity","kind":"core","status":"stable"} |
Constructing Idea Genomes
Overview
This skill owns one bounded responsibility: constructing idea genomes. Its focus is encode ideas into comparable causal components rather than persuasive prose. It converts declared inputs into typed artifacts and reproducible evidence without silently changing product scope.
Trigger
Activate only when the project is in one of these stages: divergence, synthesis, all contract preconditions pass, and the router identifies a missing output this skill can produce. Do not activate merely because the skill name resembles the user request.
Required Inputs
creative-brief
- Current gate result, open findings, artifact hashes, and invalidation state
- Required tools: none
- Optional tools: none
- Confirmed human decisions relevant to this scope
Method-Specific Protocol
- Extract target user, hidden problem, trigger, mechanism, interface, resource, incentive, ownership, time model, distribution, value, assumptions, and failure modes.
- Normalize each field to one causal statement and remove marketing adjectives.
- Mark inherited components versus novel mutations.
- Generate a semantic fingerprint from mechanism-level fields.
- Reject incomplete genomes before scoring or recombination.
Procedure
- Freeze the challenge, constraints, forbidden defaults, and evaluation frame.
- Generate independent mechanism-level candidates before cross-contamination.
- Extract target user, hidden problem, trigger, mechanism, interface, resource, incentive, ownership, time model, distribution, value, assumptions, and failure modes.
- Normalize each field to one causal statement and remove marketing adjectives.
- Mark inherited components versus novel mutations.
- Generate a semantic fingerprint from mechanism-level fields.
- Reject incomplete genomes before scoring or recombination.
- Apply the named divergence or mutation operation.
- Represent candidates as structured idea genomes.
- Remove semantic duplicates and fake novelty.
- Hand off distinct candidates without selecting a winner prematurely.
Verification Questions
- Could another agent reconstruct the same concept from the genome?
- Does the mechanism explain how value is created?
- Are assumptions independently testable?
- Would a title change leave the fingerprint unchanged?
Evidence Packet
Produce or reference all applicable evidence:
idea-genome artifact
semantic fingerprint
assumption list
Evidence must identify the current artifact hash, command or method used, result, reviewer identity, timestamp, and limitations.
Output Contract
Produce:
The primary artifact must include schema version, provenance, consumed artifact IDs, decisions, evidence references, residual risks, validation state, and invalidation targets. Narrative explanation may accompany the artifact but cannot replace it.
Quality Gate
Reviewer: independent-reviewer
- The output directly and completely performs constructing idea genomes within its declared boundary.
- Could another agent reconstruct the same concept from the genome?
- Does the mechanism explain how value is created?
- Are assumptions independently testable?
- Would a title change leave the fingerprint unchanged?
- Every material claim is traceable to an input, decision, executable check, or evidence item.
- Required fields are complete and machine-readable.
- The producing agent is not the approving reviewer.
- Open uncertainty and residual risk are explicit; critical findings are never hidden by an aggregate score.
Pass only when: All mandatory rules pass, evidence targets the current artifact hash, and no unresolved critical finding applies.
Forbidden Shortcuts
- Do not infer a material requirement that the user has not confirmed.
- Do not replace a typed artifact with a long explanation.
- Do not approve work produced by the same agent identity.
- Do not hide a critical failure behind a high aggregate score.
- Do not load unrelated project history, files, references, or skill bodies.
- Do not mark evidence complete when it targets a different artifact hash or version.
Failure Modes
- guessing a material requirement
- producing prose without the contracted artifact
- self-approving the output
- expanding scope without a decision record
- using a pitch deck as the data model
- leaving mechanism blank
- encoding novelty only in the title
Escalation and Invalidation
Stop and request a human decision when scope, risk acceptance, irreversible action, cost ceiling, privacy boundary, or product direction is materially ambiguous. When this artifact changes, invalidate only descendants named by the artifact graph; preserve unaffected verified branches.
Handoff
- Next transition: the graph router selects a real consumer of
candidate-ideas.
- Required evidence:
contract-validation, independent-review, idea-genome artifact, semantic fingerprint, assumption list.
- Required envelope fields:
artifactId, schemaVersion, sha256, producingSkill, producingAgent, consumedArtifacts, decisionIds, evidenceIds, residualRisks, validationState, invalidationTargets, stopCondition.
- Stop condition: Output contract is satisfied, a blocker is recorded, or a material human decision is required.
Token and Context Policy
Load at most 8 direct artifacts and reference depth 1. Use stable IDs, hashes, signatures, and deltas instead of repeating full history. Use established domain terminology, state each requirement once, and spend context on decisions, code, tests, or evidence rather than narration.
Reference Playbook
Load skills/references/core/creativity.md only when this skill needs pack-wide decision tables, evidence patterns, or cross-skill handoff rules.
See contract.json for the machine-readable contract.