brainstorm

name	brainstorm
description	Socratic clarification skill that surfaces assumptions before `/prd`. Triggers: brainstorm, surface-assumptions, clarify, ambiguity-check, pre-prd, what-am-i-missing. Read-only; output to `output/brainstorm/` only.

/brainstorm — Pre-/prd Socratic clarification

Prerequisites

• A requirement note exists in input/requirements/<file>.md, or a one-line topic can be passed in interactively
• Write permission for output/brainstorm/ is granted (in settings.local.json)
• /prd has not yet been started (this skill is upstream of /prd)
• Applicability: any of — the note is under half a page / the "what we won't do" is unclear / stakeholders or success metrics are undefined (reference: @.claude/learnings/L0001-brainstorm-before-prd.md)

Principles

• Question-driven: never inflate features by guessing. Surface ambiguity via AskUserQuestion
• No code or production-doc changes: this skill's charter is structuring assumptions only
• Socratic pacing: max 4 questions per round, max 3 rounds (avoid user fatigue)

Usage

Examples

/brainstorm input/requirements/REQ_subscription.md
/brainstorm Add a subscription feature (one-liner)

Output destination

• output/brainstorm/BRAINSTORM_<topic>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.md only
• No writes to other directories

Integration with Other Skills

• Downstream (required): /prd <output-file> — build the formal PRD off the seed
• Parallel (optional): /adr <title> — record significant design judgments as they emerge
• Upstream: none (this is the top of the PRD pipeline)

Workflow

1. Read input: read the requirement note. Or ask for a 1-2 sentence seed interactively
2. Socratic question salvo (AskUserQuestion, max 4 per round, max 3 rounds):
   • Motivation (Why now? Would the same value hold one month from now?)
   • Users (Who is the primary persona? Niche cases?)
   • Success (What does post-launch success look like? Which metrics?)
   • Out-of-scope (What are we deliberately not doing? Why?)
   • Exit (How do we roll back if it fails? Data implications?)
   • Constraints (Which legal / security / SLA constraints can't be relaxed?)
   • Alternatives (Could the same value be delivered differently?)
3. Surface implicit assumptions: mark with [Assumption]
4. Propose 3 scope variants: Minimum / Standard / Ambitious
5. List open questions: star (★) the ones that must resolve before /prd
6. Save: write to output/brainstorm/ and present to the user
7. Gate decision: ask whether to proceed to /prd (see "Gates" below)

Output Contract

output/brainstorm/BRAINSTORM_<topic>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.md must contain these sections:

## 1. Core request (one sentence)
## 2. Assumption inventory (explicit + implicit)
## 3. Stakeholders and stakes (who expects what, who fears what)
## 4. In-scope / out-of-scope candidates (3+ proposals)
## 5. Open-question list (★-prioritized)
## 6. Next step (Are we ready to run `/prd`?)

Prohibitions

• No code, test, or production-doc changes (docs/, src/, tests/ off-limits)
• No requirement inflation: never add features the input didn't request
• No write outside output/brainstorm/
• No question fatigue: max 4 questions per round; max 3 rounds total
• No secret transcription: redact discovered API keys, etc., as [REDACTED]

Gates

• Gate 1: At end of brainstorm, ask "Ready to proceed to /prd?"
• Gate 2: If 3+ ★-marked open questions remain, hold off on transitioning to /prd (only pass through if the user explicitly says "proceed")

Socratic question templates

Category	Example
Motivation	Why now? Would the same value hold one month from now?
Users	Who is the primary persona? Which niche cases exist?
Success	What does post-launch success look like? What metrics?
Out-of-scope	What are we deliberately not doing? Why?
Exit	If this fails, how do we roll back? Data implications?
Constraints	Which legal / security / SLA constraints can't be relaxed?
Alternatives	Could the same value be delivered differently?