idea-genie

name	idea-genie
description	Generate an evidence-grounded opportunity

Idea Genie

Turn an open-ended question into a small, evidenced opportunity portfolio. This skill explores; it does not select work, create beads, or write Discovery's BDD intent packet.

Workflow

1. State the question, constraints, non-goals, and evidence sources. Use research when the repository facts are not already available.
2. Record observations as claims with repository or executable evidence. Put unverified beliefs in assumptions; never blend them into observations.
3. Propose candidate mechanisms. Give every candidate its own evidence, overlap result against live skills, CLI capabilities, and tracked work, plus one Given/When/Then scenario.
4. Run another novelty pass. Merge equivalents and discard unsupported ideas. Stop when the pass yields zero materially new candidates, not when an arbitrary count is reached.
5. Write idea-portfolio.v1, run scripts/validate-output.sh, and hand the artifact to discovery. Discovery alone shapes and persists executable BDD intent.

If every candidate overlaps existing work or lacks support, emit status: no-new-work, an empty candidate list, and observations showing why. An honest empty portfolio is a successful result.

Artifact contract

Required fields are schema_version, status, observations, assumptions, candidates, and termination. Candidate portfolios require cited evidence, an explicit overlaps array, and a complete scenario. Termination records the reason and novel_candidates_last_pass: 0.

The validator is the machine boundary:

skills/idea-genie/scripts/validate-output.sh <portfolio.json>

Executable behavior: references/idea-genie.feature.

Do not

• Pad the result to a requested or customary idea count.
• Create tracker rows, rank a winner, decompose implementation, or claim a selection verdict.
• Treat assumptions or attractive mechanisms as observed facts.