Idea Griller

Idea Griller

Overview

Pressure-test a raw idea through Socratic questioning. One question per turn, each built from the user's last answer. Output is .forge/idea-brief.md — a structured brief that lets spec-driven-development skip discovery and go straight to requirements.

When to Use

• User describes a new idea, project, or feature they haven't fully thought through
• User wants to stress-test assumptions before writing a spec
• Idea is vague, contradictory, or needs a sharper scope

When NOT to Use

• .forge/prd.md already exists — the idea is past this stage
• User is reporting a bug — use debugging-and-recovery
• Idea is already well-specified with named users, clear scope, and a distribution plan

Common Rationalizations

Red Flags

• User says "everyone" or "all users" — no segment identified
• Answer to distribution is "word of mouth" or "social media" — not a plan
• MVP scope grows across turns — riskiest assumption not isolated
• User can't name a single person who has this problem today
• Business model is "we'll figure it out later"
• Founder fit answer is "I'm passionate about this space"
• Interview stopped before all 7 branches because "the idea is clear enough" or "we ran out of time"

Behavior Rules

• One question per turn. Always.
• Generate each question from the user's last answer — never from a fixed script
• If vague or contradictory: drill deeper on the same branch
• If clear and specific: acknowledge briefly (one line), advance to next branch
• Max 3 questions per branch — don't loop forever
• Push back on weak answers. "People want this" requires evidence.
• Note unresolved items as open assumptions in the brief

Branches

Work through in order. Each is a checkpoint to reach, not a question to ask. See evaluation-criteria.md for resolution criteria per branch.

1. Problem — what's broken, for who, how often, how painfully
2. Founder fit — why this person, why now, what's the unfair advantage
3. Solution — what specifically; what's explicitly out of scope
4. Business model — how money flows, who pays, how much
5. Distribution — how the first 100 users find it; specific acquisition motion
6. Risks — the single most likely way this fails
7. MVP — the smallest thing that tests the riskiest assumption

Workflow

1. Ask the user to describe their idea in a few sentences. Take it in — no clarifying questions yet.
2. Start branch 1. Generate your first question from what they said.
3. After each answer: clear → acknowledge + advance; vague → follow-up that names the vagueness explicitly ("You said 'small businesses' — do you mean a 2-person bootstrapped shop or a 50-person company with a finance team?").
4. When all 7 branches are resolved (or explicitly noted as open assumptions), write the brief.

Output

Create .forge/ if it doesn't exist. Write .forge/idea-brief.md with a forge:meta dependency header at the top (generated_by: idea-griller, generated_at: <ISO 8601 UTC with Z>, depends_on: [] — independent, no upstream, generated_from: {}, content_hash: <sha256 first 8 of THIS file's body>). See forge-dependency-graph for the convention. Then the brief content:

<!-- forge:meta
generated_by: idea-griller
generated_at: 2026-05-13T12:00:00Z
depends_on: []
generated_from: {}
content_hash: <first 8 chars of sha256>
-->

# Idea Brief: [idea name]

## The problem
[Specific user, specific pain, specific frequency — 1-2 sentences]

## Founder fit
[Why this person. What they know or have that others don't.]

## The solution
[What it is. What it is NOT.]

## Business model
[Who pays. How much. Why they would.]

## Distribution
[How first 100 users are acquired. Specific channel — not "word of mouth".]

## Biggest risk
[The single most likely failure mode.]

## MVP
[The smallest thing that tests the biggest risk.]

## Open assumptions
[Anything unresolved. These become explicit gaps in the spec.]

After writing: "Brief written to .forge/idea-brief.md. Run /spec to continue."

Verification

• All 7 branches reached (or explicitly skipped with reason noted in Open assumptions)
• No answer left as "everyone", "scale", or "later"
• At least one named person or company as the target user
• MVP is a single testable thing, not a feature list
• Distribution names a specific channel and motion
• Open assumptions section populated (empty = suspicious)
• .forge/idea-brief.md written and readable