Brainstorm

Brainstorm — diverge before you converge

Trigger phrases: "brainstorm", "explore options", "not sure what we want", "help me scope", "ideate"

When

The ask is under-defined: the goal, the users, or the shape of the solution aren't clear yet, so jumping straight to spec-planning would just plan the wrong thing. This is the front-end of planning, not a replacement — brainstorm diverges (widens the option space), spec-planning converges (breaks the chosen option into tasks). If scope is already clear, skip this and go straight to [[spec-planning]].

The loop

1. Frame the real problem — restate the request as the underlying need in one sentence ("the user wants X so that Y"). Separate the stated solution from the goal; often the solution is negotiable, the goal isn't.
2. Diverge — generate distinct directions. Produce 2–4 genuinely different approaches, not variations of one. For each: the core idea, who it serves, the main trade-off. Include a deliberately cheap/minimal option (fight gold-plating early).
3. Surface the unknowns — list assumptions and open questions that would change the answer. Mark which are blocking (must resolve before planning) vs. deferrable.
4. Converge — ask, don't guess. Present the directions as explicit numbered options and let the user choose (CLAUDE.md discipline: a decision point = multiple choice, never a prose either/or). Record the chosen direction + the rejected ones with the one-line reason they lost.
5. Hand off. The chosen direction + resolved constraints flow into spec-planning; a lasting architectural choice made here is recorded with [[adr]].

Guardrails

• Bounded, not open-ended. Divergence has a stop: 2–4 options, then converge. Endless ideation with no decision is the failure mode, not thoroughness.
• No premature convergence either. Don't collapse to the first idea to look decisive — the point is that the option space was actually explored before a direction was picked.
• Evidence over invention. Read the existing code/data and state assumptions explicitly; a plausible guess presented as fact is worse than a named unknown.
• Token discipline ([[token-budget]]): the options + the decision are a short summary to the main thread; push a long exploration to docs/DISCOVERY.md and return the option headings + the choice.

DoD (this skill's contribution)

• The real goal is stated separately from the requested solution.
• 2–4 distinct directions exist, each with its trade-off, including a minimal option.
• Blocking unknowns are named and were asked as explicit options — nothing ambiguous was filled by guessing.
• A direction is chosen and ready to enter [[spec-planning]] (rejected options logged with their reason).