Concept Exploration

Concept Exploration

Use this skill when the user has a half-formed idea and needs it cleaned up enough to enter the normal research and planning workflow. This skill is intentionally pre-ICP: it clarifies the concept, problem hypothesis, beneficiary hypothesis, value wedge, constraints, non-goals, and unknowns, but does not select an ICP, analyze competitors, define UX/UI, choose architecture, or write implementation specs.

Process

1. Resolve context

   • Read .agents/project.json if it exists.
   • Read README, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, existing research/, specs/, and task docs when present.
   • Determine whether the current directory is already a bootstrapped project. Treat it as bootstrapped when it has meaningful README.md plus AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md; treat it as unbootstrapped when those are missing, placeholder-only, or the user is describing an idea outside any project repo.
   • If $ARGUMENTS contains a rough idea, use it as the starting draft.
   • If $ARGUMENTS names an app that matches research/{app}/, use app-scoped output paths. Otherwise use top-level research/.
   • Determine the concept identity and a normalized concept slug as soon as either is known from $ARGUMENTS, repo context, or the interview. Normalize by lowercasing, removing URL suffix noise, replacing non-alphanumeric runs with -, trimming leading/trailing -, and dropping only project-wide brand prefixes when the remaining word is the actual scoped concept (for example, poketo.work -> work; Poketo Core -> poketo-core).
   • If existing research or the prompt suggests multiple related concepts may exist, prefer slugged output paths over generic filenames. Reserve generic concept-brief.md only for a single unambiguous project-level concept.
   • If no rough idea is available from arguments or repo context, ask the user for the idea in plain language.
   • Read research/.progress.yaml when present. Treat active_path as the current product/app/ICP focus and product_paths[] as parked or promoted product-path state, not git branch state.
   • When the prompt, repo context, interview, or pivot history surfaces multiple related concepts, apps, product lines, or future pivots, update or propose updates to research/.progress.yaml with product-path entries instead of merging them into one generic concept. Use fields: id, label, source_skill, scope_path, status, reason, evidence_refs, revisit_trigger, next_skill, and last_touched.
   • Keep the central concept as active_path when it is the current focus. Record related or future concepts as status: deferred or status: revisit_candidate with a concrete revisit trigger and a likely next skill such as /icp <path/audience>.

2. Keep the boundary clear

   • Do not run ICP, competitive analysis, journey mapping, UX variation, UI interview, roadmap, or implementation planning inside this skill.
   • Do not validate the market with broad web research. Use light repo/context inspection only; downstream research skills own evidence gathering.
   • Treat every user claim as a hypothesis unless supported by existing project files.

3. Surface a Concept Assumptions Manifest

   • Before deep questioning, present what you think the concept is.
   • Tag assumptions as [from prompt], [from repo], [from research], or [inferred].
   • Cover:
     • concept summary
     • problem hypothesis
     • target beneficiary or user hypothesis
     • product/category guess
     • value wedge
     • constraints
     • non-goals
     • riskiest unknowns
   • Ask the user to confirm, correct, or flag assumptions before writing.

4. Interview until concept-ready

   • Ask 1 to 3 focused questions per turn.
   • Resolve only concept-level ambiguity:
     • what problem exists
     • who might care
     • what outcome changes for them
     • what makes the idea different enough to investigate
     • what must stay out of scope
     • what constraints are real now
   • When unsure, recommend a practical default and clearly mark it as an assumption.

5. Coverage checkpoint

   • Present the final concept summary, unknowns, and readiness for ICP.
   • Restate the resolved concept identity, slug, and exact output paths before writing.
   • If the conversation pivoted from the initial concept to a different central concept, write the pivoted concept to its own slugged brief and preserve the initial concept as a related or future concept in the brief and interview log. Do not merge both concepts into one generic project-level brief.
   • Ask whether any core premise, constraint, or non-goal is wrong before writing.

Output

Write:

• For one unambiguous project-level concept only: research/concept-brief.md and research/concept-brief-interview.md.
• When a concept identity is known, multiple concepts exist or may exist, or a pivot occurs: research/concept-brief-{slug}.md and research/concept-brief-{slug}-interview.md.
• If $ARGUMENTS names an app that matches research/{app}/, use the same filenames under research/{app}/: research/{app}/concept-brief-{slug}.md and research/{app}/concept-brief-{slug}-interview.md, or unsuffixed app-scoped files only when that app has one unambiguous concept.
• research/.progress.yaml — create or update only when multiple concepts, product paths, product lines, app scopes, or pivots are present. Use product_paths terminology instead of branch terminology.

The concept brief must include:

• ## Summary
• ## Problem Hypothesis
• ## Beneficiary Hypothesis
• ## Product Category Guess
• ## Value Wedge
• ## Constraints
• ## Non-Goals
• ## Assumptions And Unknowns
• ## ICP Readiness
• ## Next Steps

The ## ICP Readiness section must state whether the concept is ready for /icp, what inputs /icp should use, and which assumptions should be tested first.

The ## Next Steps section must recommend exactly one primary command:

• If the concept appears to be a business app or user-facing product and the business discovery lane is not enabled: /pack install business-discovery — this installs the research skills (ICP, competitive analysis, value prop, positioning, lean canvas) needed before any repo bootstrapping or development.
• If business-discovery or the compatibility business-app alias is enabled: /icp
• If the concept already has ICP/market evidence but needs journey, onboarding, conversion, or retention planning: /pack install customer-lifecycle
• If project type is unclear: /pack recommend

Include 1-3 other options only when they are materially useful.

Alignment Page

Follow the shared Alignment Page convention in CLAUDE.md. Output: alignment/concept-exploration-{topic}.html.

Constraints

• Keep the skill short and pre-research.
• Do not write specs, UX variants, UI specs, roadmap phases, or implementation tasks.
• Do not recommend /scaffold unless the user explicitly asks to create a package/app shell before research; normal product flow scaffolds after research, prototype consolidation, spec, roadmap, and phase planning identify the first implementation target. /scaffold requires the monorepo pack (/pack install monorepo).
• Do not update tasks/todo.md.
• New files do not need archive snapshots. Before replacing an existing concept brief, including slugged briefs, archive it to docs/history/archive/YYYY-MM-DD/HHMMSS/<original-relative-path>.

Default Shipping Contract

Follow the shared shipping contract convention in CLAUDE.md.