Brainstorming

Brainstorming

Create and manage brainstorming documents linked to GitHub issues. Brainstorming docs are ephemeral - they become formal specs when ready for implementation, then can be discarded.

Guiding Documents

Unlike brainstorming, guiding docs are permanent reference material that shape all project decisions:

Always read guiding_docs/vision.md first before starting any brainstorm. New features should align with the vision's:

• Target user (solo founders, senior ICs with 2+ AI subscriptions)
• Product principles (spec-first, fire-and-forget, isolation, git-native)
• Non-goals (not another coding agent - orchestration layer only)

When brainstorming produces lasting insights, promote them to guiding docs rather than keeping them in brainstorming/.

Overview

GitHub Issue #12 ←→ brainstorming/issue-012-npm-package/
                         ├── notes.md      (brainstorm doc from .templates/brainstorm.notes.md)
                         ├── tasks.md      (optional, from .templates/brainstorm.tasks.md)
                         └── research.md   (optional extras)

Quick Start

Create New Brainstorm from Issue

# 1. Get issue details
ISSUE_NUM=12
REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*github.com[:/]\(.*\)\.git/\1/')
ISSUE=$(curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO/issues/$ISSUE_NUM")
TITLE=$(echo "$ISSUE" | jq -r '.title' | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9]/-/g' | sed 's/--*/-/g')

# 2. Create from template
FOLDER="brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $ISSUE_NUM)-${TITLE:0:30}"
mkdir -p "$FOLDER"
cp .templates/brainstorm.notes.md "$FOLDER/notes.md"

# 3. Fill in placeholders
sed -i "s/{{ISSUE_NUMBER}}/$ISSUE_NUM/g" "$FOLDER/notes.md"
sed -i "s/{{TITLE}}/$(echo "$ISSUE" | jq -r '.title')/g" "$FOLDER/notes.md"
sed -i "s/{{DATE}}/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)/g" "$FOLDER/notes.md"

echo "Created: $FOLDER/notes.md"

One-Liner

ISSUE_NUM=12 && mkdir -p "brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $ISSUE_NUM)" && cp .templates/brainstorm.notes.md "brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $ISSUE_NUM)/notes.md" && sed -i "s/{{ISSUE_NUMBER}}/$ISSUE_NUM/g; s/{{DATE}}/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)/g" "brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $ISSUE_NUM)/notes.md"

Add Tasks (Optional)

When you need to break down implementation:

ISSUE_NUM=12
FOLDER=$(ls -d brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $ISSUE_NUM)-* 2>/dev/null | head -1)
cp .templates/brainstorm.tasks.md "$FOLDER/tasks.md"
sed -i "s/{{ISSUE_NUMBER}}/$ISSUE_NUM/g; s/{{DATE}}/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)/g" "$FOLDER/tasks.md"
echo "Created: $FOLDER/tasks.md"

Commands

List All Brainstorms

ls -la brainstorming/

Find Brainstorm for Issue

# By issue number
ls brainstorming/ | grep "issue-012"

# Or search content
grep -r "#12" brainstorming/ --include="*.md"

Check Brainstorm Status

# Find all brainstorms and their status
grep -h "^\\*\\*Status\\*\\*:" brainstorming/*/notes.md 2>/dev/null

List Issues with Brainstorms

# Show which issues have brainstorming docs
for dir in brainstorming/issue-*/; do
  num=$(echo "$dir" | grep -oE '[0-9]+' | head -1)
  title=$(head -1 "$dir/notes.md" | sed 's/# //')
  echo "#$num: $title"
done

Folder Naming Convention

brainstorming/
├── issue-004-headless-operation/      # Linked to #4
├── issue-012-npm-package/             # Linked to #12
├── issue-023-mcp-server/              # Linked to #23
└── npm-package/                       # Legacy (no issue link)

Format: issue-{NNN}-{slug}/

• NNN: Zero-padded issue number (for sorting)
• slug: Lowercase, hyphenated title excerpt

Template Placeholders

Workflow

1. Issue Created (#12)
        ↓
2. Brainstorm Created (brainstorming/issue-012-*)
        ↓
3. Ideas Explored, Decisions Made
        ↓
4. Status → "Ready for Spec"
        ↓
5. /speckit.specify (creates specs/018-*)
        ↓
6. Brainstorm Status → "Archived"

Integration with GitHub Issues Skill

After fetching issues, check for existing brainstorms:

# Fetch open issues
curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO/issues?state=open&per_page=20" | \
  jq -r '.[] | "#\(.number) \(.title)"' | \
  while read line; do
    num=$(echo "$line" | grep -oE '^#[0-9]+' | tr -d '#')
    if ls brainstorming/issue-$(printf '%03d' $num)-* 2>/dev/null | grep -q .; then
      echo "$line 📝"
    else
      echo "$line"
    fi
  done

Output:

#29 Add Mistral code
#12 Create NPM package for quick global install 📝
#11 Build cloud integration

Best Practices

1. One brainstorm per issue - Keep them linked
2. Update status - Draft → In Progress → Ready for Spec → Archived
3. Link to issue - Always include the issue link in frontmatter
4. Archive don't delete - Mark as archived when spec is created

Templates

Customize them for your project's needs.

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