# Kylesnowschwartz Ralph Ban Ralph Ban > Board Brainstorming - Skill: `tomevault-io/kylesnowschwartz-ralph-ban-ralph-ban` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/kylesnowschwartz-ralph-ban-ralph-ban` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/kylesnowschwartz-ralph-ban-ralph-ban/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/kylesnowschwartz-ralph-ban-ralph-ban --- # Board Brainstorming Explore a fuzzy idea and produce a design doc that feeds into `/rb-planning`. ## Phase 1: Context Gathering Before asking questions, build context silently: 1. Read board state: `bl ready` and `bl list --status backlog` (never full `bl list` which dumps the large done column). Note existing cards to avoid duplicating work. 2. Read CLAUDE.md for project architecture and conventions. 3. Scan `.agent-history/` directory listing for prior designs and investigations. 4. If `$ARGUMENTS` is empty, use `AskUserQuestion` to ask: "What are you thinking about building or solving?" ## Phase 2: Structured Q&A Ask questions one at a time using `AskUserQuestion`. Multiple choice preferred over open-ended when possible. Cover these areas, adapting to what's relevant: 1. **Goal** (always ask): "What's the goal? (1 sentence describing the outcome, not the mechanism)" - Examples: "Make webhook ingestion reliable", "Add card tagging to the TUI" 2. **Non-goals** (always ask): "What's explicitly out of scope?" - Examples: "Not changing the database schema", "Not building a web UI" 3. **Constraints** (ask if applicable): "Any constraints? (Performance budgets, compatibility requirements, forbidden approaches)" 4. **Key uncertainty** (ask if applicable): "What's the biggest unknown or risk?" 5. **Prior art** (ask if applicable): "Are there existing patterns in the codebase or reference projects to follow?" Stop when enough context exists to differentiate approaches (typically 3-5 questions). Skip questions the user already answered in `$ARGUMENTS`. ## Phase 3: Approach Proposal Propose 2-3 approaches: - Lead with the recommended approach and explain why - Keep each approach to 3-5 sentences - Include concrete tradeoffs (not vague "more flexible" / "simpler") - Ask user to select via `AskUserQuestion` with lettered options (a/b/c) ## Phase 4: Design Doc Review Before saving, present the draft design doc to the user section by section: - Show each section (Problem, Non-Goals, Approach, Architecture, Decisions, Open Questions) - Ask after each: "Does this capture it correctly?" - Revise based on feedback before moving on This review loop catches misunderstandings before they propagate to planning and execution. ## Phase 5: Design Doc Output 1. Run `mkdir -p .agent-history/` (never assume it exists) 2. Write the design doc to `.agent-history/YYYY-MM-DD--design.md` 3. Use the template from `references/design-doc-template.md` 4. Present the doc path to the user ## Phase 6: Handoff Ask: "Design doc saved to ``. Want to create board cards now with `/rb-planning`, or stop here to review first?" If the user wants to continue, invoke the Skill tool: `skill: "rb-planning", args: ""` Stopping is a valid end state. The design doc sits in `.agent-history/` for future reference. ## Principles - **Board-aware**: Check existing cards to avoid duplicating work already on the board. - **One question at a time**: Never ask multiple questions in a single message. - **Multiple choice preferred**: Easier to answer than open-ended when options are knowable. - **The skill is not a mode**: It's a one-shot interactive workflow. No hooks, no flag files. --- > Source: [kylesnowschwartz/ralph-ban](https://github.com/kylesnowschwartz/ralph-ban) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).