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name: brainstorming description: Turn ideas into fully formed designs through collaborative dialogue, memory context, and targeted research. metadata: source: https://skills.sh/obra/superpowers/brainstorming

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.

Start by understanding the current project context, then ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're building, present the design in small sections (200-300 words), checking after each section whether it looks right so far.

Skills

Load the following skills:

• memory
• spawn-subagent
• design-to-proposal

The Process

Understanding the idea:

• Read memory context first, then check current project state (files, docs, recent commits)
• Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
• Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too
• Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions
• Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria
• If external documentation about a library, tool, framework, API, or any other technical topic could be relevant, spawn the Research subagent to research the topic and present the findings. Do not research the topic yourself.

Exploring approaches:

• Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
• Present options conversationally with your recommendation and reasoning
• Lead with your recommended option and explain why
• If codebase context (existing patterns, dependencies, structure) is needed, spawn the Explore subagent to gather it.

Presenting the design:

• Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
• Break it into sections of 200-300 words
• Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
• Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense

Key Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
• Multiple choice preferred - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
• YAGNI ruthlessly - Remove unnecessary features from all designs
• Explore alternatives - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
• Incremental validation - Present design in sections, validate each
• Be flexible - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense

Subagent Spawning

• Subagents spawn in a fresh context; include all necessary background and constraints.
• Spawn Research when external documentation would improve accuracy or completeness.
• Spawn Explore when codebase context (existing patterns, dependencies, structure) is required.

Research subagent prompt template:

• Query: [Specific question to answer]
• Context: [Project details, current idea, why research is needed]
• Constraints: [Scope, do not modify code, cite sources if available]

Explore subagent prompt template:

• What to find: [Files, patterns, APIs, conventions]
• Scope: [Directories or areas to search]
• Constraints: [No changes, summarize findings]

Output

• Write the final design to .claptrap/designs/<feature-slug>/design.md.
• Create <feature-slug> from the design title using kebab-case.
• Use .claptrap/designs/TEMPLATE.md as the starting point and populate all relevant sections.

After the design is finalized prompt: "Would you like to create an OpenSpec proposal from this design?" - If the user opts in, invoke the design-to-proposal skill. - If the user opts out, STOP and remind them they can run /propose <design-path> later.

Workflow Steps

1. Read memory for relevant past designs/decisions/patterns.
2. Ask clarifying questions one at a time; spawn Research if external docs could help.
3. Explore approaches; spawn Explore if codebase context is needed.
4. Draft and validate the design in sections with user feedback.
5. Write final design to .claptrap/designs/<feature-slug>/design.md.
6. Optionally create an OpenSpec proposal from the design (see Output).
7. Use the memory skill to determine if memories should be captured.