Idea — fast capture of a single idea
Part of the Personal Corp framework — running a one-person business through AI agents.
One pipeline: your voice → a provenance-tracked folder in your ideas repo → (optional) an issue mirror on a GitHub Project view. The folder is the source of truth; everything else is a pointer to it.
This skill is self-contained — it inlines the folder structure, status enum, and provenance formats below. You don't need any external canon file.
What this skill is NOT for
- Mining ideas out of a transcript / meeting / thread — that's bulk extraction from a source. Use a separate extraction skill for that. This skill captures ONE idea the user is voicing right now.
- A dated work task with a deadline — use an issue tracker / the
managerskill. Ideas have no deadline; they're seeds.
Setup
Before first use, define this in your project's CLAUDE.md:
## Idea Config
### Ideas repo path
Where idea folders live (one folder per idea):
- ideas_repo: ~/Projects/ideas
### Default author
Name written into `first_voiced_by` when the user doesn't say otherwise:
- default_author: Me
### GitHub mirror (optional)
Mirror each idea as an issue (added to a Project view filtered by `label:idea`):
- mirror_enabled: false
- owner: your-github-handle # only if mirror_enabled: true
- ideas_repo_name: ideas # GitHub repo name for the issue, only if mirror_enabled: true
- project_number: <your Project number> # only if mirror_enabled: true
(if mirror_enabled is false, the skill only writes to the ideas repo — no issue, no Project)
No separate init skill needed — this section is the setup. If mirror_enabled is false, the GitHub Project step is skipped entirely; the idea still lives as a folder.
One question — max
Ask at most one short question, and only if the idea's essence can't be extracted from the wording (what is it / for whom). Do NOT ask about mechanics, pricing, risks, or tech stack — capture the raw material as-is and write the gaps into next-steps.md as open questions. The question "how should I record it — issue / file / both?" is forbidden: the form is fixed by this skill. Never block on form.
Status enum (in idea.md frontmatter)
seedling— just voiced, not yet worked onexploring— first research gathered,market.mdfilledbuilding— landing / pilot / prototype in progresslive— a public artifact existsparked— set aside, reason innext-steps.mddropped— closed, reason innext-steps.md
A freshly captured idea is always seedling.
Provenance formats (rows in sources.md)
Every idea needs at least one source. Each sighting is one row. Genericize the source kind — no real internal paths:
| Source kind | Format in sources.md |
|---|---|
| Meeting note | meeting note — {who/where}, {date} |
| CRM card | CRM card — {contact}, {date} |
| DM | DM — {channel}, {date} |
| Voice draft (solo) | voice draft, {date} |
| Reading / web | {url}, {date} |
| Direct capture | direct /idea invocation, session, {date} |
Steps
-
date— resolve the real date. Between 00:00–04:00, "today" means the previous calendar day. -
Dedup against the index. Read
INDEX.mdat the root of your ideas repo. Match is semantic, not string ("a board of advisors run on agents" ≈advisory-agent-grounded-data). If unsure, open the candidate'sidea.mdto compare.- Match found → this is a repeat sighting, not a new idea:
- append a row to the existing folder's
sources.md, - in
idea.mdbumplast_touchand incrementsources_count(do NOT touchfirst_voiced), - if mirror is enabled, add a one-line comment to the issue mirror ("voiced again: {date}, {context}"),
- regenerate
INDEX.md, commit, report. STOP. Do not create a new folder.
- append a row to the existing folder's
- Match found → this is a repeat sighting, not a new idea:
-
New idea → create the folder
ideas/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}/with the template files below.- Slug: kebab-case, 3–5 words, by meaning not by form (
live-sales-coach-b2b, notb2b-product-1). The date prefix is the date of first capture — it never changes on later sightings. - In
idea.md:title,status: seedling,first_voiced_by: {default_author from config unless user said otherwise}, an "Essence" of 1–2 sentences, and the raw verbatim wording preserved exactly as voiced. Interpretation, if any, goes in a separate section — never overwrite the raw wording. - In
sources.md: one row for this sighting (see provenance formats). market.mdis optional (leave the stub; fill only when researched).next-steps.mdholds open questions and the "what next?" — this is where pricing/mechanics/stack gaps land.
- Slug: kebab-case, 3–5 words, by meaning not by form (
-
Regenerate
INDEX.md(format below). It's auto-generated — don't hand-edit individual rows; rewrite the whole file from the folders. -
GitHub Project mirror — OPTIONAL (only if
mirror_enabled: truein config). The folder is the source of truth; the issue is just a pointer for board view. See "Project mirror" below. -
Commit + push to the ideas repo:
feat: idea {slug}(invoking this skill is consent to record; the ideas repo is private). -
Report — one line per item: folder path, issue
#N(if mirrored), and the Project view link (if mirrored).
Template files
Create these four files in ideas/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}/. Keep them minimal — the folder is a seed, not a spec.
idea.md
---
title: {short human title}
status: seedling
first_voiced_by: {default_author}
first_voiced: {YYYY-MM-DD}
last_touch: {YYYY-MM-DD}
sources_count: 1
---
# {title}
## Essence
{1–2 sentences — what it is and for whom.}
## Raw wording
> {the idea exactly as voiced — verbatim, do not paraphrase}
## Interpretation (optional)
{any reading/expansion goes here — never inside Raw wording}
sources.md
# Sources
| Date | Who | Context | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| {YYYY-MM-DD} | {default_author} | first voiced | direct /idea invocation, session, {YYYY-MM-DD} |
market.md (optional stub)
# Market
_Not researched yet. Fill when status moves to `exploring`: analogues, demand signals, where it could fit._
next-steps.md
# Next steps
## Open questions
- {gaps you didn't ask about — mechanics, pricing, audience, stack}
## What next
- {landing? brainstorm? park? close? — leave blank if undecided}
INDEX.md regeneration
INDEX.md is auto-generated — never hand-edit. Rewrite it whole from the current folders. Structure:
# Ideas index
Updated: {YYYY-MM-DD}
## Active ideas
| Slug | Status | First voiced | Sources count | Last touch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| live-sales-coach-b2b | seedling | 2026-05-01 | 1 | 2026-05-01 |
## Parked / dropped
| Slug | Status | First voiced | Last touch |
|---|---|---|---|
## By status
- seedling: N
- exploring: N
- building: N
- live: N
- parked: N
- dropped: N
Project mirror (optional — only if mirror_enabled: true)
Each idea folder gets one issue mirror in the ideas repo, added to a GitHub Project view filtered by label:idea. The folder is the source of truth; the issue is a pointer for quick board scanning. Don't copy folder contents into the issue body.
Mirror format:
- title:
idea: {title} - label:
idea(the only label — don't invent others) - body: link to
ideas/{folder}/idea.md+ one "Essence" paragraph + status + one provenance line. Nothing more.
Commands (after creating a new idea folder):
url=$(gh issue create -R {owner}/{ideas_repo_name} \
--title "idea: {title}" \
--body "{body — link + essence + status + provenance}" \
--label idea)
# Add to the Project board (number from config), so it appears in the label:idea view
gh project item-add {project_number} --owner {owner} --url "$url"
On rename → update the issue title. On dropped → close the issue with a comment stating the reason. On a repeat sighting (step 2) → just add a one-line comment, no new issue.
If mirror_enabled is false, skip this whole section — the idea still lives correctly as a folder.
Failure without the skill → rule
| Failure | Rule |
|---|---|
| Only an issue created, no folder | The folder owns the truth (provenance, sources); the issue is a pointer |
| Fat issue body with full architecture | Body = link + essence + status + provenance, never a copy of the folder |
| INDEX.md not read → duplicate of an existing idea | Dedup is mandatory; a repeat = a new source row, not a new folder |
| Issue not added to the Project (when mirror enabled) | Without item-add the label:idea view won't show it |
| Invented labels (monetization, etc.) | Only idea |
| Blocking question "issue / file / both?" | Form is fixed; max one question — and only about the essence |
| Raw idea rewritten into "architecture" | seedling = raw material verbatim; interpretation is a separate section |
Red flags — stop
- About to create an issue without a folder → step 3 was skipped.
- Writing a body longer than ~10 lines → you're copying, not linking.
- Asked the user a second question → just capture it as-is.
- Finished without
item-add(when mirror enabled) or without commit → steps 5–6 not done.
Cross-references
- Mining ideas out of a transcript / meeting / thread — a separate extraction skill (bulk source → many ideas). This skill is single-idea capture only.
- A dated work task with a deadline — the
managerskill / your issue tracker, not an idea folder.