Agent Skills: Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Transform rough ideas into fully-formed designs through intelligent agent selection and structured exploration.

Core principle: Analyze the topic, select relevant agents dynamically, explore alternatives in parallel, present design incrementally.

Argument Resolution

TOPIC = "$ARGUMENTS"  # Full argument string, e.g., "API design for payments"
# $ARGUMENTS[0] is the first token (CC 2.1.59 indexed access)

STEP -1: MCP Probe + Resume Check

Probe MCP servers once at skill start, store capabilities, and resume from any prior crashed session. Each phase emits a JSON handoff file consumed by the next.

Full procedure + handoff-file table: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/mcp-probe-resume.md")

STEP 0: Project Context Discovery

BEFORE creating tasks or selecting agents, detect the project tier. This becomes the complexity ceiling for all downstream decisions.

Auto-Detection (scan codebase)

# PARALLEL — quick signals (launch all in ONE message)
Grep(pattern="take-home|assignment|interview|hackathon", glob="README*", output_mode="content")
Grep(pattern="take-home|assignment|interview|hackathon", glob="*.md", output_mode="content")
Glob(pattern=".github/workflows/*")
Glob(pattern="**/Dockerfile")
Glob(pattern="**/terraform/**")
Glob(pattern="**/k8s/**")
Glob(pattern="CONTRIBUTING.md")

Tier Classification

| Signal | Tier | |--------|------| | README says "take-home", "assignment", time limit | 1. Interview | | < 10 files, no CI, no Docker | 2. Hackathon | | .github/workflows/, 10-25 deps | 3. MVP | | Module boundaries, Redis, background jobs | 4. Growth | | K8s/Terraform, DDD structure, monorepo | 5. Enterprise | | CONTRIBUTING.md, LICENSE, minimal deps | 6. Open Source |

If confidence is low, ask the user:

AskUserQuestion(questions=[{
  "question": "What kind of project is this?",
  "header": "Project tier",
  "options": [
    {"label": "Interview / take-home", "description": "8-15 files, 200-600 LOC, simple architecture"},
    {"label": "Startup / MVP", "description": "MVC monolith, managed services, ship fast"},
    {"label": "Growth / enterprise", "description": "Modular monolith or DDD, full observability"},
    {"label": "Open source library", "description": "Minimal API surface, exhaustive tests"}
  ],
  "multiSelect": false
}])

Pass the detected tier as context to ALL downstream agents and phases. The tier constrains which patterns are appropriate — see scope-appropriate-architecture skill for the full matrix.

Override: User can always override the detected tier. Warn them of trade-offs if they choose a higher tier than detected.

STEP 0a: Verify User Intent with AskUserQuestion

Clarify brainstorming constraints:

# NOTE: AskUserQuestion caps each question at 4 options (CC schema: minItems 2,
# maxItems 4). Use plain `label` + `description` only — the schema permits a
# `preview` field, but on current CC it forces a side-by-side picker layout with
# dead up/down keyboard nav (confirmed 2026-05-28), so skills no longer use it
# (`markdown` was never valid). The 6 legacy
# modes are split across 3 valid questions: Q1 = exploration flow, Q2 folds the
# old "Constrained design" mode into constraints, Q3 carries the orthogonal
# "Plan first" preamble (it composes with any Q1 mode — it was never mutually
# exclusive). "Quick ideation" + STEP 0c /effort=low overlap; both downscale.
AskUserQuestion(
  questions=[
    {
      "question": "What type of design exploration?",
      "header": "Mode",
      "options": [
        {"label": "Open exploration (Recommended)", "description": "Generate 10+ ideas, evaluate all, synthesize top 3"},
        {"label": "Comparison", "description": "Compare 2-3 specific approaches I have in mind"},
        {"label": "Quick ideation", "description": "Generate ideas fast, skip deep evaluation"},
        {"label": "Iterative optimization", "description": "Try, measure, keep/discard, repeat (autoresearch-style)"}
      ],
      "multiSelect": false
    },
    {
      "question": "Any preferences or constraints?",
      "header": "Constraints",
      "options": [
        {"label": "None", "description": "Explore all possibilities"},
        {"label": "Use existing patterns", "description": "Prefer patterns already in codebase"},
        {"label": "Minimize complexity", "description": "Favor simpler solutions"},
        {"label": "Fixed requirements (constrained)", "description": "Hard requirements to work within — skip divergent phase, focus on feasibility (old 'Constrained design' mode)"}
      ],
      "multiSelect": false
    },
    {
      "question": "Research before ideating?",
      "header": "Plan-first",
      "options": [
        {"label": "No — dive straight in (Recommended)", "description": "Go directly to ideation"},
        {"label": "Yes — plan first", "description": "Read-only research (EnterPlanMode): scan codebase, map the solution space, then ExitPlanMode for approval before Phase 1 (old 'Plan first' mode)"}
      ],
      "multiSelect": false
    }
  ]
)

If Q3 = 'Yes — plan first' (composes with any Q1 mode):

# 1. Enter read-only plan mode
EnterPlanMode("Brainstorm exploration: $TOPIC")

# 2. Research phase — Read/Grep/Glob ONLY, no Write/Edit
#    - Scan existing codebase for related patterns
#    - Search for prior decisions on this topic (memory graph)
#    - Identify constraints, dependencies, and trade-offs

# 3. Produce structured exploration plan:
#    - Key questions to answer
#    - Dimensions to explore
#    - Agents to spawn and their focus areas
#    - Evaluation criteria

# 4. Exit plan mode — returns plan for user approval
ExitPlanMode()

# 5. User reviews. If approved → continue to Phase 1 with plan as input.

Based on answers, adjust workflow:

• Open exploration (Q1): Full 7-phase process with all agents
• Comparison (Q1): Skip ideation, jump to evaluation phase
• Quick ideation (Q1): Generate ideas, skip deep evaluation
• Iterative optimization (Q1): Skip phases 2-6, enter autoresearch-style loop (see below)
• Constrained design (Q2 = "Fixed requirements"): Skip divergent phase, focus on feasibility within the stated requirements — composes with any Q1 mode

If 'Iterative optimization' selected: skip Phases 2-6 and enter the autoresearch-style metric-driven loop.

Full sub-flow (metric question, baseline, loop body): Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/iterative-optimization-mode.md")

STEP 0b: Select Orchestration Mode (skip for Tier 1-2)

Choose Agent Teams (mesh — agents debate and challenge ideas) or Task tool (star — all report to lead):

1. Agent Teams mode (GA since CC 2.1.33) → recommended for 3+ agents (real-time debate produces better ideas)
2. Task tool mode → for quick ideation
3. ORCHESTKIT_FORCE_TASK_TOOL=1 → Task tool (override)

| Aspect | Task Tool | Agent Teams | |--------|-----------|-------------| | Idea generation | Each agent generates independently | Agents riff on each other's ideas | | Devil's advocate | Lead challenges after all complete | Agents challenge each other in real-time | | Cost | ~150K tokens | ~400K tokens | | Best for | Quick ideation, constrained design | Open exploration, deep evaluation |

Fallback: If Agent Teams encounters issues, fall back to Task tool for remaining phases.

STEP 0c: Effort-Aware Phase Scaling (CC 2.1.76; xhigh added in 2.1.111)

Read the /effort setting and scale brainstorm depth — low runs phases 0/2/5 only, high (default) runs all 7, xhigh adds extra devil's-advocate and synthesis rounds. Explicit user choice in STEP 0a always overrides downscaling.

Full level table + detection rules: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/effort-scaling.md")

🚨 CRITICAL: Task Management is MANDATORY (CC 2.1.16)

# 1. Create main task IMMEDIATELY
TaskCreate(
  subject="Brainstorm: {topic}",
  description="Design exploration with parallel agent research",
  activeForm="Brainstorming {topic}"
)

# 2. Create subtasks for each phase
TaskCreate(subject="Analyze topic and select agents", activeForm="Analyzing topic")          # id=2
TaskCreate(subject="Search memory for past decisions", activeForm="Searching knowledge graph") # id=3
TaskCreate(subject="Generate divergent ideas (10+)", activeForm="Generating ideas")          # id=4
TaskCreate(subject="Feasibility fast-check", activeForm="Checking feasibility")              # id=5
TaskCreate(subject="Evaluate with devil's advocate", activeForm="Evaluating ideas")          # id=6
TaskCreate(subject="Synthesize top approaches", activeForm="Synthesizing approaches")        # id=7
TaskCreate(subject="Present design options", activeForm="Presenting options")                # id=8

# 3. Set dependencies (sequential chain: 2→3→4→5→6→7→8)
for i in range(3, 9):
    TaskUpdate(taskId=str(i), addBlockedBy=[str(i-1)])

# 4. Before starting each task, verify it's unblocked
task = TaskGet(taskId="2")  # Verify blockedBy is empty
# 5. Update status as you progress
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="in_progress")  # When starting
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="completed")    # When done — repeat for each subtask

🔄 The Seven-Phase Process

| Phase | Activities | Output | |-------|------------|--------| | 0. Topic Analysis | Classify keywords, select 3-5 agents | Agent list | | 1. Memory + Context | Search graph, check codebase, read experiment journal | Prior patterns | | 2. Divergent Exploration | Generate 10+ ideas WITHOUT filtering | Idea pool | | 3. Keep/Discard Gate | Binary viability: keep, discard, or crash (10s per idea) | Survivors only | | 4. Evaluation & Rating | Rate 0-10 (7 dimensions incl. simplicity), devil's advocate | Ranked ideas | | 5. Synthesis | Filter to top 2-3, trade-off table, test strategy per approach | Options | | 6. Design Presentation | Present in 200-300 word sections, log to experiment journal | Validated design | | 6.5. Audio Podcast (signal-fired, optional) | Auto-emit brainstorm-podcast.m4a when composite≥8.0 + approaches≥4 | .m4a file |

Phase 6.5 — Post-synthesis audio podcast (signal-fired, optional)

After Phase 6 lands, optionally invoke scripts/post_synth_podcast.py <session-dir> to auto-emit an audio podcast summarizing the top approaches + trade-offs. Self-skips on every non-happy-path so it never breaks the brainstorm:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/post_synth_podcast.py "$CLAUDE_JOB_DIR"

Auto-skip conditions (all exit 0, all WARN-logged):

| Skip reason | Trigger | |-------------|---------| | signal absent | composite[recommended] < 8.0 OR len(approaches) < 4 | | design-doc.md not found | Phase 6 didn't write a design doc to the session dir | | yg-mcp-core not importable | yg-mcp-core>=0.3.0 not installed (orchestkit is public; yg-mcp-core lives on private pypi.yonyon.ai — HQ-only) | | hq-content MCP unreachable | MCP server down OR .mcp.json doesn't define hq-content |

Session dir must contain brainstorm-output.json (with recommended, composite, approaches) + design-doc.md. Handoff JSON at <session-dir>/brainstorm-podcast.json records status (fired / skipped) and m4a_path on success.

Mirrors Yonatan-HQ/hq-ext-plugin#194 (audio_podcast handler for /hq-ext:decide).

Progressive Output (CC 2.1.76)

Output results incrementally after each phase — don't batch everything until the end:

| After Phase | Show User | |-------------|-----------| | 0. Topic Analysis | Selected agents, tier classification | | 1. Memory + Context | Prior decisions, relevant patterns, experiment journal summary | | 2. Divergent Exploration | Each agent's ideas as they return (don't wait for all) | | 3. Keep/Discard Gate | Survivors and discard reasons (keep/discard/crash per idea) | | 4. Evaluation | Top-rated ideas with 7-dimension scores |

For Phase 2 parallel agents, output each agent's ideas as soon as it returns — don't wait for all agents. This lets users see early ideas and redirect the exploration if needed. Showing ideas incrementally also helps users build a mental model of the solution space faster than a final dump.

Load the phase workflow for detailed instructions:

Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/phase-workflow.md")

⚠️ When NOT to Use

Skip brainstorming when:

• Requirements are crystal clear and specific
• Only one obvious approach exists
• User has already designed the solution
• Time-sensitive bug fix or urgent issue

Quick Reference: Agent Selection

| Topic Example | Agents to Spawn | |---------------|-----------------| | "brainstorm API for users" | workflow-architect, backend-system-architect, security-auditor, test-generator | | "brainstorm dashboard UI" | workflow-architect, frontend-ui-developer, test-generator | | "brainstorm RAG pipeline" | workflow-architect, llm-integrator, data-pipeline-engineer, test-generator | | "brainstorm caching strategy" | workflow-architect, backend-system-architect, frontend-performance-engineer, test-generator | | "brainstorm design system" | workflow-architect, frontend-ui-developer, design-context-extractor, component-curator, test-generator | | "brainstorm event sourcing" | workflow-architect, event-driven-architect, backend-system-architect, test-generator | | "brainstorm pricing strategy" | workflow-architect, product-strategist, web-research-analyst, test-generator | | "brainstorm deploy pipeline" | workflow-architect, infrastructure-architect, ci-cd-engineer, test-generator |

Always include: workflow-architect for system design perspective, test-generator for testability assessment.

Agent Teams Alternative: Brainstorming Team

In Agent Teams mode, form a brainstorming team where agents debate ideas in real-time. Dynamically select teammates based on topic analysis (Phase 0):

# CC 2.1.178+: one implicit team per session — no TeamCreate.
# Spawn teammates directly via Agent(name=...). Requires
# CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 (set in ork.settings.json).

# Always include the system design lead
Agent(subagent_type="ork:workflow-architect", name="system-designer",
     team_name="brainstorm-{topic-slug}",
     prompt="""You are the system design lead for brainstorming: {topic}
     DIVERGENT MODE: Generate 3-4 architectural approaches.
     When other teammates share ideas, build on them or propose alternatives.
     Challenge ideas that seem over-engineered — advocate for simplicity.
     After divergent phase, help synthesize the top approaches.""")

# Domain-specific teammates (select 2-3 based on topic keywords)
Agent(subagent_type="ork:backend-system-architect", name="backend-thinker",
     team_name="brainstorm-{topic-slug}",
     prompt="""Brainstorm backend approaches for: {topic}
     DIVERGENT MODE: Generate 3-4 backend-specific ideas.
     When system-designer shares architectural ideas, propose concrete API designs.
     Challenge ideas from other teammates with implementation reality checks.
     Play devil's advocate on complexity vs simplicity trade-offs.""")

Agent(subagent_type="ork:frontend-ui-developer", name="frontend-thinker",
     team_name="brainstorm-{topic-slug}",
     prompt="""Brainstorm frontend approaches for: {topic}
     DIVERGENT MODE: Generate 3-4 UI/UX ideas.
     When backend-thinker proposes APIs, suggest frontend patterns that match.
     Challenge backend proposals that create poor user experiences.
     Advocate for progressive disclosure and accessibility.""")

# Always include: testability assessor
Agent(subagent_type="ork:test-generator", name="testability-assessor",
     team_name="brainstorm-{topic-slug}",
     prompt="""Assess testability for each brainstormed approach: {topic}
     For every idea shared by teammates, evaluate:
     - Can core logic be unit tested without external services?
     - What's the mock/stub surface area?
     - Can it be integration-tested with docker-compose/testcontainers?
     Score testability 0-10 per the evaluation rubric.
     Challenge designs that score below 5 on testability.
     Propose test strategies for the top approaches in synthesis phase.""")

# Optional: Add security-auditor, llm-integrator based on topic

Key advantage: Agents riff on each other's ideas and play devil's advocate in real-time, rather than generating ideas in isolation.

Fork pattern (CC 2.1.89 — #1227): All brainstorm agents are fork-eligible: prompts are <500 words, no custom model, no worktree. CC shares the parent's cached API prefix across forks, reducing cost by ~60%. Do NOT add model= to agent calls. See chain-patterns/references/fork-pattern.md.

Nested delegation (CC 2.1.172+): Teammates MAY be instructed to delegate a bounded sub-question to their declared sub-agents (e.g. backend-thinker → database-engineer to sanity-check a schema idea) instead of guessing inline. Keep chains ≤ 3 levels deep; divergent ideation itself stays flat — the parallel teammates above ARE the fan-out for independent ideas. See chain-patterns Pattern 9 (CC 2.1.172+).

Team teardown after synthesis:

# After Phase 5 synthesis and design presentation
# CC 2.1.178+: no TeamDelete — teammates wind down at turn end
# (press Ctrl+F twice to stop lingering background teammates).

# Worktree cleanup (CC 2.1.72) — for Tier 3+ projects that entered a worktree
# If EnterWorktree was called during brainstorm (e.g., Plan first → worktree), exit it
ExitWorktree(action="keep")  # Keep branch for follow-up /ork:implement

Fallback: If team formation fails, load Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/phase-workflow.md") and use standard Phase 2 Task spawns.

Partial results (CC 2.1.76): Background agents that are killed (timeout, context limit) return responses tagged with [PARTIAL RESULT]. When collecting Phase 2 divergent ideas, check each agent's output for this tag. If present, include the partial ideas but note them as incomplete in Phase 3 feasibility. Prefer synthesizing partial results over re-spawning agents.

PostCompact recovery: Long brainstorm sessions may trigger context compaction. The PostCompact hook re-injects branch and task state. If compaction occurs mid-brainstorm, check .claude/chain/state.json for the last completed phase and resume from the next handoff file (see Phase Handoffs table). Reactive compaction (CC 2.1.142+) now sizes the first summarize to the actual overflow, so mid-turn stalls are rare — no need to expect a second pass.

When context fills (CC 2.1.141+): Instead of ending the session, use the rewind menu's "Summarize up to here" to compress earlier turns while keeping recent context intact — a deliberate compaction point that pairs with the improved reactive compaction above.

Session recap (CC 2.1.108+): After idle periods, use /recap to restore conversational context alongside checkpoint-resume. Enabled by default since CC 2.1.110 (even with telemetry disabled).

Push notifications (CC 2.1.110+): For long brainstorm sessions, use PushNotification to alert when synthesis is complete (requires Remote Control with "Push when Claude decides").

Lighter alternative (CC 2.1.141+): Hooks can emit desktop notifications, window titles, and bells natively via the terminalSequence field in hook JSON output — no Remote Control required, no Anthropic round-trip. See #1847 for the migration of ork's existing notification hooks.

Manual cleanup: To stop lingering background teammates, press Ctrl+F twice (foreground/Stop). Note: /clear (CC 2.1.72+) preserves background agents — only foreground tasks are cleared.

Teammate background tasks survive turn-end (CC 2.1.183): A background task started by a teammate is no longer killed when that teammate finishes its turn. Phase-2 teammates may safely kick off a long run_in_background task (e.g. a feasibility build) and let it outlive their own turn — the result is still collectable at synthesis. Pre-2.1.183 this required the lead to own the background task.

Key Principles

| Principle | Application | |-----------|-------------| | Dynamic agent selection | Select agents based on topic keywords | | Parallel research | Launch 3-5 agents in ONE message | | Memory-first | Check graph for past decisions before research | | Divergent-first | Generate 10+ ideas BEFORE filtering | | Task tracking | Use TaskCreate/TaskUpdate for progress visibility | | YAGNI ruthlessly | Remove unnecessary complexity |

Running unattended with /goal

Set a completion condition with /goal (CC 2.1.139+, 2.1.143+ recommended for this skill) and this skill will keep working across turns until the condition is met. Works in interactive, -p, and Remote Control. The overlay panel shows live elapsed / turns / tokens.

Why 2.1.143+: Pre-2.1.143 /goal evaluator could fire while background shells or delegated subagents were still running — racing the parallel agents this skill spawns in Phase 2. Fixed in CC 2.1.143 (changelog: "/goal evaluator firing while background shells or delegated subagents are still running").

Example completion condition for this skill:

/goal until design.options_count >= 2 AND user_chose_option

Stops when: 2+ ranked design options presented and the user selects one (or after Phase 6 if running unattended via -p). Compatible with claude.ai Remote Control runs.

📜 Related Skills

• ork:architecture-decision-record - Document key decisions made during brainstorming
• ork:implement - Execute the implementation plan after brainstorming completes
• ork:explore - Deep codebase exploration to understand existing patterns
• ork:assess - Rate quality 0-10 with dimension breakdown
• ork:design-to-code - Convert brainstormed UI designs into components
• ork:component-search - Find existing components before building new ones
• ork:competitive-analysis - Porter's Five Forces, SWOT for product brainstorms

Picker fallback (#1795)

The picker stall reported in orchestkit#1795 was a schema break, not a CC input bug: questions with >4 options or a markdown field (the markdown key is not valid — the schema field is preview) fail AskUserQuestion validation, so the picker never renders. All skill questions conform to the schema (2–4 options, no preview on multiSelect), enforced by tests/skills/structure/test-askuserquestion-schema.sh. Separately, although the schema permits a preview field, current CC renders any question that uses one in a side-by-side picker layout where ↑/↓ keyboard navigation is dead (confirmed 2026-05-28). So skills now standardize on plain label + description only and no longer set preview. If you still hit a stall on a future CC build, ORK_ASK_FALLBACK=text remains as a defensive opt-in: the lifecycle/ask-fallback-injector hook then tells the assistant to pose options inline as a numbered list. Hook propagates globally — no per-skill edit needed.

References

Load on demand with Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/<file>"):

| File | Content | |------|---------| | phase-workflow.md | Detailed 7-phase instructions | | divergent-techniques.md | SCAMPER, Mind Mapping, etc. | | evaluation-rubric.md | 0-10 scoring criteria | | devils-advocate-prompts.md | Challenge templates | | socratic-questions.md | Requirements discovery | | common-pitfalls.md | Mistakes to avoid | | example-session-dashboard.md | Complete example | | mcp-probe-resume.md | STEP -1 probe + resume + handoff-file table | | iterative-optimization-mode.md | Autoresearch-style metric loop sub-flow | | effort-scaling.md | /effort levels and phase scaling rules |