Transform ideas into validated designs through structured dialogue before any implementation.

What This Skill Does

Challenge: Teams jump into implementation without exploring alternatives, validating assumptions, or documenting decisions. This leads to technical debt and misaligned solutions.

Solution: The Brainstorming skill enforces structured ideation sessions with YAGNI/KISS/DRY principles, approach comparisons, and decision documentation. DO NOT implement until explicit user confirmation.

Activation

Implicit: Activates when user signals brainstorming mode (“let’s explore”, “what are our options”, “brainstorm with me”).

Explicit: Activate by name when needed: “Activate brainstorming skill” or use /brainstorm command

Capabilities

1. Structured Discovery

Sequential questions to understand real requirements vs stated requests.

Discovery Includes:

  • Purpose and success criteria
  • Constraints (technical, time, resources)
  • Hidden assumptions and edge cases
  • Non-functional requirements (scale, security, performance)

2. Approach Comparison

Present 2-3 viable solutions with tradeoffs, pros/cons, and complexity assessment.

Example Comparison:

## Approach A: Serverless with Cloudflare Workers
**Pros**: Global edge deployment, auto-scaling, $0 at low volume
**Cons**: 50ms CPU limit, vendor lock-in, debugging complexity
**Complexity**: Low (2-3 days)

## Approach B: Traditional Node.js with Docker
**Pros**: Full control, easy debugging, portable
**Cons**: Requires server management, fixed costs
**Complexity**: Medium (4-5 days)

**Recommendation**: Approach A for MVP (test market fit), migrate to B if usage scales.

3. Validation Gates

Break design into segments, await user approval before continuing. Prevents overly long conversations.

Segment Topics:

  • Architecture and data flow
  • Component breakdown
  • Error handling strategy
  • Security and performance considerations

Prerequisites

  • Clear problem statement or goal
  • User available for interactive dialogue

Configuration

No configuration needed. Skill operates through conversational interface.

Best Practices

1. One Question At A Time Avoid overwhelming user with 10 questions upfront. Ask sequentially based on answers.

2. Multiple Choice Preferred “Should we use A, B, or C?” is easier to answer than open-ended questions.

3. Challenge Assumptions Constructively “Have you considered X?” beats “That won’t work because Y”.

Common Use Cases

Use Case 1: Feature Design Session

Scenario: User wants to add “user authentication” to app.

Workflow:

  1. Discovery: Which auth methods? (email/password, OAuth, SSO?)
  2. Constraints: Security requirements? Compliance needs?
  3. Compare Approaches:
    • Auth0 (turnkey, $25/month, vendor dependency)
    • Better Auth (open source, self-hosted, more control)
    • Custom JWT (full control, higher maintenance)
  4. Validation: Review architecture of chosen approach
  5. Summary: Document decision with rationale

Outcome: Markdown design doc ready for implementation planning.

Use Case 2: Technical Debt Assessment

Scenario: Monolith performance degrading, considering microservices.

Workflow:

  1. Discovery: What specific bottlenecks? Scale requirements?
  2. Alternatives:
    • Optimize monolith (vertical scaling, caching)
    • Extract critical services (hybrid)
    • Full microservices migration (3-6 month effort)
  3. Risk Assessment: What could go wrong with each?
  4. Recommendation: Start with optimization + extract 1 service as proof of concept

Outcome: Decision matrix with recommendation and next steps.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Session stuck, no progress Solution: Ask user to clarify core problem. Reset to Phase 1 (Discovery).

Issue: User keeps adding requirements Solution: Acknowledge additions, but focus on MVP first. Document nice-to-have features separately.

Issue: Conversation becomes too technical Solution: Use analogies and examples. Avoid jargon unless user shows familiarity.

  • /brainstorm - Start brainstorming session
  • /plan - Create plan from brainstorm output
  • /ask - General questions and advice