Brainstorming

You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requi...

Security Scan

The skill's instructions, requirements, and behavior are coherent with a brainstorming / design workflow; it asks the agent to inspect the project, propose designs, write a doc, and commit — nothing requested is disproportionate or unrelated to that purpose.

Purpose & Capability

Name and description match the SKILL.md: the skill is explicitly a pre-implementation brainstorming and design aid. It does not request unrelated credentials, binaries, or installs.

Instruction Scope

Instructions direct the agent to inspect the current project state (files, docs, recent commits), to create a design doc under docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md, and to commit it to git. These actions are consistent with the stated purpose, but they imply read/write access to the repository and the ability to run git — ensure that's acceptable in your environment.

Install Mechanism

No install spec and no code files — instruction-only skill. No packages or downloads are requested, minimizing install risk.

Credentials

The skill declares no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The instructions reference other optional skills (elements-of-style, superpowers:using-git-worktrees, superpowers:writing-plans) but do not require any secrets; this is proportionate to its function.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill is user-invocable; it does not request permanent presence or elevated platform privileges. It does instruct the agent to write files and commit to git, which is normal for a workflow skill but worth noting as an effect rather than a privileged configuration.

Assessment

This skill is coherent for brainstorming and design, but you should be comfortable giving the agent read/write access to the project repository if you enable it — it will inspect files and can create/commit design documents. Before installing or using it: (1) confirm whether the agent will be permitted to run git commits and whether you want autonomous commits or prefer manual review; (2) ensure no sensitive secrets are stored in the repo paths the agent may read; (3) be aware it references other optional skills (style, git-worktrees, writing-plans) which may be invoked if available. If you prefer tighter control, run it in a forked or test repo or require manual approval for commits.

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.

The Process

Understanding the idea:

• Check out the current project state first (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

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

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

After the Design

Documentation:

• Write the validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md
• Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available
• Commit the design document to git

Implementation (if continuing):

• Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"
• Use superpowers:using-git-worktrees to create isolated workspace
• Use superpowers:writing-plans to create detailed implementation plan

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