Ideonomy Engine — Creative Reasoning for AI Agents

Structured creative reasoning through ideonomic lenses. Use when stuck on a problem, need fresh perspectives, want to think more creatively or systematically, or need to explore a problem from multiple angles. Based on Patrick Gunkel's "science of ideas" — systematic combinatorial thinking across 28 reasoning divisions.

Ideonomy Engine

Structured creative reasoning using ideonomic divisions as thinking lenses.

Installation

npm install -g @clawdactual/ideonomy-engine

Verify with:

ideonomy --help

Quick Start

# Basic reasoning (auto-selects profile based on problem keywords)
ideonomy reason "Your problem statement here"

# Concise mode (just core questions, one per lens)
ideonomy reason --concise "Your problem statement here"

# JSON output (structured, machine-parseable)
ideonomy reason --json "Your problem statement here"

Profiles

Force a reasoning style with --profile:

Profile	Best For
technical	Engineering, architecture, debugging, system design
creative	Brainstorming, ideation, novel solutions
strategic	Planning, decisions, competitive analysis, long-term thinking
ethical	Moral dilemmas, values conflicts, right vs wrong
diagnostic	Debugging, root cause analysis, troubleshooting
interpersonal	Relationships, communication, team dynamics
philosophical	Deep questions about meaning, existence, knowledge
general	Balanced default covering universally useful divisions

Auto-selection scores problem text against profile keywords. Override with --profile <id>.

Options

• --profile <id> — force a reasoning profile
• --divisions <THEME1,THEME2,...> — cherry-pick specific divisions (e.g. ANALOGIES,CAUSES,LIMITS)
• --lenses <n> — limit number of lenses returned
• --concise — core questions only (minimal output)
• --json — structured JSON output

Other Commands

ideonomy profiles          # list all profiles
ideonomy divisions         # list all 28 reasoning divisions
ideonomy division ANALOGIES # detail for one division

How to Use the Output

The engine produces structured prompts, not answers. For each lens:

1. Core question — the essential question this division asks about your problem
2. Guiding questions — specific angles to explore
3. Cross-domain sparks — unexpected domain pairings to stimulate lateral thinking
4. Conceptual palette — organon items for combinatorial inspiration

Best approach: Run the engine, then think through each lens yourself. The guiding questions are the highest-value part. The cross-domain sparks work ~30% of the time but produce genuinely novel ideas when they hit.

When to Use

• Stuck on a problem and default thinking isn't working
• Need to systematically explore angles you'd normally miss
• Want to challenge assumptions (use OPPOSITES, INVERSIONS, FIRST PRINCIPLES)
• Debugging something subtle (use --profile diagnostic)
• Brainstorming and want structured creativity (use --profile creative)
• Making a strategic decision with trade-offs (use --profile strategic)