ccc-brainstorm

$ccc-brainstorm — Design-First Ideation Gate

Before writing code or specs, generate 3 distinct alternatives. Forces designer-mode thinking and surfaces tradeoffs early. No code is written during this skill — only decisions are made.

Triggers

• $ccc-brainstorm or /brainstorm
• "how should I build X"
• "which approach should I take"
• "I'm torn between X and Y"
• "help me decide on [auth / DB / design system / API shape]"
• "explore options for"
• "what are my choices for"

When NOT to Use

• Fixing a bug with an obvious solution (use $ccc-review or just fix it)
• Well-known patterns where the answer is already standard (e.g., "how do I add a .env file")
• Tasks with a single correct answer (use $ccc-plan directly)
• Mid-implementation pivots where switching costs exceed the decision value

Process

Step 1 — Capture the question

If no argument provided, call AskUserQuestion:

question: "What are we brainstorming?"
options:
  - label: "🆕 New feature design"
    description: "You have a feature idea and want to explore approaches before writing any code."
  - label: "🔀 Choosing between approaches"
    description: "You have 2–3 candidates and need to compare them rigorously."
  - label: "🎨 UI/UX decision"
    description: "Layout, component library, interaction model, visual system."
  - label: "🏗️ Architecture choice"
    description: "DB schema, service boundary, auth strategy, data model."
  - label: "✏️ Free-form — I'll describe it"
    description: "Type your question in the next prompt."

Accept the free-form description as the brainstorm topic.

Step 2 — Spawn 3 parallel micro-agents

Fire 3 Agent calls simultaneously. Each agent receives this base context:

Topic: {user_topic}
Codebase context: {relevant files or stack, if provided}

Agent A — Simplest Possible Prompt:

"You are evaluating the SIMPLEST possible solution for: {topic}. What is the most direct, boring, fewest-moving-parts approach? No abstractions, no future-proofing. Return: name (5 words max), summary (2–3 sentences), pros (3 bullets), cons (3 bullets), risks (1–2 bullets), reversibility (easy / medium / hard), best_for (one line)."