skill-011

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Overview

Turn rough ideas into a validated design/spec through short, 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.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: This skill produces a design document only. Implementation is a separate step that the user decides when and how to do.

The Process

Understand the idea

• Review current project state first (files, docs, recent commits, existing patterns)
• Ask one question per message; if a topic needs more exploration, split it across multiple turns
• Prefer multiple-choice questions when practical (faster to answer), but use open-ended when needed
• Focus on purpose, constraints, success criteria, and non-goals

Interactive Questions with ask_questions Tool

MUST Use the ask_questions tool for a more interactive and efficient dialogue. This provides a native UI for the user to select options or input text.

Tool Parameters

Parameter	Description
header	Short label (max 12 chars) - used as identifier
question	Full question text to display
options	Array of 0-6 options with label and optional description
multiSelect	Allow multiple selections (default: false)
allowFreeformInput	Allow free text in addition to options
recommended	Mark an option as recommended (never use for quizzes)

Rules

• Maximum 4 questions per call (batch related questions)
• "Other" option is added automatically — don't add it manually
• Use recommended only to suggest YOUR preferred implementation choice
• Omit options array for free text input

Example: Multiple Choice

{
  "questions": [{
    "header": "Approach",
    "question": "Which architecture approach should we use?",
    "options": [
      {"label": "Monolith", "description": "Simple, single deployment"},
      {"label": "Microservices", "description": "Scalable, complex"},
      {"label": "Modular Monolith", "description": "Best of both", "recommended": true}
    ]
  }]
}