runjam: Skill for Codex

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

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 and get user approval.

Do NOT invoke any implementation skill, write any code, scaffold any project, or take any implementation action until you have presented a design and the user has approved it. This applies to EVERY project regardless of perceived simplicity.

Anti-Pattern: "This Is Too Simple To Need A Design"

Every project goes through this process. A todo list, a single-function utility, a config change — all of them. "Simple" projects are where unexamined assumptions cause the most wasted work. The design can be short (a few sentences for truly simple projects), but you MUST present it and get approval.

Checklist

You MUST create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:

1. Explore project context — check files, docs, recent commits

2. Offer the visual companion just-in-time — NOT upfront. The first time a question would genuinely be clearer shown than described, offer it then (its own message); on approval its browser tab opens for you. If no visual question ever arises, never offer it. See the Visual Companion section below.

3. Ask clarifying questions — one at a time, understand purpose/constraints/success criteria

4. Propose 2-3 approaches — with trade-offs and your recommendation

5. Present design — in sections scaled to their complexity, get user approval after each section

6. Write design doc — save to docs/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md and commit

7. Spec self-review — quick inline check for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguity, scope (see below)

8. User reviews written spec — ask user to review the spec file before proceeding

9. Transition to implementation — invoke writing-plans skill to create implementation plan