brainstorming
You MUST use this skill before any creative or complex work. Explores user intent, requirements and design before actually executing on the task.
What this skill does
# Brainstorming Ideas Into Specs ## Overview Help turn ideas into fully formed designs or specs through natural collaborative dialogue. You MUST use this skill before any creative or complex work and when user says "brainstorm", "design", "create specs" or similar. Start by understanding the current project context using the @investogator skill. Then, ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're creating, use the @investigator skill again to analyze how the changes might impact the project, then present the specs in small sections (200-300 words), checking after each section whether it looks right so far. ## The Process **Understanding the idea:** - Use the @investogator skill to check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent git commits) - Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea - Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too - Propose 2-3 different approaches as answers to a question, with trade-offs and your recommendation - Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions - Only ask questions where the answer cannot be easily inferred from the project context, etc. - Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria **Leverage existing skills** - Identify relevant agent skills - Output: "I'll use the following skills to help you with the brainstorming: @skill1, @skill2, ..." - Use the identified skills to explore the idea **Presenting the specs:** - Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the specs - Break it into sections of 200-300 words - Ask after each section whether it looks right so far - Cover all important aspects: - for coding projects: architecture, components, data flow, performance, security, multithreading / async processing, error handling, testing - for non-coding projects: confirm the list of aspects to cover with the user - Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense **IMPORTANT: No applying changes or any other actions until user confirms** - Only explore, ask questions, and present specs - Wait for explicit user confirmation before proceeding to task breakdown or applying any changes ## After the Specs **Documentation:** - Write the validated specs to `docs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-specs.md` **Detailed Execution Plan (if continuing):** - Ask: "Ready to continue with a detailed task breakdown?" - Use the task-breakdown skill to create detailed task breakdown - IMPORTANT: do not start applying changes - only create the task breakdown document - Wait for explicit user confirmation before applying any changes from the breakdown ## 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 specs in sections, validate each - **Be flexible** - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense - **No premature actions** - Never start applying changes until user confirms the task breakdown
Related in Design
contribute
IncludedLocal-only OSS contribution command center. Auto-refreshes the user's in-flight PR and issue state on invoke so conversations start with full context — no need to brief Claude on what's in flight. Helps the user find issues to contribute to on GitHub, builds per-repo dossiers of what each upstream expects (CLA, DCO, branch convention, AI policy, draft-first, review bots, issue templates), runs deterministic gates before any external action so AI-assisted contributions don't reach maintainers as slop. State is markdown-only: candidate files at ~/.contribute-system/candidates/, repo dossiers at ~/.contribute-system/research/, append-only event log at ~/.contribute-system/log.jsonl. No database, no cloud calls. Use when the user asks about their PRs / issues / contributions, wants to find new work to take on, claim an issue, build/refresh a repo's dossier, or draft a Design Issue or PR. Trigger with "/contribute", "what's my PR status", "find a contribution", "claim issue X", "draft a Design Issue for Y", "refresh dossier for Z".
architectural-analysis
IncludedUser-triggered deep architectural analysis of a codebase or scoped subtree across eight modes — information architecture, data flow, integration points, UI surfaces, interaction patterns, data model, control flow, and failure modes. This skill should be used when the user asks to "diagram this codebase," "map the architecture," "show the data flow," "give me an ERD," "trace control flow," "find the integration points," "verify the layout pattern," "audit the UX architecture," or any similar request whose primary deliverable is mermaid diagrams plus cited reports under docs/architecture/. Dispatches haiku/sonnet sub-agents in parallel for per-mode exploration, then verifies every citation mechanically before any node lands in a diagram. Not for one-off prose explanations of code (use code-explanation) or for high-level system design from scratch (use system-design).
mcp
IncludedModel Context Protocol (MCP) server development and tool management. Languages: Python, TypeScript. Capabilities: build MCP servers, integrate external APIs, discover/execute MCP tools, manage multi-server configs, design agent-centric tools. Actions: create, build, integrate, discover, execute, configure MCP servers/tools. Keywords: MCP, Model Context Protocol, MCP server, MCP tool, stdio transport, SSE transport, tool discovery, resource provider, prompt template, external API integration, Gemini CLI MCP, Claude MCP, agent tools, tool execution, server config. Use when: building MCP servers, integrating external APIs as MCP tools, discovering available MCP tools, executing MCP capabilities, configuring multi-server setups, designing tools for AI agents.
react-native-skia
IncludedDesign, build, debug, and optimise high-polish animated graphics in React Native or Expo using @shopify/react-native-skia, Reanimated, and Gesture Handler. Use when the user wants canvas-driven UI, shaders, paths, rich text, image filters, sprite fields, Skottie, video frames, snapshots, web CanvasKit setup, or performance tuning for custom motion-heavy elements such as loaders, hero art, cards, charts, progress indicators, particle systems, or gesture-driven surfaces. Also use when the user asks for fluid, glow, glass, blob, parallax, 60fps/120fps, or GPU-friendly animated effects in React Native, even if they do not explicitly say "Skia". Do not use for ordinary form/layout work with standard views.
plaid
IncludedProduct Led AI Development — guides founders from idea to launched product. Six capabilities: Idea (discover a product idea), Validate (pressure-test the idea against fatal flaws, problem reality, competition, and 2-week MVP feasibility), Plan (vision intake + document generation), Design (translate image references into a design.md spec), Launch (go-to-market strategy), and Build (roadmap execution). Use when someone says "PLAID", "plaid idea", "help me find an idea", "product idea", "idea from my business", "idea from my expertise", "plaid validate", "validate my idea", "pressure-test", "is this idea good", "find fatal flaws", "validate the problem", "plan a product", "define my vision", "generate a PRD", "product strategy", "plaid design", "design from image", "translate image to design", "create design.md", "extract design tokens", "plaid launch", "go-to-market", "launch plan", "GTM strategy", "launch playbook", "plaid build", "build the app", "start building", or "execute the roadmap".
nextjs-framer-motion-animations
IncludedAdds production-safe Motion for React or Framer Motion animations to Next.js apps, including reveal, hover and tap micro-interactions, whileInView, stagger, AnimatePresence, layout and layoutId transitions, reorder, scroll-linked UI, and lightweight route-content transitions. Use when the user asks to add, refactor, or debug Motion or Framer Motion in App Router or Pages Router codebases, especially around server/client boundaries, reduced motion, LazyMotion, bundle size, hydration, or route transitions. Avoid for GSAP-style timelines, WebGL or 3D scenes, heavy scroll storytelling, or CSS-only effects unless Motion is explicitly requested.