Brainstorm Session

Refine this idea into a design through collaborative dialogue.

Input

$ARGUMENTS

If empty or no arguments: Use AskUserQuestion to ask what the user wants to brainstorm.

Process

1. Understand Context

Check project state first:

ls -la
git log --oneline -5 2>/dev/null || true

If $ARGUMENTS references a file (@...), read it.

2. Clarify the Idea

Ask questions one at a time using AskUserQuestion:

• Purpose and goals
• Constraints and requirements
• Success criteria

Use structured options (2-4 per question):

AskUserQuestion:
  header: "Scope"
  question: "What is the primary goal?"
  multiSelect: false
  options:
    - label: "Option A"
      description: "Trade-off explanation"
    - label: "Option B"
      description: "Trade-off explanation"

Reserve open-ended questions for truly exploratory topics.

3. Explore Approaches

Propose 2-3 approaches with trade-offs.

Use AskUserQuestion to present options:

AskUserQuestion:
  header: "Approach"
  question: "Which direction?"
  multiSelect: false
  options:
    - label: "[Recommended approach]"
      description: "Key benefit and trade-off"
    - label: "[Alternative approach]"
      description: "Key benefit and trade-off"

Lead with recommended option.

4. Present Design

Once requirements are clear:

• Present in sections of 200-300 words
• Ask after each section if it looks right
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling
• Go back and clarify if needed

5. Save Design

Write to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md

Commit: git add -A && git commit -m "docs: <topic> design"

6. Handoff

Use AskUserQuestion:

AskUserQuestion:
  header: "Next"
  question: "Design saved. What next?"
  multiSelect: false
  options:
    - label: "Create plan"
      description: "Use /dev-workflow:write-plan to create detailed implementation plan"
    - label: "Keep exploring"
      description: "Continue refining the design"
    - label: "Done"
      description: "End session, design is complete"

If "Create plan" selected:

/dev-workflow:write-plan @docs/plans/[design-file].md

This invokes the write-plan command with the design document as context.

Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm
• YAGNI - Remove unnecessary features from designs
• Incremental validation - Check each section before continuing
• Simplest solution first - Prefer boring over clever

Design Quality Gates

Before saving, verify the design does NOT include:

Red Flag	Action
"For future extensibility"	Remove - solve today's problem
Abstract classes with 1 implementation	Simplify to concrete
Plugin/hook systems without plugins	Remove until needed
More than 3 new files per feature	Consolidate

These will be enforced by code-architect during planning, but catching early saves iteration.