You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
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Claude Sonnet 4.5
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Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs
Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.
Start by classifying how much process the request needs, then work
through your path: understand the context, refine the idea, present a
design, and get your human partner's approval.
Do NOT invoke any implementation skill, write any code, scaffold any
project, or take any implementation action until you have told your
human partner what you intend and they have approved it. This applies
to EVERY task on EVERY path below — the ceremony scales with the task;
the approval gate never does.
Three Paths
Before your first question, classify the request and say the
classification out loud — "this looks bounded, so I'll present a short
design here rather than write a spec" — so your human partner can
override it:
Spike — a feasibility question ("can we...", "is it possible...",
"quick and dirty is fine") whose output is an answer, not code you
keep. Present the question and what you'll try in 2-3 sentences, get
a nod, then find out as cheaply as correctness allows. No design
doc, no spec file. Report findings as a recommendation; anything you
built stays labeled throwaway.
Bounded — a well-scoped change to code that already exists in
this repo: a new flag, a small endpoint, a one-file fix.
Understanding the kind of app is not enough — bounded means the flow
you are changing is already here to read. If there is no existing
flow to change, the task is not bounded. Ask the clarifying
questions that matter, present a short design IN CHAT (a few
sentences to a few short paragraphs), and STOP. Implementation
starts only after your human partner says yes to that design — a
bounded task's approval is as hard a gate as an architectural
one. No spec file, no implementation plan document.
Architectural — new projects, new subsystems, changes that
restructure how components fit together or alter interfaces others
depend on. Follow the full process: questions, approaches, sectioned
design, written spec, then the writing-plans skill.
When in doubt between two paths, take the heavier one. The ratchet is
one-way: hidden complexity discovered mid-task upgrades the path —
stop, say so, and step up. Nothing downgrades mid-task.
Anti-Pattern: "Too Simple To Need Approval"
Every path ends with your human partner approving your intent before
implementation. A todo list, a single-function utility, a config
change — the design may be two sentences in chat, but you MUST present
it and get approval. "Simple" tasks are where unexamined assumptions
cause the most wasted work. What scales with simplicity is the
artifact, never the approval.
Red Flags
Thought
Reality
"This is too simple to need a design"
Simple means a short design, not no design. Two sentences in chat, then approval.
"I'll call it bounded and skip the spec"
Reaching for a label to skip work IS the doubt — take the heavier path.
"It's bounded and the design is obvious — I'll start while they read it"
The gate is the approval, not the design's length. Present, then stop until you hear yes.
"I understand this kind of app, so it's bounded"
Bounded measures the repo, not your familiarity. A new project has no existing flow — it is architectural.
"The spike works, so I'll keep the code"
A spike's output is an answer. Keeping the code is a new request — classify it.
"It grew, but I'm almost done — no need to re-classify"
Hidden complexity upgrades the path mid-task. Stop and say so.
"They approved the spike, so the follow-up change is approved too"
Each task gets its own classification and its own approval.
Checklist
Classify first, announce the path, then create a task for each item on
your path and complete them in order.
Spike:
Explore project context — enough to frame the probe
Present question + probe plan — 2-3 sentences
Get approval — a nod is enough
Investigate — as cheaply as correctness allows
Report findings — a recommendation; label anything built as throwaway
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.
Ask clarifying questions — one at a time, understand purpose/constraints/success criteria
Propose 2-3 approaches — with trade-offs and your recommendation
Present design — in sections scaled to their complexity, get user approval after each section
Write design doc — save to docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md and commit
Spec self-review — quick inline check for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguity, scope (see below)
User reviews written spec — ask user to review the spec file before proceeding
Transition to implementation — invoke writing-plans skill to create implementation plan
Terminal states are path-bound. Architectural: the ONLY skill you
invoke after brainstorming is writing-plans — never frontend-design,
mcp-builder, or any other implementation skill. Bounded: after
approval, implementation proceeds directly through the normal
development workflow; no plan document. Spike: the terminal state is a
reported recommendation.
The Process
The subsections below serve the bounded and architectural paths (a
spike stops at "present the probe, get a nod"). Sections from
Exploring approaches onward are architectural-path depth — for
bounded work, context plus a few questions plus a short in-chat design
is the whole process.
Understanding the idea:
Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
Before asking detailed questions, assess scope: if the request describes multiple independent subsystems (e.g., "build a platform with chat, file storage, billing, and analytics"), flag this immediately. Don't spend questions refining details of a project that needs to be decomposed first.
If the project is too large for a single spec, help the user decompose into sub-projects: what are the independent pieces, how do they relate, what order should they be built? Then brainstorm the first sub-project through the normal design flow. Each sub-project gets its own spec → plan → implementation cycle.
For appropriately-scoped projects, ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too
Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions
Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria
Exploring approaches:
Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
Present options conversationally with your recommendation and reasoning
Lead with your recommended option and explain why
YAGNI ruthlessly - remove unnecessary features from every approach and design
Presenting the design:
Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
Scale each section to its complexity: a few sentences if straightforward, up to 200-300 words if nuanced
Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense
Design for isolation and clarity:
Break the system into smaller units that each have one clear purpose, communicate through well-defined interfaces, and can be understood and tested independently
For each unit, you should be able to answer: what does it do, how do you use it, and what does it depend on?
Can someone understand what a unit does without reading its internals? Can you change the internals without breaking consumers? If not, the boundaries need work.
Smaller, well-bounded units are also easier for you to work with - you reason better about code you can hold in context at once, and your edits are more reliable when files are focused. When a file grows large, that's often a signal that it's doing too much.
Working in existing codebases:
Explore the current structure before proposing changes. Follow existing patterns.
Where existing code has problems that affect the work (e.g., a file that's grown too large, unclear boundaries, tangled responsibilities), include targeted improvements as part of the design - the way a good developer improves code they're working in.
Don't propose unrelated refactoring. Stay focused on what serves the current goal.
After the Design (architectural path)
Documentation:
Write the validated design (spec) to docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md
(User preferences for spec location override this default)
Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available
Commit the design document to git
Spec Self-Review:
After writing the spec document, look at it with fresh eyes:
Placeholder scan: Any "TBD", "TODO", incomplete sections, or vague requirements? Fix them.
Internal consistency: Do any sections contradict each other? Does the architecture match the feature descriptions?
Scope check: Is this focused enough for a single implementation plan, or does it need decomposition?
Ambiguity check: Could any requirement be interpreted two different ways? If so, pick one and make it explicit.
Fix any issues inline. No need to re-review — just fix and move on.
User Review Gate:
After the spec review loop passes, ask the user to review the written spec before proceeding:
"Spec written and committed to <path>. Please review it and let me know if you want to make any changes before we start writing out the implementation plan."
Wait for the user's response. If they request changes, make them and re-run the spec review loop. Only proceed once the user approves.
Implementation:
Invoke the writing-plans skill to create a detailed implementation plan
Do NOT invoke any other skill. writing-plans is the next step.
Visual Companion
A browser-based companion for showing mockups, diagrams, and visual options during brainstorming. Available as a tool — not a mode. Accepting the companion means it's available for questions that benefit from visual treatment; it does NOT mean every question goes through the browser.
Offering the companion (just-in-time): Do NOT offer it upfront. Wait until a question would genuinely be clearer shown than told — a real mockup / layout / diagram question, not merely a UI topic. The first time that happens, offer it then, as its own message:
"This next part might be easier if I show you — I can put together mockups, diagrams, and comparisons in a browser tab as we go. It's still new and can be token-intensive. Want me to? I'll open it for you."
This offer MUST be its own message. Only the offer — no clarifying question, summary, or other content. Wait for the user's response. If they accept, start the server with --open so their browser opens to the first screen automatically. If they decline, continue text-only and don't offer again unless they raise it.
Per-question decision: Even after the user accepts, decide FOR EACH QUESTION whether to use the browser or the terminal. The test: would the user understand this better by seeing it than reading it?
Use the browser for content that IS visual — mockups, wireframes, layout comparisons, architecture diagrams, side-by-side visual designs
Use the terminal for content that is text — requirements questions, conceptual choices, tradeoff lists, A/B/C/D text options, scope decisions
A question about a UI topic is not automatically a visual question. "What does personality mean in this context?" is a conceptual question — use the terminal. "Which wizard layout works better?" is a visual question — use the browser.
If they agree to the companion, read the detailed guide before proceeding:
skills/brainstorming/visual-companion.md
Claude Sonnet 4.5