Brainstorm

Brainstorm Skill

A divergent-then-convergent dialogue cadence for ideas whose direction is still being formed. Compresses the conversation into one ElaborationRound of decision-point Q&A — same shape as a structured elaboration round, but the questions, options and answers are synthesized at the end of the conversation rather than asked up front.

This skill is a producer of one elaboration round; the scheduler decision (resolve vs. follow-up) belongs to the calling idea skill.

When invoked

Only as a sub-step of the idea skill, only after the user has explicitly opted in (a yes to the brainstorm offer, given in chat or as a reply to the idea skill's @mention comment). Never run standalone, never run without user opt-in. The expected entry point is the idea skill's "Step 4.5: Brainstorm Mode (Optional Prelude)" — load it with skill_view("chorus:idea") to see the surrounding flow.

How a brainstorm question reaches the human

Every question in this skill is asked one at a time, through one of two channels. Pick the channel from the session you are in:

• Interactive mode — the human is in chat (a Hermes CLI/TUI session where the human is typing to you): ask the question directly in the chat. Number it, list the options with letters (a, b, c…), mark your recommended option, and wait for the reply. Do not create an elaboration round per chat question — the synthesized round in Step 6 is the audit trail for interactive brainstorms.

• Gateway mode — Chorus woke you, or no human is in chat (a hermes gateway turn triggered by a Chorus notification, in the session keyed idea:<ideaUuid>): each question becomes one single-question elaboration round:

  1. chorus_pm_start_elaboration({ ideaUuid, depth: "minimal", questions: [ <exactly one question> ] }). Prefix brainstorm question ids with bs (bs1, bs2, …) so the rounds are recognizable when you resume.
  2. Post one pointer comment on the Idea with chorus_add_comment that @mentions the owner (@[Name](user:<ownerUuid>), owner from the ## Checkin the Chorus Hermes plugin injected, or chorus_checkin), e.g. "@[Owner](user:<uuid>) Brainstorm question <n> is waiting in the elaboration panel: <one-line question>." The comment only points at the round; it never carries a summary or transcript.
  3. END THE TURN. Do not poll. The gateway wakes you (same idea:<ideaUuid> session) when the round is answered or the owner replies.
  4. On wake, re-read chorus_get_elaboration({ ideaUuid }) to recover the answers so far (context may have been compressed), then continue with the next single question.

  Each gateway round counts toward the Idea's 10-round cap, and the caller still needs room for a follow-up structured round. Keep gateway brainstorms tight: few divergent questions, then the convergence question.

The Chorus UI adds a free-text "Other" to every round question automatically — do not add one yourself. In chat, the human may always answer in free text.

Research boundary

Reuse the calling Idea's findings and follow the shared research rules (skill_view("chorus:research")); switching into brainstorm does not grant a second investigation. If the goal needed focusing first, after the user selects a direction and before synthesis, apply the caller's optional research decision once with that focus. Return any findings alongside the synthesized round for the Idea caller to persist. Research does not choose the user's direction, remove the opt-in/selection gate, write files/comments, or resolve elaboration.

Hard rules

1. One question at a time. Each chat message asks exactly one question; in gateway mode each chorus_pm_start_elaboration call contains exactly one question entry. Wait for the answer before asking the next.
2. Multi-choice preferred. Frame each question as 2-4 options where possible. Open-ended is acceptable when options would be premature, but lean toward concrete choices. (A round question always needs 2-5 options; if you truly need an open question in gateway mode, give your best-guess options and let the human use "Other".)
3. Propose 2-3 directions before stopping divergence. Once the requirement direction is clear enough to enumerate, present 2-3 distinct approaches in a single question (one chat question, or one single-question round). Mark exactly one as recommended: in chat append (Recommended) to that option; in a round, append (Recommended) to that option's label and say why in its description.
4. Explicit user approval required to exit divergence. Do NOT proceed to synthesis until the user has selected one of the proposed directions.
5. No files written. Do NOT write any markdown, design doc, scratch file, or any other file to disk. The conversation produces an ElaborationRound and nothing else on disk.
6. No summary or transcript comments. Do NOT use chorus_add_comment for anything except the gateway-mode pointer comment described above (one short @mention per pending single-question round). Summaries, confirmations and discussion belong to the idea skill or the user, not to the brainstorm step.
7. No design-doc handoff. Do NOT invoke any skill whose purpose is to produce a design document or implementation plan. The brainstorm output is the synthesized round — there is no separate doc.
8. No validate_elaboration call. Do NOT call chorus_pm_validate_elaboration from this skill. Whether to resolve the elaboration or open a follow-up round (chorus_pm_start_elaboration again) is the calling idea skill's decision, not this skill's.
9. Never answer on the human's behalf. Divergent and convergence questions are answered by the human (in chat or in the Chorus UI). The only answers you submit yourself are the Step 6 synthesized round, which records decisions the human already made.

Step-by-step

1. Gather context

Before asking the first divergent question, read the idea and surrounding project state. Mirror the idea skill's gather-context list:

chorus_get_idea({ ideaUuid })
chorus_get_documents({ projectUuid })
chorus_get_document({ documentUuid })   # for any document worth reading in full
chorus_get_proposals({ projectUuid, status: "approved" })   # to understand patterns
chorus_list_tasks({ projectUuid })   # to avoid duplicating existing work
chorus_get_comments({ targetType: "idea", targetUuid: ideaUuid })

Skim each result for: stated background, stated requirements, stated constraints, and what is conspicuously NOT stated. The gaps are the questions worth asking.

2. Divergent Q&A

Ask one question at a time through the channel chosen above. Aim to surface:

• The goal the idea is trying to serve (often more abstract than the idea statement).
• The constraints that exclude entire branches of solution space (deadlines, compatibility, scope).
• The success criteria — how will the user know this is done.

Keep each question single-purpose. If you need to ask three things, that is three questions (three chat turns, or three single-question rounds), not one combined question.

Interactive example:

Question 1 — What is the main goal behind this idea?
  a) Cut onboarding time for new users (Recommended — the idea text leans this way)
  b) Reduce support load on the team
  c) Unblock a specific customer request
Reply with a letter, or describe something else.

Gateway example (one round, then the pointer comment, then end the turn):

chorus_pm_start_elaboration({
  ideaUuid,
  depth: "minimal",
  questions: [
    {
      id: "bs1",
      text: "What is the main goal behind this idea?",
      category: "business_context",
      options: [
        { id: "a", label: "Cut onboarding time (Recommended)", description: "The idea text leans this way" },
        { id: "b", label: "Reduce support load" },
        { id: "c", label: "Unblock a specific customer request" }
      ]
    }
  ]
})