ideation

Multi-agent ideation skill for Claude Code. Launches a team of specialized agents that explore a concept through structured dialogue between a Free Thinker and a Grounder, arbitrated by the team lead, and documented by a Writer. Three actions control the workflow: Plan (pre-flight interview), Ideate (depth-aware exploration + conditional production), and Continue (versioned session resumption).

Agents

Install

Clone this repo into your .claude/skills/ directory — either project-level (just this project) or personal/global (all projects):

Project-level (committed with your repo, available to collaborators):

mkdir -p .claude/skills
git clone https://github.com/bladnman/ideation .claude/skills/ideation

Personal/global (available in all your Claude Code sessions):

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
git clone https://github.com/bladnman/ideation ~/.claude/skills/ideation

Claude Code discovers skills automatically — no restart needed. Verify it’s installed by typing /ideation in a Claude Code session.

Where things go

.claude/skills/ideation/       # or ~/.claude/skills/ideation/
├── SKILL.md                   # Skill definition (required)
├── README.md
└── templates/                 # Supporting files referenced by SKILL.md
    ├── idea-brief.md
    ├── idea-report.md
    ├── ideation-graph.md
    ├── lineage.md             # Version chain tracking for continuations
    ├── prd.md
    ├── session-config.yaml    # Session configuration schema
    ├── session-summary.md
    └── vision-document.md

Updating

cd .claude/skills/ideation && git pull    # project-level
cd ~/.claude/skills/ideation && git pull   # personal/global

Requirements

• Claude Code with Agent Teams enabled:

  claude config set env.CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS 1
  

• Opus 4.6 model (agent teams require it)
• python-pptx and weasyprint for production artifacts (installed automatically during the session)
• Chrome with the Claude-in-Chrome extension (for image generation via ChatGPT)

Usage

New session (Plan → Ideate)

Every new session starts with the Plan action — a brief interview to configure depth, outputs, and research before the team is spawned.

/ideation path/to/concept-seed.md

Or with an inline description:

/ideation "An app that turns voice memos into structured project briefs"

Or with no argument (the interview will ask for the concept):

/ideation

The Plan action will ask you:

1. Depth — how deep should exploration go?
   • Quick (~15-30 min): 2-3 directions, fast convergence
   • Standard (~45-90 min): 3-5 directions, balanced exploration (default)
   • Deep (~2-3 hrs): 5-8 directions, thorough exploration
   • Exhaustive (~3+ hrs): 8+ directions, comprehensive mapping
2. Outputs — which deliverables to produce (all, subset, or session artifacts only)
3. (If needed) Domain clarification or research confirmation

After confirmation, the Ideate action launches the team with your configured settings.

Continue a previous session

Resume and build on a previous ideation session. Creates a new versioned directory — the parent session is never modified.

/ideation continue ideation-distributed-systems-20260219-143052/

Or search by keyword (matches against ideation-** directories in CWD):

/ideation continue distributed-systems

Continue mode:

• Discovers matching sessions with summaries (date, depth, brief count)
• Creates a versioned directory (e.g., ideation-voice-memos-v2-20260221-091500/)
• Runs a mini-interview asking what to focus on, depth, and outputs
• References parent materials (vision doc, briefs, ideation graph) so the team builds on prior work
• Tracks lineage in session/LINEAGE.md

Versioning scheme:

Original:     ideation-voice-memos-20260219-143052/
Continue:     ideation-voice-memos-v2-20260221-091500/
Continue:     ideation-voice-memos-v3-20260222-140000/
Branch:       ideation-voice-memos-v2a-20260222-150000/

Generate a PRD from a session

After an ideation session completes, generate a Product Requirements Document:

/ideation prd ideation-distributed-systems-20260219-143052/

Or search by keyword:

/ideation prd distributed-systems

PRD mode is a solo operation — no team is spawned. It reads the session’s vision document, briefs, and other artifacts, then produces a PRD_.md that focuses on what to build and why, preserving the ideation session’s intent, emotional logic, and language.

How It Works

The system separates cognitive modes across distinct roles because combining them in a single agent produces biased output:

• Generation should not evaluate its own work
• Evaluation should not try to also create
• Synthesis should have no perspective to protect
• Research should report facts, not generate ideas

A human provides the seed concept. The Plan action interviews the user to configure depth and outputs. The Ideate action spawns the team: two dialogue agents (Free Thinker + Grounder) explore the space, the Arbiter evaluates idea reports and steers toward convergence using depth-aware rules, and the Writer observes and synthesizes into a vision document. When ideation converges, production agents (conditionally spawned based on output selection) transform the output into distributable artifacts.

Depth levels

Output tiers

Tier 1 (always produced): Vision doc, briefs, session summary, ideation graph, snapshots, idea reports.

Tier 2 (user-selectable): Distribution page (HTML), Results PDF, Capsule PDF, PPTX presentation, infographic images. Production agents are only spawned for selected outputs.

Minimal path: If no Tier 2 outputs are selected, the production phase is skipped entirely.

Output

Each invocation creates a uniquely named directory inside an ideations/ parent folder, keeping all sessions organized:

ideations/
  ideation--/
    index.html                       # Designed distribution page (if selected)
    RESULTS_.pdf            # PDF of the distribution page (if selected)
    CAPSULE_.pdf            # Comprehensive session archive (if selected)
    PRESENTATION_.pptx      # Slide deck (if selected)
    PRD_.md                 # Product requirements (generated via /ideation prd)
    images/                          # Infographic images (if selected)

    session/
      session-config.yaml            # Session configuration
      VISION_.md            # Consolidated vision document
      SESSION_SUMMARY.md             # Session summary
      ideation-graph.md              # Living graph of the dialogue
      LINEAGE.md                     # Version chain (for continuations)
      sources/                       # All original input materials
      research/                      # Explorer's research reports
      briefs/                        # Final idea briefs
      idea-reports/                  # Raw idea reports from dialogue
      snapshots/                     # Writer's version snapshots

    build/
      build_capsule.py               # Regenerates both PDFs
      build_presentation.py          # Regenerates the PPTX

Example: ideations/ideation-voice-memos-20260219-143052/

License

MIT