Idea Genie

One canonical root for idea work: elicit an evidence-grounded portfolio of options, or challenge a consequential idea with sealed independent perspectives. Both modes explore and advise; neither selects, schedules, tracks, implements, or validates work.

Modes

Trigger phrases	Mode	Output contract
"idea genie", "what should we build next", "brainstorm options", "supported opportunities"	elicit	idea-portfolio.v1
"challenge this idea", "compare independent proposals", "stress-test a one-way door"	duel	idea-challenge.v1

Elicit is the entry mode. Duel is an optional escalation for a consequential choice, typically consuming an idea-portfolio.v1 or a framed question. A scored multi-member duel, where members score each other's ideas, is Council's duel mode; a plan's failure modes belong to Premortem.

Both validators live in this skill's scripts/ directory and need jq. Without jq, check the fields by hand against the shape and say the validator did not run.

Elicit mode

These rules carry the value:

1. Observations cite a source: a file and line, issue, doc or measurement. Anything uncited is an assumption, listed apart and never used as support.
2. Every candidate cites the observations behind it. No cited support, no candidate; an unsupported idea may stay listed as an assumption. Never pad the list to a count.
3. Check overlap before claiming novelty. Compare each candidate with what the product already does. A request an existing capability already covers is not new: record it under overlaps of the candidate it sharpens, or leave it out.
4. One Given/When/Then per candidate, a normal or edge case with an observable result.
5. Do not rank, pick, schedule or start work. The caller or Plan selects.
6. Stop at saturation. Merge equivalents, and run another pass only while it adds a materially new evidenced candidate. Zero candidates is valid.

State the question, constraints, non-goals and sources first; hydrate only the sources this question needs and cite them, with no merged context store. Return the portfolio in this shape:

{
  "schema_version": "idea-portfolio.v1",
  "status": "candidates",
  "observations": [{"claim": "<what is true>", "evidence": "<cited source>"}],
  "assumptions": ["<belief no cited source supports>"],
  "candidates": [{
    "id": "I1",
    "evidence": ["<cited sources behind this candidate>"],
    "overlaps": ["<existing capability it extends or repeats>"],
    "scenario": {"given": "<state>", "when": "<event>", "then": "<observable result>"}
  }],
  "termination": {"reason": "novelty-saturated", "novel_candidates_last_pass": 0}
}

overlaps may be empty. When every idea overlaps or lacks support, set status to no-new-work, leave candidates empty and set termination.reason to all-overlap-or-unsupported. For a person, render the same fields as a short list, one block per candidate. When a file is wanted, write .agents/scratch/ideas/<run-id>/idea-portfolio.json and run scripts/validate-output.sh on it before handing it to the caller or Plan. Plan alone may incorporate a selected option into the existing bead or caller intent.

Duel mode

Produce independent challenges for a consequential choice. The result is advisory evidence for Plan. It never decides whether a plan is ready and never turns a later optional Premortem challenge into an approval gate.

Door class. Ask what undoing the choice after it lands would cost. A one-way door needs a migration, breaks a published contract or caller, loses data, or has an external effect that cannot be recalled. A cheap two-way door is undone by a revert or a flag.

Constraints

• Seal generation: no perspective sees another until all are complete, so later proposals cannot anchor on earlier ones.
• Preserve dissent, failed refutations and minority reasoning; Plan must see the alternatives synthesis would otherwise erase.
• Keep a two-way door light: no pane manager, messaging service, council or model-family rule.
• Emit no readiness, approval, quorum, retry, budget, helper, delivery, or tracker state: this strategy supplies evidence, not lifecycle authority. Consensus, transport availability or a self-score never becomes readiness.

Workflow

1. Freeze the question, constraints, evidence paths and comparison rubric.
2. For a one-way door, start at least two fresh contexts: separate subagents or sessions with no shared transcript, one prompt each carrying the frozen question and evidence paths. Record each native context id as context_id and collect every perspective before revealing any. When the caller pins perspectives to model profiles, record each model_identity (see the agent-native model-dispatch recipe); disclose an unavailable profile and continue single-model.
3. Reveal the sealed perspectives and cross-review each by evidence, reversibility, system fit, failure modes and cost.
4. Attempt concrete refutations. Keep disagreements, failed refutations and minority reasoning explicit.
5. Write idea-challenge.v1, validate it, and pass it to Plan as one optional input alongside research and operator intent.

For a cheap two-way door, emit the lightweight packet directly after one fresh challenge. Do not manufacture panel ceremony.

Output Specification

• Artifact directory: .agents/scratch/ideas/<run-id>/
• Filename: idea-challenge.json
• Format: idea-challenge.v1 JSON with route-specific fields enforced by the validator; it carries no readiness field or decision
• Validation command: scripts/validate-challenge.sh <idea-challenge.json>
• Downstream handoff: handoff.owner is exactly plan; Plan may accept, reject, or combine the advisory evidence

References

• Idea Genie behavior
• Idea challenge behavior