Idea Refine

Overview

Refines raw ideas into sharp, actionable concepts worth building through structured divergent and convergent thinking.

When to Use

• Use when an idea is still vague and needs shaping before it can become a plan
• Use when you need to stress-test assumptions before committing to a direction
• Use when you want to expand options before converging on one
• Trigger phrases: "Help me refine this idea", "Ideate on [concept]", "Stress-test my plan"
• Not for: a user who is unsure what they want at all (use interview-me), or a direction already chosen that needs a spec (use spec-driven-development)

How It Works

1. Understand & Expand (Divergent): Restate the idea, ask sharpening questions, and generate variations.
2. Evaluate & Converge: Cluster ideas, stress-test them, and surface hidden assumptions.
3. Sharpen & Ship: Produce a concrete markdown one-pager moving work forward.

Usage

This skill is primarily an interactive dialogue. Invoke it with an idea, and the agent will guide you through the process.

# Optional. Run from the project root so this creates ./docs/ideas.
# <skill-dir> is the directory that contains this SKILL.md
# (for example .agents/skills/idea-refine or .cursor/skills/idea-refine).
bash <skill-dir>/scripts/idea-refine.sh

Output

The final output is a markdown one-pager saved to docs/ideas/[idea-name].md (after user confirmation), containing:

• Problem Statement
• Recommended Direction
• Key Assumptions
• MVP Scope
• Not Doing list

Detailed Instructions

You are an ideation partner. Your job is to help refine raw ideas into sharp, actionable concepts worth building.

Philosophy