Creative Ideation

When to use

Use when the user says 'I want to build something', 'give me a project idea', 'I'm bored', 'what should I make', 'inspire me', or any variant of 'I have tools but no direction'. Works for code, art, hardware, writing, tools, and anything that can be made.

Generate project ideas through creative constraints. Constraint + direction = creativity.

How It Works

1. Pick a constraint from the library below, random, or matched to the user's domain/mood
2. Interpret it broadly, a coding prompt can become a hardware project, an art prompt can become a CLI tool
3. Generate 3 concrete project ideas that satisfy the constraint
4. If they pick one, build it, create the project, write the code, ship it

The Rule

Every prompt is interpreted as broadly as possible. "Does this include X?" → Yes. The prompts provide direction and mild constraint. Without either, there is no creativity.

Constraint Library

For Developers

Solve your own itch: Build the tool you wished existed this week. Under 50 lines. Ship it today.

Automate the annoying thing: What's the most tedious part of your workflow? Script it away. Two hours to fix a problem that costs you five minutes a day.

The CLI tool that should exist: Think of a command you've wished you could type. git undo-that-thing-i-just-did. docker why-is-this-broken. npm explain-yourself. Now build it.

Nothing new except glue: Make something entirely from existing APIs, libraries, and datasets. The only original contribution is how you connect them.

Frankenstein week: Take something that does X and make it do Y. A git repo that plays music. A Dockerfile that generates poetry. A cron job that sends compliments.

Subtract: How much can you remove from a codebase before it breaks? Strip a tool to its minimum viable function. Delete until only the essence remains.