---
name: brainstorming
description: Use when exploring options or shaping a direction before committing — open up the solution space instead of jumping to the first idea. Triggers on "how should we approach X", "what are the options", weighing trade-offs, or any open-ended design question. Recall prior thinking first; capture the decision after.
---

# Brainstorming

Widen before you narrow. The first idea is rarely the best; the goal is a few
real options and a reasoned choice — not a single path defended after the fact.

## Recall first

`search` Scribe before generating from scratch — a prior decision, note, or
brainstorm on this often already exists. Build on it instead of repeating it.

## Open up

- Generate a few genuinely *different* options, not variations of one. Include at
  least one you don't initially favor.
- For each: the core idea, what it's good at, and its main cost or risk — briefly.
- Resist converging until the space is actually explored.

## Then choose

- Recommend one, and say *why* — the trade-off that decided it, not just the pick.
- Surface the 1–2 places you made an interpretive call, so the operator can
  redirect before it's baked in.

## Capture the decision

When a direction is chosen, record it in Scribe (`create_note`, e.g. tag
`decision`): the choice, the alternatives weighed, and the reason. That's what
keeps the same question from being re-litigated later — and what a future
session reads to understand *why*, not just *what*.