Brainstorming

Core Concepts / How It Works

The original skill treats brainstorming as a "HARD-GATE" — a checkpoint that must be passed before moving on to the next stage (writing plans / writing code). Four core principles:

1. Intent First: Understand the problem the feature is trying to solve, not just what to build.
2. Requirements Separation: Have the user explicitly distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves.
3. Design Exploration: Compare 2–3 approaches before committing to a single solution.
4. Explicit Agreement: Repeat until the answer is "yes" to "Is this clear enough to move on to writing-plans?"

One-Line Summary

A structured question-and-exploration skill used before any creative work (feature, component, or behavior change) to surface the user's real intent and requirements. Agree on the "why / what / how" before writing any code.

Getting Started

# Invoke with slash command in a Claude Code session
/brainstorming

SKILL.md location: ~/.claude/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md

This skill does not generate code — it changes how Claude asks questions. Instead of writing code immediately upon receiving a request, it forces Claude to ask structured questions first.

To customize, copy the SKILL.md and modify the question patterns:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/brainstorming-custom
cp ~/.claude/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/brainstorming-custom/SKILL.md
# Then open in an editor and adjust question patterns to fit your context

Practical Example

Scenario: You have been assigned a project to build a "Student Club Notice Board" using Next.js 15 App Router. The professor only said "CRUD with login is fine."

# In a Claude Code session
> I want to build a student club notice board with Next.js 15. Let's use the brainstorming skill to agree on intent first.

Example questions Claude might ask:

1. "Who are the primary readers of the notices? (Club members only / Open to all students)" → determines authentication scope
2. "Who writes the notices? (President only / Officers / All members)" → determines permission model
3. "Is a read receipt or notification feature needed?" → determines DB schema
4. "Could Discord replace this board?" → determines whether to build it at all

Final agreement statement:

"A notice page built with Next.js 15 + Supabase, used by logged-in club members (read) and officers (write). Notifications are excluded from MVP."

// Only after brainstorming can you confidently make these decisions
// app/notices/page.tsx — server component (read-only)
// app/notices/new/page.tsx — officers only (permission middleware required)
// lib/auth.ts — role-based guard

Learning Points / Common Pitfalls

• Resist the urge to "code first": The most common mistake is running npm create next-app with only half the requirements understood. 15–30 minutes of brainstorming prevents 3 hours of going in the wrong direction.
• Remember just four questions: "Who uses it / What do they want / When does it fail / Why now?" clears up 90% of ambiguity.
• Always end with a one-sentence summary: The completion criterion for brainstorming is "Can it be summarized in one line?" If not, agreement is still lacking.
• Next.js 15 tip: Choosing between server components and client components is actually a brainstorming-stage decision. Agreeing on "Is interaction needed? Is there a form?" first makes placing "use client" much cleaner.

Related Resources

• Writing Plans (writing-plans) — The next step after brainstorming
• Executing Plans (executing-plans) — Execute after planning
• CEO Review (plan-ceo-review) — Re-examine plan scope
• Office Hours (office-hours) — YC-style idea exploration

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Field	Value
Source URL	https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills
Author / Source	Anthropic
License	Commentary MIT, original for reference only
Translation Date	2026-04-13