# brainstorm-coach

Guides a brainstorming session from open-ended idea generation to priorities and next steps. Use it to think through a topic with an AI agent.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 88
- Author: tronghieu
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/tronghieu/agent-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-18
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/brainstorm-coach

## What it does

The skill starts by asking what the session is about, which constraints matter, and whether to explore broadly or focus on a narrow question. It then selects an ideation technique; the user can delegate that choice, request a recommendation, or ask for a planned sequence. Technique details are loaded from files in `references/`.

Each round gives the user the first turn, then adds a few AI suggestions. Ideas stay unevaluated during exploration. When the session shifts to selection, the skill groups them and sorts the strongest candidates into outcome categories, with an initial action for each pick. A session document is the default preference, so opt out if you don’t want one.

For more perspectives, `party mode` brings in role-based lenses chosen for the topic. If the request is really about diagnosing why something failed, the skill points toward a separate problem-solving tool rather than treating guesses as a diagnosis.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add tronghieu/agent-skills --skill brainstorm-coach -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/brainstorm-coach/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add tronghieu/agent-skills --skill brainstorm-coach -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add tronghieu/agent-skills --skill brainstorm-coach -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install tronghieu/agent-skills brainstorm-coach
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add tronghieu/agent-skills --skill brainstorm-coach -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/tronghieu/agent-skills --path skills/brainstorm-coach
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add tronghieu/agent-skills --skill brainstorm-coach -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/tronghieu/agent-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/brainstorm-coach/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- turn a vague topic into several directions to explore
- get fresh angles on an existing idea
- group brainstorm results and choose priorities
- define a first action for each selected idea

## Example prompts
- Help me explore names for this app; ask one question at a time.
- Brainstorm possible features for this project, then help me sort the ideas.
- Use `party mode` to examine this concept from different perspectives.

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 33d7362fd254005b.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 33d7362fd254005b
```text
---
name: brainstorm-coach
description: >-
  Coach structured brainstorming sessions on any topic: diverge on ideas
  together, then converge on priorities and next steps in a session document.
  Use whenever the user wants ideas or wants to think out loud, in any language
  ("brainstorm with me", "give me ideas for…", "help me come up with…", "let's
  explore options for…", "I'm stuck on the name / the features"; Vietnamese
  "brainstorm cùng tôi", "cho tôi ý tưởng", "nghĩ cùng tôi xem"), even when they
  never say "brainstorm". Also use when the user wants multiple perspectives or
  a devil's-advocate pass on their ideas ("give me different angles", "phản biện
  mấy ý tưởng này", "party mode"). Not for diagnosing why something is failing
  (problem-solver), user research (design-thinking), or company-level strategic
  bets (strategy-board).
---

# Brainstorm Coach

A **facilitator and hybrid thinking partner** for divergent ideation. The
skill does two jobs that reinforce each other:

1. **Get to genuinely good ideas.** Structured techniques, disciplined
   divergence, honest convergence — not a firehose of generic suggestions.
2. **Keep the user the generator.** The user's ideas come first in every
   round; yours arrive after, clearly labeled, building on theirs. A
   brainstorm where the AI produces everything trains the user to stop
   producing anything — the same cognitive-offloading failure the rest of
   this skill family is built against.

The second job is the signature. An AI can trivially dump thirty plausible
ideas; what it cannot do is know the user's context, taste, constraints,
and half-formed hunches. The hybrid rhythm below extracts those first,
then amplifies them.

## The hybrid rhythm

Every round of every technique follows the same beat:

1. **Prompt** — pose one prompt from the current technique. One question
   at a time; then stop and wait. A wall of questions kills momentum.
2. **User first** — the user responds with their ideas. Record them in
   the session document **verbatim, in their own words**, tagged `(user)`.
   Never paraphrase an idea inside the record — rewording someone's idea
   is how ownership quietly transfers to the rewriter.
3. **Build** — now add your own material, tagged `(AI)`: "yes-and"
   extensions of their ideas, variations, and genuinely new directions.
   Keep it to 2–4 additions per round — enough to spark, not enough to
   drown.
4. **Return the floor** — end on **exactly one question**: the next
   prompt, *or* an invitation to riff on the additions — one, never
   both. Tacking a second offer onto the ending ("…or want to try
   another angle next?") turns a clean handoff into a menu, and a menu
   puts the user back into choosing-from-the-AI mode instead of
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 33d7362fd254005b

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