Brainstorming Skill

Generate diverse perspectives through structured focus group sessions.
This is the single entry point for the jam domain — route the user's request
to one of the sub-actions below.

Runtime

Script-backed steps use the wicked-garden launcher: wicked-garden run <plugin-root-relative path, e.g. scripts/…> [args]. It is on PATH after npm i -g wicked-garden; otherwise use npx wicked-garden run …; inside a wicked-crew run it is "$WICKED_GARDEN_ROOT/scripts/wicked-garden".
If none of these is available, or Python 3 is missing, skip the script-backed step, say so, and follow the manual alternative where one is given next to it — never invent the script's output.
Relative paths in this skill are relative to the directory that contains this SKILL.md.

Routing

Sub-action	When	How it runs
quick	Gut-check, rapid exploration (~60s)	Inline — apply refs/quick.md directly
brainstorm	Important decisions, complex problems	Hand-off → wicked-garden-jam-brainstorm-facilitator
council	Defined options needing a rigid verdict	Hand-off → wicked-garden-jam-council
revisit	Record the outcome of a past decision	Inline — follow refs/revisit.md

Progression: quick (60s gut-check, ephemeral) → brainstorm (full
session with evidence + decision storage) → council (structured verdict
with external LLMs, final step). Key distinction: quick = ideation,
brainstorm = free-form exploration, council = rigid evaluation of
defined options.

Quick-Start

# Fast gut-check (ephemeral, ~60s)
jam quick "Should we use feature flags or config files here?"

# Full session with evidence and decision storage
jam brainstorm "Architecture approach for the new event bus"

# High-stakes council with external LLM challenge
jam council "Go/no-go on the v9 storage migration" --options "go, no-go"

# Record how a past decision worked out
jam revisit "event bus architecture"

Sub-action: quick

Args: <idea or question>

Quick 60-second exploration with 4 personas and 1 round. Run it inline — no
dispatch:

1. Read refs/quick.md (relative to this skill's base directory) — the single-pass
   rubric: 4 personas, 1 forced round, synthesis format (Key Insights / Action
   Items / Open Questions), hard constraints (no storage, no multi-AI, ≤200 words).
2. Apply the rubric directly to the topic. Do NOT run additional rounds. Do NOT store.

Sub-action: brainstorm

Args: <topic> [--personas list] [--rounds n] [--converge fast]

Full brainstorm with evidence-backed perspectives. The facilitator gathers
evidence from the ecosystem (past decisions, code context, brainstorm
outcomes) before assembling personas, so they argue from data — not just
opinions. After synthesis, a structured decision record is automatically
stored via the wicked-garden-mem skill for organizational memory.

Convergence modes (pass through as convergence_mode):

• normal (default): Run all requested rounds (2-3), then synthesize.
• fast (--converge fast): After each round, assess whether there is
  enough signal to synthesize; skip remaining rounds when personas converge.

Hand off to the facilitator worker skill (it owns the convergence checks,
task tracking, transcript storage, and bus events):

Hand-off — open the wicked-garden-jam-brainstorm-facilitator skill with "Run a full brainstorm session on: {topic}. Options: {personas}, {rounds}, convergence_mode={converge|'normal'}." as the argument; on Claude Code this is the Skill tool, on any other seat open the named skill from your catalog and carry it out inline, then continue here.

Sub-action: council

Args: <topic> --options "A, B, C" [--criteria "perf, cost, risk"]

Structured evaluation tool that uses real external LLM CLIs — registry-driven
(20+ CLIs: Codex, Gemini, Copilot, OpenCode, Pi, Aider, Goose, Amp, Droid, …;
see scripts/jam/agentic_cli_registry.py) — to get genuinely independent
model perspectives. Installed CLIs are detected AND usability-probed via
wicked-garden run scripts/jam/detect_clis.py --probe (auth-revoked / unconfigured /
daemon-down CLIs are excluded). When fewer than 2 usable external CLIs are
present, council seats are filled with separate-worker seats so deliberation
always happens. Unlike brainstorm (free-form creative exploration), council is
a rigid evaluation tool for when you have defined options and need a
verdict.

Natural workflow: brainstorm → identify candidates → council → decide

Hand off to the council worker skill:

Hand-off — open the wicked-garden-jam-council skill with "Run a council evaluation on: {topic}. Options: {options}. Criteria: {criteria}." as the argument; on Claude Code this is the Skill tool, on any other seat open the named skill from your catalog and carry it out inline, then continue here.

After the council returns: read
refs/council-verdict.md — it holds the
caller-side heuristics for acting on the verdict (when to proceed, when to
surface raw votes and pause for human adjudication, hard-gate archetype rules)
and the raw_votes output envelope contract
(consensus.py::build_council_output, WG_COUNCIL_OUTPUT=both|synth|raw).

Sub-action: revisit

Args: <topic or decision keyword>

Revisit a past brainstorm decision to record whether it was validated,
invalidated, or modified. Light workflow — run it inline, no hand-off:

1. Read refs/revisit.md — the 5-step
   workflow: recall the decision via the wicked-garden-mem skill, display
   the decision summary, ask validated/invalidated/modified, store the
   outcome (about tags jam,outcome), report. Degrades gracefully when the
   memory layer is absent.
2. Follow it step by step, waiting for the user's outcome answer in step 3.

Workers

• skills/jam-brainstorm-facilitator/SKILL.md — multi-round, evidence gathering, transcript storage, decision record
• skills/jam-council/SKILL.md — registry-driven multi-model council with isolation-enforced parallel seats

(jam quick runs inline via refs/quick.md — the former quick-facilitator
agent was retired; the ref is the sole, up-to-date rubric.)

References

• refs/quick.md — the single-pass quick-jam rubric (personas, round, synthesis shape, hard constraints)
• refs/revisit.md — the decision-outcome revisit workflow
• refs/council-verdict.md — caller-side verdict heuristics + raw_votes output contract
• refs/facilitation-patterns.md — persona archetype pool, session length guidance, anti-patterns
• refs/synthesis-patterns.md — synthesis structure, quality checklist, decision record format