Idea Refine
Run structured multi-phase ideation so vague product, feature, or process ideas become sharpened problem statements before you commit to building.
Overview
idea-refine is a journey-wide agent skill that runs structured ideation sessions to sharpen vague opportunities—usable whenever a solo builder needs to explore and narrow a concept before committing to validation or buil
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/addyosmani/agent-skills --skill idea-refineWhat is this skill?
- Guided 3-phase ideation rhythm (understand and expand, then converge) modeled in full session examples
- Works for vague startup concepts, features on an existing product, or internal process improvements
- Uses How-might-we framing and sharpened follow-up questions instead of jumping to solutions
- Tone and structure examples teach the agent how to keep sessions collaborative rather than prescriptive
- 3-phase ideation session structure demonstrated in bundled examples
Adoption & trust: 4.2k installs on skills.sh; 49.1k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits); trending (+200% hot-view momentum).
What problem does it solve?
You have a rough idea you care about but no shared problem framing, success criteria, or explicit tradeoffs to hand off to validation or planning skills.
Who is it for?
Solo builders kicking off a new product angle, a major feature bet, or a workflow change who want facilitator-style questioning instead of instant feature lists.
Skip if: Builders who already have an approved spec, PRD, or implementation plan—skip ideation and move to validate, ship, or execution skills.
When should I use this skill?
When you have a vague startup concept, a feature idea for an existing product, or a process improvement to explore via structured ideation (e.g. /ideate-style invocation).
What do I get? / Deliverables
You leave with an expanded-then-focused problem narrative, clarified actors and constraints, and language ready for scoping, landing tests, or writing-plans style handoffs.
- Sharpened problem framing
- Clarified actors constraints and open questions
- Session-ready narrative for downstream planning or validation
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Useful at every journey phase - explore requirements and options before committing to a direction.
Where it fits
You invoke ideation on a half-formed market idea and the skill expands then narrows who hurts and why before you research competitors.
You reuse the session rhythm to decide which slice of a big concept is worth a prototype or landing test.
You ideate on a major feature for an existing SaaS so prioritization reflects user pain—not the first solution the agent suggested.
You run a shorter ideation pass on an internal workflow bottleneck before changing tooling or automation.
How it compares
Use instead of unstructured brainstorming chat when you want a documented multi-phase ideation rhythm with example-backed tone.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is idea-refine for?
Solo and indie builders using Claude Code, Cursor, or similar agents who need to turn fuzzy opportunities into clearer problem statements before they invest in builds.
When should I use idea-refine?
At Idea discover when a concept is still vague; at Validate scope when a feature direction needs reframing; during Build pm when prioritizing a bet; or in Operate iterate when improving a process—anytime you need structured ideation before committing.
Is idea-refine safe to install?
It is a conversational workflow skill with no bundled executables; review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page before installing from any third-party skills source.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Idea Refine
# Ideation Session Examples These examples demonstrate what good ideation sessions look like across different kinds of ideas. Study the rhythm, tone, and structure — not just the content. The skill should feel equally at home with a vague startup concept, a feature for an existing product, or a process improvement. --- ## Example 1: Vague Early-Stage Concept (Full 3-Phase Session) **User invokes:** `/ideate I want to help small local restaurants compete with the big delivery platforms` ### Phase 1: Understand & Expand **Skill response:** > **How might we** give independent restaurants the reach and convenience customers expect from delivery platforms, without forcing them into a model that erodes their margins and brand? That's a big space. Let me sharpen it: 1. **Which part of "compete"?** Customer acquisition? Delivery logistics? Online ordering UX? Loyalty/retention? Margin pressure from platform fees? 2. **Who are you building for?** The restaurant owner? The diner? Both? 3. **What's the constraint?** Are you thinking software? A cooperative model? Something physical? **User responds:** "Restaurant owners. The core pain is that they're paying 25-30% commission to delivery apps but feel they can't opt out because that's where the customers are. I'm thinking software but I'm open." **Skill continues:** So the problem isn't delivery logistics — it's **customer dependency**. The platforms own the customer relationship, and restaurants are renting access to their own customers at 30% of revenue. That's the leverage to break. Here are 6 variations: 1. **Direct Channel Toolkit:** Give restaurants their own branded ordering — web, SMS, maybe a lightweight app — so they can move existing customers off-platform. The core bet: customers who *already know* a restaurant will order direct if it's easy enough. You don't need to compete with DoorDash for discovery, just for reordering. 2. **Inversion — Charge the Customer, Not the Restaurant:** What if the delivery fee model flipped? Customers pay a small premium for direct ordering, restaurants pay zero commission. Position it as "support your local spot." The bet: enough customers care about supporting local businesses to pay $1-2 more per order. 3. **Constraint Removal — What If Delivery Weren't Required?** The platforms bundle discovery + ordering + delivery, but most of their cost (and the restaurant's commission) is delivery. What if you only solved ordering and pickup? Pickup-first model. Restaurants keep 100% of revenue, customers save the delivery fee. Works best in dense neighborhoods. 4. **Combination — Restaurant Collective:** A co-op model where 20-50 local restaurants in an area share a platform, split costs, and cross-promote each other. Individual restaurants can't afford marketing — but a neighborhood collective can. Think "local food hall" but digital. 5. **Audience Shift — For Regular Customers:** Don't try to acquire new customers. Build exclusively for a restaurant's existing regulars — the people who come in weekly. A loyalty/reorder tool that's dead simple: "Your usual?" one-tap reorder. The 80/20 bet: 20% of customers drive 80% of revenue, and those people don't need DoorDash to discover the restaurant. 6. **Expert Lens — What Restaurant Owners Actually Do:** Most small restaurant owners aren't looking at dashboards. They're in the kitchen. Any tool that requires them to "manage" something will fail. The winning approach might be something that runs itself — auto-texts regulars when they haven't ordered in 2 weeks, auto-posts the daily special, auto-handles reorders. Zero restaurant-side effort. Variation 5 and 6 together are interesting. Instead of trying to out-platform the platforms, you'd build something hyper-narrow: a reordering and retention tool for a restaurant's best existing customers. No discovery, no delivery, no marketplace. Just "keep your regulars ordering direct." Which directions interest you? --- ### Phase 2: Evaluate & Con