Skip to main content
Ideation is the first stage of the Build pipeline. Its job is to turn a raw idea into a concept sharp enough to research and build, before any money or build time is spent.

​
What the stage produces

  • A concept brief that states the problem, the target user, and what must be true for the product to work
  • A log of the assumptions the concept depends on
  • A log of open questions for the Research Agent to answer in the next stage

​
Who runs it

The Ideation Agent is a Socratic thinking partner. Its own system prompt puts it plainly: “You are a QUESTIONER who draws the concept out of the user.” It is explicitly not a writer that invents a concept for you. It asks, you answer, and the concept takes shape from your answers. While you talk, it works with a small, focused toolset: it records unresolved questions (log_open_question) and assumptions (log_assumption), checks claims against the live web as they come up, consults a peer agent (typically Research) for a quick fact-check, and maintains the rolling concept brief as a markdown document.

​
What it reads

  • Your raw idea, in whatever shape you bring it
  • Any prior concept brief, if you are revisiting an existing project
  • The project wiki maintained by the Orchestrator

​
How you steer it

Ideation is the most conversational stage, and the steering is the conversation itself. A few things that help:
  • Answer honestly, including “I don’t know.” Unknowns are not failures here; they become logged open questions that Discover will investigate with real sources.
  • Push back on framings that feel wrong. The brief is rolling, so corrections are folded in as you go rather than requiring a rewrite.
  • Name your assumptions when you notice them. The agent logs assumptions it surfaces, but you can flag your own and they go into the same record.
The open-questions log is the handoff contract with the next stage. The more precisely a question is stated during Ideation, the more useful the sourced answer from Research will be.

​
What happens next

When the concept is sharp, the Orchestrator proposes the transition to the Discover stage for your approval. The Research Agent then picks up the concept brief and the open-questions log as its starting inputs, and grounds each question in sources you can click. Continue to Research.