Octocode Brainstorming — Idea Research & Exploration

Explore an idea space and turn a raw idea into an evidence-grounded brief. This is exploratory research: map what exists, find the gaps, and pressure-test the idea — across the local workspace (when relevant), GitHub, npm, and the web. Output is a decision-ready brief — never designs, specs, or code. For "how do I build it" hand off to octocode-rfc-generator; this skill stops at "is it worth building, and where's the white space."

FRAME → DIVERGE → RESEARCH (parallel) → CROSS-POLLINATE → STRESS-TEST → SYNTHESIZE → DECIDE

Diverge before you converge

Two modes; mixing them kills both. Run divergence first and visibly, then converge hard with evidence.

• Diverge — expand framings/options. Defer all judgment; quantity first; combine and build. No "won't work" yet.
• Converge — research prior art, stress-test (Advocate vs Critic), weigh evidence, decide.

The first framing the user typed is rarely the best one to research — locking onto it anchors every search. Never critique while generating; never generate while deciding.

Mode scales divergence to the ask. State it in one line before diverging; default Validate when ambiguous.