Code-Native UI Ideation

Core principle

Make design decisions comparable in the running product. Hold representative content, data, state, and constraints constant while varying named design choices.

Stage gate

Determine the current stage before proposing implementation:

• Choose directions: The user asks to brainstorm, contribute ideas, or decide what is worth building first. Respond with three to five directions, a short thesis and tradeoff for each, and ask them to select two to four. Stop there. Do not enumerate implementation files, promise to build every idea, or treat your own recommendation as the user's selection.
• Build variants: The user explicitly asks to implement alternatives now or has selected the comparison set. Build that small set in the project-native comparison surface.
• Graduate: The user has selected a direction and explicitly asks to clean up or productionize it. Follow the graduation boundary below.

A request for an exploration plan, expected handoff, or concrete next steps does not advance the stage. At the choose-directions stage, the concrete plan is to narrow the directions before implementation.

Choose directions

Use this section only at the choose-directions stage: