Thomashighbaugh/tree-of-thoughts

Tree-of-Thoughts

Explore multiple distinct approaches to a problem in parallel, evaluate each against criteria, and recommend the best path forward.

⚠️ Cost Warning

Tree-of-Thoughts explores 3-5 branches simultaneously. Each branch requires multiple reasoning steps. This costs ~10× a normal API call. The user must explicitly confirm before proceeding.

When to Use

• User invokes /ideation tree-of-thoughts
• User asks for "tree of thought" or "branching exploration"
• Never auto-invoke — always get confirmation

Workflow

1. Show warning — Present the cost warning to the user:

   "Tree-of-Thoughts explores multiple solution branches in parallel. This costs ~10× a normal API call. Proceed? (yes/no)"

2. On confirmation — Identify the problem and generate 3-5 distinct approaches. Each branch should be genuinely different, not minor variations.

3. Explore each branch — For each approach:

   • What is the core idea?
   • What are the pros?
   • What are the cons?
   • What assumptions does it make?
   • What would it look like implemented?

4. Evaluate — Score each branch against:

   • Feasibility (can we build this?)
   • Impact (how well does it solve the problem?)
   • Risk (what could go wrong?)
   • Cost (effort, maintenance, complexity)

5. Recommend — Rank the branches. State the best approach and why it outranks the alternatives. Acknowledge what's given up by not choosing the other branches.

6. Save — Write the exploration to .opencode/state/ideation/ for later reference.

Output Format

## Tree-of-Thoughts: [Problem]

**Branches explored:** N

| # | Approach | Feasibility | Impact | Risk | Cost | Rank |
|---|----------|-------------|--------|------|------|------|
| 1 | ...      | High/Med/Low | High/Med/Low | High/Med/Low | High/Med/Low | 1st |

### Branch 1: [Name]
**Core idea:** [description]
**Pros:** [list]
**Cons:** [list]
**Assumptions:** [list]

### Branch 2: [Name]
...

### Recommendation
**Best approach:** [Branch X]
**Why:** [evidence-based justification]
**What's sacrificed:** [what the other branches offered]

**Saved to:** `.opencode/state/ideation/tree-of-thoughts-{topic}-{timestamp}.md`

Anti-Patterns

• Auto-running: Starting ToT without user confirmation. Always warn first.
• Shallow branches: Generating 3 variations of the same idea instead of 3 genuinely different approaches. Each branch should be a distinct strategy.
• Evaluation bias: Ranking your preferred approach higher without evidence. Score each branch objectively against the same criteria.
• No trade-off acknowledgment: Recommending the best approach without noting what's lost by not choosing alternatives.