renatocaliari/cali-interface-brainstorm

Interface Brainstorming

Tools: See references/cli-tools/subagents.md for subagent patterns.

Overview

This skill executes the Interface Brainstorming phase.

How to Load

This skill is bundled with cali-product-workflow — there is no standalone /skill: command.

Via Orchestrator (recommended)

The orchestrator reads this file directly when needed.

Standalone

To run standalone, see skills-workflow/cali-interface-brainstorm/SKILL.md for instructions and follow the instructions inline.

Process

Step 1: Read the references/ files to guide the process:

| File | Covers | When to read | |---|---|---| | references/interface-context.md | Progressive Clarification, when to use, system equivalents | Before starting | | references/interface-reconstruction.md | Context reconstruction, hidden job extraction | Before generating | | references/interface-rules.md | Separation Rule, Forced Trade-Off Rule, output quality | Before generating | | references/archetypes.md | 5 archetypes with descriptions | During generation | | references/hybrid-recommendation.md | Hybrid recommendation strategy | Step 3 only |

Generate Proposals (Step 1-2)

Step 1: Generate 5 proposals in parallel (5 independent workers):

subagent({
  tasks: [
    { agent: "worker", task: `Generate Proposal A (Archetype A — Conventional Standard) for [product context]. Full format per references/output-format.md.` },
    { agent: "worker", task: `Generate Proposal B (Archetype B — Interaction Paradigm Shift) for [product context]. Full format per references/output-format.md.` },
    { agent: "worker", task: `Generate Proposal C (Archetype C — Technological Vanguard) for [product context]. Full format per references/output-format.md.` },
    { agent: "worker", task: `Generate Proposal D (Archetype D — Radical Simplicity) for [product context]. Full format per references/output-format.md.` },
    { agent: "worker", task: `Generate Proposal E (Archetype E — Expert/Command-First) for [product context]. Full format per references/output-format.md.` },
  ],
  concurrency: 5,
  context: "fork"
})

• Each worker generates one proposal (independent, no cross-contamination)
• Combined output: .cali-product-workflow/{YYYY-MM-DD}/{_dir}/interfaces/interfaces_{v}.md

Step 2: see references/output-format.md for instructions to format and concatenate all proposals.

Generate Hybrid (Step 3 — AFTER proposals complete)

CRITICAL: Hybrid is generated AFTER all 5 proposals are complete to avoid bias. agent parameter is REQUIRED — always use "worker":

subagent({
  agent: "worker",
  task: `Read the 5 proposals (A-E) from .cali-product-workflow/{YYYY-MM-DD}/{_dir}/interfaces/interfaces_{v}.md.
Then generate a **Hybrid Proposal** that combines the strongest elements from 2 or more archetypes.
Follow references/hybrid-recommendation.md for the strategy.
Append to the interfaces file.`,
  reads: [`.cali-product-workflow/{YYYY-MM-DD}/{_dir}/interfaces/interfaces_{v}.md`]
})

Visual Review (Phase 8 Gate — Automatic)

After all proposals + Hybrid, use the Plannotator gate command (see references/cli-tools/plannotator.md for the correct CLI command). Execute it directly — do NOT describe it to the user.

Wait for the --gate result. If approved, automatically advance to Phase 9 (Interface Selection) — use Pattern 2 from references/cli-tools/structured-question.md to let the user pick one proposal. Do NOT just describe what comes next — execute it.

User Selection (Phase 9)

After visual review and approval, use Pattern 2 from ../../phases/ask-patterns.md to ask the user which proposal to follow.

Output

Interface proposals are saved to:

.cali-product-workflow/{YYYY-MM-DD}/{_dir}/interfaces/interfaces_{v}.md

Related Skills

• cali-shape-up: Produces the shaped proposal that feeds this phase
• cali-product-workflow (orchestrator): Coordinates this skill with other phases

Environment Adaptation

If a tool is unavailable, check: ../../../cali-product-workflow/references/cli-tools/