thomasholknielsen/claude-tweaks:capture

Interaction style: Present decisions as numbered options so the user can reply with just a number. For multi-item decisions, present a table with recommended actions and offer "apply all / override." Never present more than one batch decision table per message — resolve each before showing the next. End skills with a Next Actions block (context-specific numbered options with one recommended), not a navigation menu.

Capture — Quickly note an idea for later specification

Quick capture for ideas that aren't ready for full specification. Part of the workflow lifecycle:

/claude-tweaks:init → [ /claude-tweaks:capture ] → /claude-tweaks:challenge → /superpowers:brainstorming → /claude-tweaks:specify → /claude-tweaks:build → /claude-tweaks:stories → /claude-tweaks:test → /claude-tweaks:review → /claude-tweaks:wrap-up
                        ^^^^ YOU ARE HERE ^^^^

When to Use

• User mentions something that should be a feature but isn't specified
• Discovery during implementation reveals something that needs its own spec
• "We should probably..." or "Don't forget to..." moments
• Anything that would otherwise be lost or forgotten

INBOX vs DEFERRED: Use /claude-tweaks:capture for new ideas and half-formed features. Work deferred from an active build/review goes to specs/DEFERRED.md instead — it carries origin context, file references, and timing triggers that INBOX entries don't have.

Input

$ARGUMENTS is parsed as <idea text> [--route=<value>]:

| Argument | Behavior | |----------|----------| | Free-text idea | The body of the INBOX entry (title is derived from the first phrase or supplied via --title=). | | --route=challenge / --route=brainstorm / --route=inbox / --route=merge:N | Skip the post-capture routing prompt; apply the route directly. | | --title="..." | Override the auto-derived title. |

When $ARGUMENTS is empty, prompt the user for the idea body.

Workflow

| Step | What | |------|------| | 1 | Append entry to specs/INBOX.md per the Entry Format below. | | 2 | Route per --route arg, or via the Routing Prompt below. | | 3 | Commit (when this is a standalone invocation; component-skill callers commit themselves). |

File Location

specs/INBOX.md — single file, append-only during capture.

Entry Format

## [Short Title]

**Added:** YYYY-MM-DD | **Category:** {product | technical | legal | infrastructure} | **Related:** (optional spec numbers or "none")

Context: 1-2 sentences on why this came up or what triggered it

Scope: Rough sense of what it might involve (can be vague)

Hard cap: ~5 lines per entry

If it takes more than 5 lines to describe, it's past the inbox stage — run /superpowers:brainstorming on it instead.

Adding an Entry

1. Open specs/INBOX.md
2. Append new entry at the bottom
3. Don't overthink — capture the essence

Immediate Routing

After adding the entry, route the item per the --route arg or by asking.

Routing via --route arg (front-loaded)

/claude-tweaks:capture accepts --route={challenge|brainstorm|inbox|merge:N} to skip the post-capture prompt:

| --route value | Action | |---|---| | challenge | Open /claude-tweaks:challenge with the new INBOX item as input | | brainstorm | Open /superpowers:brainstorming with the new INBOX item as input | | inbox | Keep in INBOX; no further routing | | merge:42 | Merge the entry into spec 42; remove from INBOX |

When --route is provided, log:

AUTO {time} — Routing: applied --route={value} for INBOX entry "{title}".

No further prompt. Proceed directly to the routed skill or commit.

Routing prompt (when --route not provided)

In auto mode, apply the silences-table row for /capture from _shared/auto-mode-contract.md: if --route was passed, honor it; otherwise default to inbox (the most conservative route — the item stays parked for periodic review at /tidy, no INBOX/DEFERRED write that wouldn't have happened anyway). Log:

AUTO {time} — Routing: defaulted to inbox (no --route provided). Reversibility: high (entry stays in INBOX; user can re-route via /tidy at any time).

In interactive mode (or when explicitly opted in), present:

Added to INBOX: "{item title}"

What should happen with this?
1. Challenge first — Run /claude-tweaks:challenge to stress-test assumptions, then /superpowers:brainstorming, then /claude-tweaks:specify
2. Brainstorm directly — Run /superpowers:brainstorming to explore the idea now, then /claude-tweaks:specify
3. Keep in INBOX — Not ready yet, will be reviewed during /claude-tweaks:tidy
4. Merge into spec {N} — This belongs in an existing spec (if a related spec is obvious)

Option 4 visibility: Only show option 4 when a spec name in specs/ matches the topic keywords from the INBOX item. Without a candidate match, option 4 is omitted entirely — manual disambiguation against an unspecified spec number is worse than no option at all.

This ensures every captured idea has an explicit next step — either immediate action or a conscious decision to park it.

Good entries:

• "Voice command to add item to shopping list" — context explains the need
• "Recipe nutrition facts display" — scope hints at UI + data needs

Bad entries:

• Just "nutrition" — too vague to act on later
• Full spec with 20 tasks — that's a spec, not an inbox item
• Notes about an existing spec ("spec 50 needs review") — put that on the spec itself

Review Workflow

Periodically (or when inbox gets long), use /claude-tweaks:tidy to batch-review all INBOX items with recommended actions.

Next Actions

When invoked by a parent skill, omit this block — the parent owns the handoff. When invoked directly by a user:

1. /claude-tweaks:capture {next idea} — capture another idea while you're in brainstorming flow (Recommended)
2. /claude-tweaks:tidy — review and triage INBOX (promote, merge, or drop stale items)
3. /claude-tweaks:specify "{title}" — promote this idea straight to a spec (uses the entry's title — INBOX entries are addressed by title, not numeric index)
4. /claude-tweaks:challenge "{title}" — debias and stress-test assumptions before specifying

Component-Skill Contract

This skill is a component skill — directly invoked by /claude-tweaks:build (Common Step 4, design-mode follow-up capture). /claude-tweaks:visual-review, /claude-tweaks:reflect, and /claude-tweaks:wrap-up write to specs/INBOX.md directly without going through this skill, so they are NOT capture parents — they only recommend /capture in Next Actions for the user's next session.

Capture is also a parent of /challenge when --route=challenge is set — when invoking /challenge, capture sets $PIPELINE_RUN_DIR to a standalone run dir (per _shared/pipeline-run-dir.md step 3) if not already set, so the child's auto-mode and audit-log behavior resolves correctly.

Parent invocation of /capture is signaled by $PIPELINE_RUN_DIR being set in the environment (/build running inside /flow). When invoked from within a parent's workflow, omit the ## Next Actions block — the parent owns the handoff. When invoked directly by a user (no PIPELINE_RUN_DIR), render Next Actions as shown above.

Side effect of $PIPELINE_RUN_DIR-based detection: if a user invokes /capture directly while an active /flow pipeline is running, Next Actions are suppressed because the env var is set. This is intentional — pipeline-mid-flow handoff suggestions would conflict with the orchestrator's flow.

Anti-Patterns

| Pattern | Why It Fails | |---------|-------------| | Using INBOX for ideas that already have a spec | Duplicates intent across two files — annotate the spec directly instead so the durable record stays the source of truth | | Writing full specs in INBOX | INBOX is for half-formed ideas; a fully-formed spec belongs in specs/ where /build and /flow can act on it | | Never reviewing INBOX | Without periodic triage via /claude-tweaks:tidy, INBOX becomes a graveyard and captured ideas lose context over time | | Adding implementation details to an INBOX entry | INBOX captures what and why — how is brainstorming + spec territory and changes faster than the idea itself | | Skipping /superpowers:brainstorming and jumping straight to specs | Brainstorming surfaces assumptions and constraints that specs need; without it, specs encode unchallenged premises | | Putting notes about existing specs in INBOX | Notes drift from the spec they describe — annotate the spec file directly so the note moves with the work |

Relationship to Other Skills

| Skill | Relationship | |-------|-------------| | /claude-tweaks:challenge | Debiases INBOX items before /superpowers:brainstorming — /claude-tweaks:help flags candidates | | /superpowers:brainstorming | Explores promoted INBOX items — produces design docs | | /claude-tweaks:specify | Converts /superpowers:brainstorming output into specs | | /claude-tweaks:tidy | Reviews INBOX for stale items — promotes, merges, or deletes | | /claude-tweaks:review | May create INBOX items for new ideas discovered during review | | /claude-tweaks:wrap-up | May create INBOX items for genuinely new ideas; leftover work goes to DEFERRED.md | | /claude-tweaks:build | Calls /capture during Common Step 4 (design mode) to file blocked items and follow-up ideas before they slip | | /claude-tweaks:init | After bootstrap, /init suggests /capture as the entry point for parking ideas that surface during setup but aren't ready to specify | | /claude-tweaks:reflect | Surfaces tangential ideas at the Wrap-Up Review Console (writes direct to INBOX, not via /capture) | | /claude-tweaks:visual-review | UI ideas surfaced during visual review (creative improvements, follow-ups) land in INBOX via /capture instead of inflating the current spec | | specs/DEFERRED.md | Structured deferral for build/review work — carries origin, files, and triggers that INBOX doesn't | | /claude-tweaks:research | Research findings can be captured as INBOX items; invoke /research when an INBOX idea needs evidence before specifying. | | _shared/auto-mode-contract.md | Single source of truth for auto-mode behavior — read before adding any auto-mode handling |