Brainstorm Engine — Skill Skeleton
A divergence-then-evaluation brainstorming skill with one property most idea-generation tools skip: it forces a decision at the end instead of stopping at a ranked list.
A skill definition for structured brainstorming — generate first, score second, audit for bias third, then force a same-session pick. Built after measuring that a looser version of this process produced 604 ideas across 9 runs and converted exactly zero into a chosen next step. The fix wasn't a better idea generator; it was making the audit step and the final choice impossible to silently skip.
Download
⬇ brainstorm-skill.zip — the whole thing, 5 files, no dependencies beyond Python 3.7.
Or read the files individually: SKILL.md · verify_scores.py · criteria-sets.md · README.md · example run
Unzip it and run this — it works with no setup:
python scripts/verify_scores.py example/demo_state.jsonYou get a ranking stamped ⚠ PRELIMINARY, because the bias audit has not run. Then try to clear that flag dishonestly:
python scripts/verify_scores.py example/demo_state.json --bias-done
# REFUSED: bias_audit.findings is empty.
# exit code 2That refusal is the entire idea. Everything else is ordinary brainstorming structure.
What it is
A skill definition for a divergence → evaluation → bias-audit → decision pipeline. It exists because a version of this process without the enforcement described below ran 9 times, produced 604 ideas total, and ended in a real decision zero times.
---
name: brainstorm
description: Divergence-then-evaluation engine for open problems.
Trigger: "give me options for X", "what are all the ways we could Y".
NOT FOR: choosing between known variants (→ a decision/vote skill),
refining one existing output (→ an iteration skill).
---
# BRAINSTORM
## Phases (gated, resumable)
F0 Scope: size (15 / 40 / 100+ ideas), criteria set, weights
F1 Divergence: generate WITHOUT scoring — mixing the two kills variety
F2 Evaluation: score on fixed axes, always via a verification script,
never by hand — hand-scored runs had measurable arithmetic errors
F3 Bias audit — MANDATORY, technically enforced (see below)
F4 Consolidation: merge into initiatives, re-score the whole, not
the average of the parts
F5 End-of-run: force a same-session pick, 3-5 items, numbers suffice
## Hard gate
Any ranked output produced before F3 (bias audit) completes carries
a visible ⚠ PRELIMINARY watermark. The watermark clears only when the
audit script has actually run — not when the model claims it did.How to use
The two mechanisms worth copying even outside this exact tool:
The watermark. Declaring a step "mandatory" in an instruction file is a request the model can quietly skip under time pressure — this happened on 4 of 9 runs before the gate existed. A watermark the tool cannot remove itself, tied to a script actually executing, converts a request into a gate. The difference only shows up under pressure, which is exactly when it matters.
The forced pick. A ranked list is not a decision. Ending every run with "pick 3–5 now, or tell me explicitly when you will" turned a 0% follow-through rate into a measurable one — the deferral became visible instead of silent.
What to fill in
Swap the criteria axes for your domain (impact/effort/risk is a reasonable default). Point the verification script at wherever your run state gets saved — the requirement is only that scoring happens in code, not in the model's head, since that's the step that had the errors.
Where the numbers come from
The 604/0 and 5-of-9 figures are from this system's own run history, written up in
Dev Log #006 — The Brainstorm Tool That Ran On Itself.
License
MIT.
$ head -12 dl-brainstorm-engine.md
$ cite dl-brainstorm-engine
Citation id SV-5864 is stable. It resolves at
https://stillvalid.dev/c/SV-5864 even if this artifact moves to another section,
which a bare URL does not survive. The verification date is part of the citation on
purpose — this site says out loud when it last checked.
[Brainstorm Engine — Skill Skeleton](https://stillvalid.dev/downloads/dl-brainstorm-engine) — stillvalid, SV-5864 (artifact, verified 2026-08-17)