/idea - Capture Project Idea

Quickly add a project idea to the board. No PRD, no stories — just capture the thought.

Input: $ARGUMENTS

Step 1: Parse Input

Extract from $ARGUMENTS:

• --company <slug> or -c <slug> — explicit company override
• --app <repo-name> — target repo/app (sets scope: "app")
• Everything else → idea description text

If $ARGUMENTS is empty and no flags, go to Step 2 (full interview). If description text is present (>5 words after flag extraction), skip the description question in Step 3.

Step 2: Resolve Company

Priority order:

1. --company / -c flag → use exact slug
2. cwd inside companies/{slug}/ → infer from path
3. cwd inside repos/{pub|priv}/{name} → look up owning company in companies/manifest.yaml
4. If still ambiguous → ask in Step 3

Read companies/manifest.yaml. Validate company slug exists and has a non-empty board_path.

If board_path is empty or missing:

• Ask: "Company {slug} has no board. Create one? [Y/n]"
• If yes: write fresh board.json at companies/{slug}/board.json with {"company":"{slug}","updated_at":"ISO8601","initiatives":[],"projects":[]}, update manifest board_path
• If no: abort

Step 3: Interview (1 AskUserQuestion call)

Batch all missing info into one AskUserQuestion call. Skip any field already resolved from args/context.

Questions (include only what's missing):

1. What's the idea? (1-2 sentences) Skip if description already extracted from args.

2. Scope?

   • A. Company-wide (no specific repo)
   • B. App/repo → list company repos from manifest as sub-options Skip if --app flag provided or company has no repos.

3. Goal alignment? (optional) If board schema_version >= 2 and objectives[] is non-empty, list objectives:

   1. {obj-title-1}
   2. {obj-title-2}
   N. None
   

   If board is v1 or has no objectives, fall back to listing active initiatives:

   1. {init-title-1}
   2. {init-title-2}
   N. None
   

   If board has neither objectives nor active initiatives, skip and default to null.

If company was unresolved in Step 2, prepend a company question:

• Which company? List all companies from manifest that have a board_path.

Target: 1 AskUserQuestion call total. If everything is provided via args (description + company + app), skip straight to Step 4 — no interview needed.

Step 4: Write Board Entry

1. Read companies/{co}/board.json
2. Generate ID:
   • Collect all id values from projects array
   • Extract numeric suffixes from IDs matching {prefix}-proj-{NNN} pattern
   • Next ID = {prefix}-proj-{max_N + 1}, zero-padded to 3 digits (4+ if >999)
   • Use the lowercase prefix convention from existing entries (e.g. lr, ab, pe)
3. Derive title: If description is >50 chars, derive a concise 3-6 word title. If ≤50 chars, use as-is for both title and description.
4. Build entry:

   {
     "id": "{prefix}-proj-{NNN}",
     "title": "{concise title}",
     "description": "{user's full description}",
     "status": "idea",
     "scope": "company|app",
     "app": "{repo-name|null}",
     "initiative_id": "{xx-init-NNN|null}",
     "objective_id": "{xx-obj-NNN|null}",
     "prd_path": null,
     "created_at": "{ISO8601}",
     "updated_at": "{ISO8601}"
   }
   

   If user selected an objective in Step 3, set objective_id to that objective's ID. Also find the objective's initiative_ids[0] (if any) and set initiative_id for backward compatibility.
5. Append to projects array. Update root updated_at. Write board.json.

Step 5: Confirm & Reindex

Before printing confirmation, optional best-effort note (presence is automatic):

hq mesh session note --session-id <sid> --enqueue --seq <n> --summary "Idea captured: {title}"

If the daemon/helper is unavailable, continue silently. Manual verbs only: task-status, blocked, note.

Print:

Idea captured: **{title}** ({id})
Board: companies/{co}/board.json
Status: idea

Next steps:
  /prd {title}             → promote to full PRD
  /idea                     → add another idea
  /idea --company {co}      → add idea to same board

Reindex: qmd update 2>/dev/null || true

Rules

• No PRD files — this command ONLY writes to board.json
• No orchestrator registration — ideas are not executable; /prd handles that on promotion
• No Linear sync — ideas are pre-planning; Linear sync happens at /prd time
• 1 AskUserQuestion max — batch everything into one call
• No TodoWrite — single-step output, not needed
• No EnterPlanMode — this command IS the quick capture
• Board.json is the only file written (plus manifest if board_path was empty)
• Follow existing ID conventions — lowercase prefix, zero-padded 3-digit numbers
• Inline mode: if all info is provided via args/flags, write the entry with zero questions
• Work mesh is best-effort — for cloud-connected company boards, report the captured idea through hq mesh; never block idea capture on mesh availability. Presence is automatic; use hq mesh session note for discrete milestones.

See also

• /brainstorm — compare approaches
• /prd — promote it to a full PRD