brief-triage

Brief Triage

A 30-seconds-per-idea filter that sits between the daily-brief PR landing and the app-idea-feasibility skill. Most ideas don't deserve a $200/7-day feasibility test — they're obvious-no on visual inspection. This skill makes that judgment explicit, quoted, and dated.

Workflow

Step 1 — Locate the brief

If the user passed a path, read that. Otherwise look for the most recent ideas/<YYYY-MM-DD>/ideas.md in the working directory (the layout produced by .github/workflows/daily-brief.yml). If neither exists, ask the user for the path. Do not invent ideas.

Step 2 — Triage each idea

For every idea in the brief, assign exactly one bucket:

Verdict	Meaning	Triggers (any one is enough)
OBVIOUS NO	Don't waste $200 on this.	Crowded mobile market with a dominant paid incumbent (Notion, Calm, Strava, Duolingo, etc.); no plausible Android/iOS form factor; WTP quote is hedged or hypothetical ("might pay", "would consider"); idea targets "everyone" or "consumers"; already shipping under that exact name on Play Store / App Store; depends on a TOS-violating scrape (X/TikTok/Instagram personal data).
WORTH FEASIBILITY	Run app-idea-feasibility on this.	Sharp target user (an audience with a budget signal, not a demographic); explicit WTP quote with a number OR a named paid incumbent the author is unhappy with; not already dominated by a known mobile app; plausible solo-founder distribution channel.
NEEDS INFO	One missing fact would tip the verdict either way. State the fact.	E.g. "Need to know if Play Store already has 3+ paid apps in this slot"; "Need to confirm target user is the buyer, not the user"; "WTP quote is mobile-app-shaped but evidence URL is web-only".

Rule: when in doubt between OBVIOUS NO and WORTH FEASIBILITY, default to OBVIOUS NO. The cost of a missed idea is one day of opportunity; the cost of a wasted feasibility test is $200 of attention and a real-world ad budget. False-positives are more expensive than false-negatives at this stage.

Optionally do one lightweight WebSearch per idea — only to confirm a suspected dominant incumbent's existence on Play Store / App Store. Don't go deep; that's app-idea-feasibility's job.

Step 3 — Output the triage table

Write the result to stdout (and optionally to triage.md alongside the brief if asked). Exact format:

# Triage — <YYYY-MM-DD>

Brief: <relative path to ideas.md>
Total ideas: <N>   Worth feasibility: <K>   Obvious no: <M>   Needs info: <P>

| # | Idea | Verdict | Reason (≤5 words) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | <idea title> | WORTH FEASIBILITY | sharp persona, $49/mo quote |
| 2 | <idea title> | OBVIOUS NO | Notion already owns this |
| 3 | <idea title> | NEEDS INFO | check Play Store paid apps |

After the table, a one-line next action:

• If Worth feasibility is 0: "No ideas survive triage today. Skip feasibility, wait for tomorrow's brief."
• If Worth feasibility is 1: "Run /app-idea-feasibility on idea #N."
• If Worth feasibility is 2+: "Two+ survive — pick the one with the sharpest WTP quote first."

Top-level rules

• Five-word reason cap. "Notion already owns this" is fine; "this is a crowded market with multiple incumbents already dominant" is not. Brevity forces clarity.
• Quote, don't paraphrase. If you cite a competitor, name it. If you cite a WTP signal, quote it. No "good WTP signals" — write the actual phrase.
• One pass. Don't second-guess your own verdicts. If you find yourself re-reading an idea three times, that's a NEEDS INFO.
• Don't expand the schema. Three buckets, period. Adding "MAYBE" or "PROMISING" defeats the purpose.
• Don't auto-run /app-idea-feasibility. This skill ends at the table — the user decides which (if any) to feasibility-test.