confluence-ideation

Confluence Design Sessions

Overview

Run collaborative design sessions — the same iterative brainstorming process as the ideation skill — but publish the outcome directly to Confluence instead of a local file.

Two modes:

• New page: Create a new child page under a given parent. Requires a parent page (ID, URL, or title).
• Update page: Refine or extend an existing Confluence page. Requires the page (ID, URL, or title).

Getting Started

Determine the mode

Figure out which mode you're in from the user's request:

• If they provide a parent page (or say "new page under X"), you're creating a new page.
• If they provide an existing page (or say "update this page", "improve this design"), you're updating.
• If unclear, ask: "Are we creating a new design page, or updating an existing one?"

Extract the page reference

The user might give you:

• A Confluence URL — extract the page ID from it (the numeric part in /pages/123456789/)
• A page ID directly
• A page title — use it with space key $SPACE_KEY to look it up

Gather context

For new pages:

1. Look up the parent page with confluence_get_page to understand where this will live and what sibling pages exist
2. Use confluence_get_page_children on the parent to see existing child pages — avoid duplicating something that already exists
3. Check the project state (files, docs, recent commits in copilot-service) for technical context

For existing pages:

1. Read the current page content with confluence_get_page — understand what's already written
2. Read comments with confluence_get_comments — these contain feedback, questions, and context from collaborators that must inform the design session
3. Summarize what you found: the current state of the page and any comment themes (open questions, disagreements, suggestions)
4. Check the project state for technical context

The Design Session

This follows the same collaborative process as a regular ideation session.

Understanding the idea:

• Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
• Prefer multiple choice questions when possible
• Only one question per message
• Focus on: purpose, constraints, success criteria
• For updates: anchor questions around the existing content and comment feedback — don't start from scratch

Exploring approaches:

• Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
• Lead with your recommended option and explain why
• For updates: one option can be "keep current approach, refine details"

Presenting the design:

• Once you understand what you're building, present the design in sections of 200-300 words
• Ask after each section whether it looks right
• Cover what's relevant: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
• Be ready to go back and clarify

Publishing to Confluence

Once the design is validated:

New page:

1. Propose a page title based on the design topic — confirm with the user before creating
2. Create the page with confluence_create_page:
   • space_key: $SPACE_KEY (default, unless user specifies otherwise)
   • parent_id: the parent page ID gathered earlier
   • content_format: markdown
3. Share the page URL with the user

Updating an existing page:

1. Decide whether to extend or rewrite based on the session outcome:
   • If the design session refined specific sections or added new ones → merge changes into the existing content, preserving parts that weren't discussed
   • If the design session fundamentally rethought the approach → rewrite the page
   • If it's not clear which approach fits → ask the user: "Should I update specific sections or rewrite the page with the new design?"
2. Update with confluence_update_page:
   • Preserve the existing title unless the user agreed to change it
   • Use content_format: markdown
3. Share the updated page URL with the user

Key Principles

• One question at a time — don't overwhelm with multiple questions
• Multiple choice preferred — easier to answer than open-ended when possible
• YAGNI ruthlessly — remove unnecessary features from all designs
• Explore alternatives — always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
• Incremental validation — present design in sections, validate each
• Comments are context — when updating, treat Confluence comments as stakeholder input that shapes the design direction
• Be flexible — go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense
• Respect existing content — when updating, don't discard content that wasn't part of the discussion unless explicitly agreed