---
name: ideation
title: Creative Ideation — Constraint-Driven Project Generation
description: "Generate project ideas through creative constraints. Use when the user says 'I want to build something', 'give me a project idea', 'I'm bored', 'what should I make', 'inspire me', or any variant of 'I have tools but no direction'. Works for code, art, hardware, writing, tools, and anything that can be made."
version: 1.0.0
author: SHL0MS
license: MIT
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [Creative, Ideation, Projects, Brainstorming, Inspiration]
    category: creative
    requires_toolsets: []
---

# Creative Ideation

Generate project ideas through creative constraints. Constraint + direction = creativity.

## How It Works

1. **Pick a constraint** from the library below — random, or matched to the user's domain/mood
2. **Interpret it broadly** — a coding prompt can become a hardware project, an art prompt can become a CLI tool
3. **Generate 3 concrete project ideas** that satisfy the constraint
4. **If they pick one, build it** — create the project, write the code, ship it

## The Rule

Every prompt is interpreted as broadly as possible. "Does this include X?" → Yes. The prompts provide direction and mild constraint. Without either, there is no creativity.

## Constraint Library

### For Developers

**Solve your own itch:**
Build the tool you wished existed this week. Under 50 lines. Ship it today.

**Automate the annoying thing:**
What's the most tedious part of your workflow? Script it away. Two hours to fix a problem that costs you five minutes a day.

**The CLI tool that should exist:**
Think of a command you've wished you could type. `git undo-that-thing-i-just-did`. `docker why-is-this-broken`. `npm explain-yourself`. Now build it.

**Nothing new except glue:**
Make something entirely from existing APIs, libraries, and datasets. The only original contribution is how you connect them.

**Frankenstein week:**
Take something that does X and make it do Y. A git repo that plays music. A Dockerfile that generates poetry. A cron job that sends compliments.

**Subtract:**
How much can you remove from a codebase before it breaks? Strip a tool to its minimum viable function. Delete until only the essence remains.

**High concept, low effort:**
A deep idea, lazily executed. The concept should be brilliant. The implementation should take an afternoon. If it takes longer, you're overthinking it.

### For Makers & Artists

**Blatantly copy something:**
Pick something you admire — a tool, an artwork, an interface. Recreate it from scratch. The learning is in the gap between your version and theirs.

**One million of something:**
One million is both a lot and not that much. One million pixels is a 1MB photo. One million API calls is a Tuesday. One million of anything becomes interesting at scale.

**Make something that dies:**
A website that loses a feature every day. A chatbot that forgets. A countdown to nothing. An exercise in rot, killing, or letting go.

**Do a lot of math:**
Generative geometry, shader golf, mathematical art, computational origami. Time to re-learn what an arcsin is.

### For Anyone

**Text is the universal interface:**
Build something where text is the only interface. No buttons, no graphics, just words in and words out. Text can go in and out of almost anything.

**Start at the punchline:**
Think of something that would be a funny sentence. Work backwards to make it real. "I taught my thermostat to gaslight me" → now build it.

**Hostile UI:**
Make something intentionally painful to use. A password field that requires 47 conditions. A form where every label lies. A CLI that judges your commands.

**Take two:**
Remember an old project. Do it again from scratch. No looking at the original. See what changed about how you think.

See `references/full-prompt-library.md` for 30+ additional constraints across communication, scale, philosophy, transformation, and more.

## Matching Constraints to Users

| User says | Pick from |
|-----------|-----------|
| "I want to build something" (no direction) | Random — any constraint |
| "I'm learning [language]" | Blatantly copy something, Automate the annoying thing |
| "I want something weird" | Hostile UI, Frankenstein week, Start at the punchline |
| "I want something useful" | Solve your own itch, The CLI that should exist, Automate the annoying thing |
| "I want something beautiful" | Do a lot of math, One million of something |
| "I'm burned out" | High concept low effort, Make something that dies |
| "Weekend project" | Nothing new except glue, Start at the punchline |
| "I want a challenge" | One million of something, Subtract, Take two |

## Output Format

```
## Constraint: [Name]
> [The constraint, one sentence]

### Ideas

1. **[One-line pitch]**
   [2-3 sentences: what you'd build and why it's interesting]
   ⏱ [weekend / week / month] • 🔧 [stack]

2. **[One-line pitch]**
   [2-3 sentences]
   ⏱ ... • 🔧 ...

3. **[One-line pitch]**
   [2-3 sentences]
   ⏱ ... • 🔧 ...
```

## Example

```
## Constraint: The CLI tool that should exist
> Think of a command you've wished you could type. Now build it.

### Ideas

1. **`git whatsup` — show what happened while you were away**
   Compares your last active commit to HEAD and summarizes what changed,
   who committed, and what PRs merged. Like a morning standup from your repo.
   ⏱ weekend • 🔧 Python, GitPython, click

2. **`explain 503` — HTTP status codes for humans**
   Pipe any status code or error message and get a plain-English explanation
   with common causes and fixes. Pulls from a curated database, not an LLM.
   ⏱ weekend • 🔧 Rust or Go, static dataset

3. **`deps why <package>` — why is this in my dependency tree**
   Traces a transitive dependency back to the direct dependency that pulled
   it in. Answers "why do I have 47 copies of lodash" in one command.
   ⏱ weekend • 🔧 Node.js, npm/yarn lockfile parsing
```

After the user picks one, start building — create the project, write the code, iterate.

## Attribution

Constraint approach inspired by [wttdotm.com/prompts.html](https://wttdotm.com/prompts.html). Adapted and expanded for software development and general-purpose ideation.