Validate a Feature Direction Before Building
April 8, 2026 · View on GitHub
Use this when
You have a feature idea but aren't sure if the approach is sound. You want industry best practices and deep research to sharpen the direction before writing any code.
Core skills
| Skill | Role |
|---|---|
/best-practices | Audit against industry standards and patterns |
/deep-research | Multi-source research (web + codebase + docs) |
/feasibility-study | Quantitative comparison of approaches |
/codex-brainstorm | Adversarial debate to stress-test the plan |
Command flow
/deep-research <topic>— gather state-of-the-art approaches, prior art, and ecosystem conventions/best-practices— audit the proposed approach against industry patterns; identifies gaps and anti-patterns- Synthesize: combine research findings with best-practice gaps into 2-3 candidate approaches
/feasibility-study— quantitative trade-off analysis across candidates/codex-brainstorm— adversarial debate on the top candidate; finds blind spots- Decision: proceed with refined approach, or pivot based on findings
Why this combo works
| Solo skill | Limitation | Combined effect |
|---|---|---|
/deep-research alone | Broad information, no opinionated filter | /best-practices filters research through proven patterns |
/best-practices alone | Checks against standards but doesn't explore alternatives | /deep-research provides the landscape of alternatives |
/feasibility-study alone | Compares options but may miss industry context | Research + practices provide well-informed candidates |
Decision points
| Situation | Choice |
|---|---|
| Research reveals the idea already exists? | Evaluate existing solutions; adapt rather than reinvent |
| Best practices audit finds anti-patterns? | Redesign before investing in feasibility study |
| Brainstorm debate reaches no consensus? | Prototype both approaches; use evidence to decide |
| Direction is validated? | Proceed to /tech-spec → /feature-dev |
Gates
No enforced gates — this is an exploration workflow. The output is a validated direction with supporting evidence.
Expected outcome
- Clear understanding of the problem landscape (research)
- Approach validated against industry best practices
- Quantitative comparison of alternatives
- Blind spots identified via adversarial debate
- Confident direction ready for
/tech-spec
Related scenarios
- Rough request to tech spec — the next step after direction is validated
- Implement a new feature — building after spec is complete