Ideas inbox: capture, don't act
An idea that comes up mid-task goes into docs/ideas/YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md and the task goes on.
Why
| without it | failure |
|---|---|
| idea acted on at once | task derailed; half-built tangent in the diff |
| idea left in chat | gone with the session |
| idea as a TODO in code or docs | scattered, unfindable, rots in place |
Shape
# produce publishes, then hands off
> yeah lets set it up so that if it aint totally bad, it goes to youtube...
Context: waiting on an unattended `produce` run; the session cache expired meanwhile.
- optional: first thoughts on shape, flags, risks
- The idea in the words it came in, quoted. Paraphrase loses intent.
- One line of context: what we were doing when it came up.
- Small: one idea per file.
Lifecycle
stateDiagram-v2 [*] --> parked: captured mid-task parked --> built: done → delete file parked --> promoted: ADR / plan item → link, delete file parked --> dropped: delete file (git keeps it)
A file in ideas/ means not yet addressed. The directory is the open list.
Boundaries
| idea | papercut | ADR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| trigger | "we could…" | "this hurt" | a choice between real alternatives |
| when resolved | deleted | status: fixed, kept |
never deleted; superseded |
Session handoff links new ideas from next-session.md
so the next session sees them.
Open
- Delete vs keep with a status: papercuts keep fixed ones, ideas delete. Pick one rule for both?
- Should ideas carry tags, so "before a task, read docs touching the area" finds them?