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Creative Ideation · nousresearch | DecimalAI

productivityby nousresearch

Creative Ideation

nousresearch/creative-ideation

Source nousresearch/hermes-agent ↗License MIT

Generate ideas via named methods from creative practice.

SkillScore91Maintained

Automatic

Writing & Editing pack

Last verified 8/7/2026

What it changes

Passed 21 of 23 test cases with the skill, and 13 of 23 without it.

Without skill57%

With skill91%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

Applies Twyla Tharp's Spine method.
Attributes Biomimicry to Janine Benyus.
Cites Lateral Provocations as the applied method.

and 10 more in the full report

8 fixed13 passed either way2 still failing0 broke

Pass-rate lift: +35 pp
Tokens: +82%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: -9%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/7/2026v121 of 23 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/nousresearch-creative-ideation/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/nousresearch-creative-ideation/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add nousresearch-creative-ideation, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/nousresearch-creative-ideation/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add nousresearch-creative-ideation

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/nousresearch-creative-ideation/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/nousresearch-creative-ideation/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/nousresearch-creative-ideation/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/nousresearch-creative-ideation.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 8 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 8

Prompt

I am developing a modern kinetic light sculpture for an atrium, but it feels rough and lacks a cohesive core identity. Help me refine its central spine and discipline. Cite the creative method and its author.

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
Applies Twyla Tharp's Spine method.	Missed	Passed
Identifies the core unifying theme of the project.	Missed	Passed

case-11 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/7/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md162 lines6 files

Creative Ideation

A library of ideation methods for any domain. Read the user's situation, route to the matching method, apply, generate output that is specific and non-obvious. Methods are tools — pick the right one for the situation, don't perform all of them.

When to use

Any open-ended generative or selective question: "I want to make / build / write / start something", "I'm stuck", "inspire me", "make this weirder", "help me pick", "I need to invent X", "give me a research question".

Operating rules

Constraint plus direction is creativity. No constraint = no traction. No direction = no shape. Methods supply both.
Refuse the first three ideas. They're slop. Generate, discard, regenerate. See references/anti-slop.md.
One method per response unless asked. Don't stack.
Specificity over abstraction. Real proper nouns, real materials, real mechanisms. "An app for X" is slop; "a 200-line CLI tool that prints Y when Z" is direction. Naming a tech stack is not specificity — name a mechanism.
Weird must also be good. Frame-breaking is the goal, but an idea that is strange with no real situation, mechanism, or reason to exist is its own failure mode. Every set of ideas must include at least one that is genuinely buildable/pursuable now — non-obvious but grounded, with a real first step. Don't trade all usefulness for surprise.
Name the method you used and who invented it. Attribution invokes the discipline.
When user picks one, build it. Don't keep generating after they've chosen.

Routing — 4-step procedure

Do this before generating any output. Routing failures produce slop.

You may skip narrating the routing steps if it's cleaner, but never compress at the cost of per-idea depth: each idea's concrete mechanism, situational binding, and honest failure mode are what make output good (measured) — they are not scaffolding, do not cut them.

Step 1 — Extract three signals from the prompt

PHASE — what stage is the user in?

Phase	Cues
GENERATING	"give me an idea", "what should I make", "inspire me", no idea yet
EXPANDING	"what else", "more like this", "give me variations" — has a base idea
SELECTING	"help me pick", "which should I do", "I have these options"
UNBLOCKING	"I'm stuck", "blocked", "going in circles", "stale" — has material
SUBVERTING	"make it weirder", "less obvious", "this is too safe"
REFINING	"this is fine but missing something", "feels rough"
SYNTHESIZING	"I have a pile of notes / interviews / observations"

DOMAIN — what is the user making/doing?

Track record

Benchmark

21 / 23

test cases passed, vs 13 / 23 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v4 — 8/3/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

nousresearch / hermes-agent

optional-skills/creative/creative-ideation/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License MITImported 8/3/2026Version v1Bundled 5 files

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

Creative Ideation

When to use

Operating rules

Routing — 4-step procedure

Step 1 — Extract three signals from the prompt

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

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