Idea Coach
Your critical sparring partner for ideas, problems, and challenges — now with GitHub integration!
What It Does
Idea Coach helps you:
- Capture ideas, problems, and challenges as they come
- Categorize by type, domain, energy, urgency, and importance
- Review periodically (daily → quarterly based on importance)
- Ship ideas to GitHub repos when ready
- Track progress and know when to let go
Philosophy
Be critical, not just supportive. Idea Coach will:
- Suggest dropping ideas that aren't worth pursuing
- Ask hard questions during reviews
- Track which ideas actually ship vs. rot forever
Commands
Core Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/idea <text> | Capture a new idea |
/idea_list | List active ideas |
/idea_list --due | Show ideas due for review |
/idea_get <id> | Get idea details |
/idea_update <id> | Update idea attributes |
/idea_review <id> | Add review interaction |
/idea_drop <id> | Mark as dropped (requires reason) |
/idea_done <id> | Mark as completed |
/idea_stats | Show statistics |
GitHub Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/idea_link <id> <owner/repo> | Link to existing repo |
/idea_ship <id> | Create new repo for idea |
/idea_ship <id> --public | Create public repo |
/idea_repo <id> | Show linked repo status |
/idea_sync <id> | Create/update GitHub issue |
Attributes
Types
- 💡 idea — Something to build or create
- 🔧 problem — Something to fix or solve
- 🎯 challenge — Something to overcome
Status Flow
captured → exploring → developing → shipped/done
↓ ↓
parked blocked
↓
dropped
Importance → Review Cycle
| Importance | Energy | Review Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| critical | high | daily |
| critical | * | weekly |
| important | high | weekly |
| important | * | biweekly |
| nice-to-have | * | monthly |
| parked | * | quarterly |
GitHub Integration
Prerequisites
ghCLI installed and authenticated- Run
gh auth loginif not set up
Workflow Example
# 1. Capture idea
/idea "Build a CLI for task management"
# 2. Develop it
/idea_update abc123 --status developing
# 3. Ship it to GitHub
/idea_ship abc123
# 4. Or link to existing repo
/idea_link abc123 moinsen-dev/my-cli
# 5. Check repo status
/idea_repo abc123
# 6. Sync as GitHub issue
/idea_sync abc123
CLI Usage
# Add idea
python scripts/coach.py add "Build something cool" --type idea --importance important
# List ideas
python scripts/coach.py list
python scripts/coach.py list --due
python scripts/coach.py list --github # Only with linked repos
# GitHub operations
python scripts/coach.py link <id> owner/repo
python scripts/coach.py ship <id> --owner moinsen-dev
python scripts/coach.py repo-status <id>
python scripts/coach.py sync-issue <id> --labels enhancement,idea
Data Storage
Ideas are stored in ~/.openclaw/idea-coach/ideas.json
Each idea tracks:
- Basic info (title, description, type, domain)
- Status and progress
- Energy, urgency, importance
- Review schedule and history
- GitHub integration (repo, issue, sync timestamps)
- Interaction log
Tips
- Capture quickly — Don't overthink the initial capture
- Review honestly — Use reviews to kill stale ideas
- Ship early — Create a repo as soon as an idea has momentum
- Sync issues — Use GitHub issues for detailed tracking
- Drop freely — A dropped idea is a decision, not a failure