CtrlK
BlogDocsLog inGet started
Tessl Logo
SkillPublic

bmad-forge-idea

Test a half-formed idea in a questioning conversation, with different personas probing its weak points, until the user can act on it or drop it with confidence. Optionally writes a short brief for planning skills to build on. Use when the user says 'forge an idea', 'pressure-test this idea', 'stress-test my thinking', or 'harden this idea'

Quality

83%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide
SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

75%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The body is a tight, imperative conversational workflow with copy-paste-ready commands, explicit error-recovery fallbacks for nearly every script call, and a well-sectioned single-file structure verified against the actual bundle. Minor gaps — an unhandled failure mode for resolve_personas.py, no compact example of the memlog or forged-idea outputs, and slight repetition in the activation fallbacks — hold it just below top scores.

Suggestions

Add a failure fallback for resolve_personas.py matching the pattern used for the other scripts (e.g., on failure, proceed with self-generated personas only), so every external dependency has a recovery path.

Include one compact example of a memlog append entry (e.g., a --type lock line) and a two-line forged-idea excerpt so the two main output artifacts have concrete shape, not just requirements.

De-duplicate the BMad-not-setup fallback text that appears nearly verbatim in On Activation steps 1 and 3 into a single shared note to trim tokens without losing the recovery path.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is dense imperative instruction with no explanations of concepts Claude already knows (e.g., "Praise is noise. Continued engagement and ego-stroking are not objectives."). Not 5 because the BMad-not-setup fallback is repeated nearly verbatim in Activation steps 1 and 3, and a few rhetorical flourishes ("while changing your mind is still cheap") could be trimmed; not 3 because there is no padded or redundant exposition of known material.

4 / 5

Actionability

Full runnable commands with complete argument lists and defined placeholders (memlog.py init/append/set with flags and enumerated --type values, resolve_customization.py, resolve_personas.py), plus explicit failure fallbacks ("If init fails, don't abort — run the forge in-conversation"). Not 5 because resolve_personas.py gets no failure fallback unlike the other scripts, and the forged-idea brief and generated personas have requirements but no compact example; not 3 because guidance is executable and copy-paste ready, not pseudocode.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

A numbered On Activation sequence (1-6) with per-step error branches, a resume glob procedure, an explicit stop-and-resolve checkpoint ("If the material contradicts the user's claim, stop and resolve that before continuing"), and three enumerated exit states with a closing status-flip command. Not 5 because handling of script output problems (e.g., malformed resolve_personas output) is not addressed; not 3 because checkpoints and recovery loops are largely explicit for a conversational skill.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Scored against the actual bundle: scripts/resolve_personas.py exists and matches the body's exact referenced path, and the body's other script paths are explicitly external (BMad core), so there are no broken or buried references. All ~113 lines are live-session process guidance appropriately kept in one well-sectioned file. Not 5 because the forge-report.html rendering spec (inline CSS, inline-SVG seal, persona credits) is detail that could sit one level deeper; not 3 because structure is clear and nothing inlined clearly belongs in a separate file.

4 / 5

Total

16

/

20

Passed

Description

83%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description cleanly answers both what the skill does and when to use it, in third person, with four concrete quoted trigger phrases. Trigger coverage lacks common synonyms like 'red-team' or 'poke holes in this', keeping trigger quality and distinctiveness just below the top anchors.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

"Test a half-formed idea in a questioning conversation, with different personas probing its weak points" plus "Optionally writes a short brief for planning skills to build on" name several concrete actions with a concrete mechanism (personas) and a defined optional output. It stays below 5 because coverage is only 2-3 actions rather than comprehensive, and above 3 because the mechanism and output artifact go beyond naming 1-2 actions.

4 / 5

Completeness

Both halves are explicit: a clear 'what' (persona-probed questioning of a half-formed idea until act/drop confidence, optional brief for planning skills) and an explicit 'when' with concrete quoted trigger phrases. Not 4 because the 'when' clause is fully explicit with concrete phrases, exactly the top-anchor pattern.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

"Use when the user says 'forge an idea', 'pressure-test this idea', 'stress-test my thinking', or 'harden this idea'" provides four natural, quotable phrases users would plausibly say. Not 5 because common synonyms like 'red-team this idea', 'poke holes in it', or 'challenge this idea' are missing; not 3 because four distinct natural phrases exceeds 'some relevant keywords'.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The niche (idea stress-testing with probing personas) is distinct and the quoted triggers are specific. Not 5 because 'stress-test my thinking' could fire on general thinking-partner or elicitation requests, where sibling skills overlap; not 3 because the triggers are far more specific than broad domain language.

4 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Validation

100%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository

bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD

Path

skills/bmad-forge-idea/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.