Idea Spark

Generates actionable project ideas by scanning real pain points from Hacker News, Reddit, and GitHub, then optionally validates them with idea-check.

Workflow

1. Extract the domain

From the user's message, extract:

Field	Notes
INLINECODE0	Area of interest (e.g. "developer tools", "health tracking", "AI agents")
INLINECODE1

Number of ideas requested (default: 5) |
| type | Project type if specified: CLI tool, API, bot, app, library (default: any) |

If the domain is vague, ask for clarification before proceeding.

2. Research pain points

Run 3 searches in parallel using the built-in web_search tool to find real problems people are complaining about or requesting:

CODEBLOCK0

CODEBLOCK1

CODEBLOCK2

3. Synthesize ideas

From the search results, extract recurring themes and unmet needs. For each idea, produce:

Field	Format
INLINECODE4	Short project name (2-4 words)
INLINECODE5

One-line description of what it does |
| pain | The real problem it solves (with source: HN/Reddit/GitHub) |
| type | CLI, API, bot, app, library, MCP server, OpenClaw skill |
| effort | low / medium / high |

Generate count ideas, ranked by how specific and actionable the pain point is.

4. Validate with idea-check (if available)

For each idea, run a quick validation:

CODEBLOCK3

If mcporter or idea-reality is not available, skip this step and note that validation was not performed.

Add the reality_signal score to each idea. Flag ideas with signal > 70 as "crowded".

5. Present the results

Format — strict:

CODEBLOCK4

Status mapping:

• - Signal < 30: "open field"
• Signal 30-70: "some competition"
• Signal > 70: "crowded"
• Not checked: "not validated"

6. Follow-up

After presenting, suggest:

• - "Want me to deep-check any of these?" → run idea-check with INLINECODE14
• "Want me to start building #N?" → proceed with development

7. Error handling

• - If web searches return no results → broaden the domain, try without site filters
• If all ideas score > 70 → tell the user the space is saturated, suggest narrowing the niche
• If mcporter is not available → present ideas without validation, mention idea-check for later
• If the domain is too broad (e.g. "tech") → ask the user to narrow down

Examples

User says	Domain	Action
"Give me 5 project ideas for developer tools"	developer tools	Search HN/Reddit/GitHub, generate 5 ideas, validate each
"What should I build in the AI agent space?"

AI agents | Search for pain points, generate ideas, validate | | "I want to build something with MCP servers" | MCP servers | Focus on MCP ecosystem gaps, generate ideas | | "Startup ideas around health tracking" | health tracking | Search for unmet needs, generate ideas, flag crowded ones |