fix: tune ce:ideate volume model and presentation format

Reduce per-agent idea target from 10 to 7-8 based on real usage data
showing ideas 8-11 were speculative tail that rarely survived filtering.
This keeps the unique candidate pool manageable (~20-30 after dedup)
while preserving frame diversity across 4-6 agents. Also add scannable
overview line before detail blocks in Phase 4, and clarify foreground
dispatch and native tool usage in Phase 1.
This commit is contained in:
Trevin Chow
2026-03-16 21:07:21 -07:00
parent b762c7647c
commit 3023bfc8c1

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@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ Infer two things from the argument:
- **Volume override** - any hint that changes candidate or survivor counts
Default volume:
- each ideation sub-agent generates about 10 ideas (yielding 40-60 raw ideas across agents, ~30-50 after dedupe)
- each ideation sub-agent generates about 7-8 ideas (yielding 30-40 raw ideas across agents, ~20-30 after dedupe)
- keep the top 5-7 survivors
Honor clear overrides such as:
@@ -89,13 +89,13 @@ Use reasonable interpretation rather than formal parsing.
### Phase 1: Codebase Scan
Before generating ideas, gather codebase context. This phase should complete in under 2 minutes.
Before generating ideas, gather codebase context.
Run two agents in parallel:
Run two agents in parallel in the **foreground** (do not use background dispatch — the results are needed before proceeding):
1. **Quick context scan** — dispatch a general-purpose sub-agent with this prompt:
> Read the project's CLAUDE.md (or AGENTS.md / README.md if CLAUDE.md is absent), then list the top-level directory structure using the native file-search tool. Return a concise summary (under 30 lines) covering:
> Read the project's CLAUDE.md (or AGENTS.md / README.md if CLAUDE.md is absent), then discover the top-level directory layout using the native file-search/glob tool (e.g., `Glob` with pattern `*` or `*/*` in Claude Code). Return a concise summary (under 30 lines) covering:
> - project shape (language, framework, top-level directory layout)
> - notable patterns or conventions
> - obvious pain points or gaps
@@ -121,8 +121,8 @@ Do **not** do external research in v1.
Follow this mechanism exactly:
1. Generate the full candidate list before critiquing any idea.
2. Each sub-agent targets about 10 ideas by default. With 4-6 agents this yields 40-60 raw ideas, which merge and dedupe to roughly 30-50 unique candidates. Adjust the per-agent target when volume overrides apply (e.g., "100 ideas" raises it, "top 3" may lower the survivor count instead).
3. Push past the safe obvious layer. The first 10-15 ideas are often the least interesting.
2. Each sub-agent targets about 7-8 ideas by default. With 4-6 agents this yields 30-40 raw ideas, which merge and dedupe to roughly 20-30 unique candidates. Adjust the per-agent target when volume overrides apply (e.g., "100 ideas" raises it, "top 3" may lower the survivor count instead).
3. Push past the safe obvious layer. Each agent's first few ideas tend to be obvious — push past them.
4. Ground every idea in the Phase 1 scan.
5. Use this prompting pattern as the backbone:
- first generate many ideas
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ Follow this mechanism exactly:
7. Give each ideation sub-agent the same:
- grounding summary
- focus hint
- per-agent volume target (~10 ideas by default)
- per-agent volume target (~7-8 ideas by default)
- instruction to generate raw candidates only, not critique
8. When using sub-agents, assign each one a different ideation frame as a **starting bias, not a constraint**. Prompt each agent to begin from its assigned perspective but follow any promising thread wherever it leads — cross-cutting ideas that span multiple frames are valuable, not out of scope. Good starting frames:
- user or operator pain and friction