Concept Development (NASA Phase A)

Walk users through the engineering concept lifecycle — from wild ideas to a polished concept document with cited research. The process remains solution-agnostic through most phases, identifying solution OPTIONS (not picking them) only at the drill-down phase.

Overview

This skill produces two deliverables:

1. Concept Document — Problem, concept, capabilities, ConOps, maturation path (modeled on engineering concept papers)
2. Solution Landscape — Per-domain approaches with pros/cons, cited references, confidence ratings

The five phases build progressively:

• Spit-Ball — Open-ended ideation with feasibility probing
• Problem Definition — Refine ideas into a clear, bounded problem statement
• Black-Box Architecture — Define functional blocks, relationships, and principles without implementation
• Drill-Down — Decompose blocks, research domains, identify gaps, list solution approaches with citations
• Document — Generate final deliverables with section-by-section approval

Phases

Phase 1: Spit-Ball (/concept:spitball)

Open-ended exploration. User throws out wild ideas; Claude probes feasibility via WebSearch, asks "what if" questions, captures ideas with feasibility notes. No structure imposed. After accumulating feasibility notes, the skeptic agent reviews all claims before theme clustering. Gate: user selects which themes have energy.

Phase 2: Problem Definition (/concept:problem)

Refine viable ideas into a clear problem statement using adapted 5W2H questioning. Metered questioning (4 questions then checkpoint). Solution ideas captured but deferred to Phase 4. Gate: user approves problem statement.

Phase 3: Black-Box Architecture (/concept:blackbox)

Define concept at functional level — blocks, relationships, principles — without specifying implementation. Claude proposes 2-3 approaches with trade-offs, user selects, Claude elaborates with ASCII diagrams. Gate: user approves architecture section by section.

Phase 4: Drill-Down & Gap Analysis (/concept:drilldown)

Decompose each functional block to next level. For each: research domains, identify gaps, list potential solution APPROACHES (not pick them) with cited sources. Supports AUTO mode for autonomous research. Gate: user reviews complete drill-down.

Phase 5: Document Generation (/concept:document)

Produce Concept Document and Solution Landscape. Section-by-section user approval. Mandatory assumption review before finalization. Gate: user approves both documents.

Commands

Command	Description	Reference
/concept:init	Initialize session, detect research tools	concept.init.md
/concept:spitball	Phase 1: Wild ideation	concept.spitball.md
/concept:problem	Phase 2: Problem definition	concept.problem.md
/concept:blackbox	Phase 3: Black-box architecture	concept.blackbox.md
/concept:drilldown	Phase 4: Drill-down + gap analysis	concept.drilldown.md
/concept:document	Phase 5: Generate deliverables	concept.document.md
/concept:research	Web research with crawl4ai	concept.research.md
/concept:status	Session status dashboard	concept.status.md
/concept:resume	Resume interrupted session	concept.resume.md

Scripts

Script	Purpose	Usage
init_session.py	Create workspace + init state	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/init_session.py [dir]
check_tools.py	Detect research tool availability	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/check_tools.py
update_state.py	Atomic state.json updates	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/update_state.py show
source_tracker.py	Manage source registry	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/source_tracker.py list
assumption_tracker.py	Track assumptions	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/assumption_tracker.py review
web_researcher.py	Crawl4ai web research	python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/web_researcher.py crawl <url> --query "..."

Quick Reference

• State file: .concept-dev/state.json
• Output directory: .concept-dev/
• Source registry: .concept-dev/source_registry.json
• Assumption registry: .concept-dev/assumption_registry.json
• Artifacts: IDEAS.md, PROBLEM-STATEMENT.md, BLACKBOX.md, DRILLDOWN.md, CONCEPT-DOCUMENT.md, SOLUTION-LANDSCAPE.md

Additional Resources

Reference Files

• references/research-strategies.md — Tool tier definitions, search patterns, fallback chains
• references/verification-protocol.md — Source confidence hierarchy and verification rules
• references/questioning-heuristics.md — Adaptive questioning modes: open, metered, structured
• references/concept-doc-structure.md — Target document structure for Phase 5
• references/solution-landscape-guide.md — Neutral solution presentation rules