Is the Core Brainstorm skill free?

Yes. The skill itself is free from LukeRenton/explore-claude-code. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.

What is the Core Brainstorm SkillProof Score?

9.2/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 8/10, docs & honesty 5/5.

How do I install Core Brainstorm?

Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.

Can I use Core Brainstorm with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?

The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.

Core Brainstorm

Socratic brainstorming mode that interrogates ideas and outputs a structured brief

by LukeRenton · LukeRenton/explore-claude-code

Tested · Works

Install — copy the command Download source ↗

Test report

Verdict: Tested · Works
Score: 9.2/10
Tested: Jul 31, 2026
Environment: Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
Upstream re-checked: Aug 10, 2026 · 13f4170

Fetched SKILL.md via raw GitHub; frontmatter parses with name+description, plus argument-hint and disable-model-invocation:true. Body references no scripts/bundled files (only runtime output paths under .claude/brainstorms/), so nothing to 404; clean of security smells. Cloned into a temp HOME and confirmed SKILL.md lands at ~/.claude/skills/core-brainstorm/SKILL.md. Ran one real task ("should I add a public API to my solo-dev SaaS?"): baseline gave a one-shot Pros/Cons + "How to build it" answer naming 7 implementation terms (REST, Redis, OpenAPI, Swagger, /v1/, OAuth, token bucket); the skill-followed run contained 0 of those terms, instead running a multi-turn Socratic pushback that reframed "build an API" into "close two leads with read-only export" and closed with the 6-section Brainstorm Brief the baseline never produced. Trigger description cleanly separates brainstorm-intent from code/fix requests (5/5 on my test phrasings); the disable-model-invocation flag means it fires as an explicit /command, not an auto-load.

Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works

Installs cleanly 5/5
Triggers reliably 5/5
Output vs. baseline 8/10
Docs & honesty 5/5

What Core Brainstorm does

A collaborative brainstorming mode that pushes back on assumptions, keeps responses short and question-led, refuses code/tool/implementation discussion, and ends by distilling the conversation into a structured "Brainstorm Brief" (problem, core idea, decisions, open questions, constraints) meant to hand off to a planner. Triggers when the user wants to discuss, explore, or think through a problem or feature before writing code. Ships with disable-model-invocation set, so it is invoked explicitly as /core-brainstorm rather than auto-loaded.

How to install Core Brainstorm

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/LukeRenton/explore-claude-code.git /tmp/core-brainstorm-src
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R /tmp/core-brainstorm-src/.claude/skills/core-brainstorm ~/.claude/skills/core-brainstorm
rm -rf /tmp/core-brainstorm-src
# No dependencies, no scripts — single self-contained SKILL.md.
# Note: frontmatter sets disable-model-invocation: true, so Claude will NOT
# auto-load it. Invoke it explicitly, e.g.  /core-brainstorm <topic>
# It is designed as step 1 of a brainstorm -> core-planner -> implement workflow;
# core-planner is a separate agent in the same repo and is not required to use this.

Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ (per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.

Commands — how to trigger Core Brainstorm

/core-brainstorm Socratic brainstorming mode that interrogates ideas and outputs a structured brief

It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:

Let's brainstorm approaches to this new feature
Think through this problem with me before planning
Explore different ideas for the onboarding flow

Frequently asked questions

Is the Core Brainstorm skill free?: Yes. The skill itself is free from LukeRenton/explore-claude-code. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
Does Core Brainstorm work with Claude Code?: We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 31, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Fetched SKILL.md via raw GitHub; frontmatter parses with name+description, plus argument-hint and disable-model-invocation:true. Body references no scripts/bundled files (only runtime output paths under .claude/brainstorms/), so nothing to 404; clean of security smells. Cloned into a temp HOME and confirmed SKILL.md lands at ~/.claude/skills/core-brainstorm/SKILL.md. Ran one real task ("should I add a public API to my solo-dev SaaS?"): baseline gave a one-shot Pros/Cons + "How to build it" answer naming 7 implementation terms (REST, Redis, OpenAPI, Swagger, /v1/, OAuth, token bucket); the skill-followed run contained 0 of those terms, instead running a multi-turn Socratic pushback that reframed "build an API" into "close two leads with read-only export" and closed with the 6-section Brainstorm Brief the baseline never produced. Trigger description cleanly separates brainstorm-intent from code/fix requests (5/5 on my test phrasings); the disable-model-invocation flag means it fires as an explicit /command, not an auto-load.
What is the Core Brainstorm SkillProof Score?: 9.2/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 8/10, docs & honesty 5/5.
How do I install Core Brainstorm?: Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
Can I use Core Brainstorm with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?: The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.