ralph-ideate 0.1.6
Ralph Ideate - automates the brainstorming cycle using the Ralph Loop
Requires Python: >=3.12
Keywords: ai, ai-agents, automation, brainstorming, claude, cli, developer-tools, ideation

<div align="center">
    <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabianboth/ralph-ideate/main/assets/ralph_loop.webp" alt="Ralph Ideate" width="450"/>
    <h1>Ralph Ideate: The Business Idea Machine</h1>
</div>

<p align="center">
    <strong><code>ralph-ideate</code> is an autonomous AI agent loop that ideates, extends, researches, scrutinizes, and repeats. It is the ralph loop for business ideas.</strong>
</p>

<p align="center">
    <a href="https://github.com/fabianboth/ralph-ideate/actions/workflows/ci.yml"><img src="https://github.com/fabianboth/ralph-ideate/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg" alt="CI"/></a>
    <a href="https://pypi.org/project/ralph-ideate/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/ralph-ideate?style=flat" alt="PyPI version"/></a>
    <a href="https://github.com/fabianboth/ralph-ideate/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/license/fabianboth/ralph-ideate" alt="License"/></a>
</p>

---

## Why Automate Ideation?

Most business ideas start as hunches and die as forgotten notes. The gap between "that could work" and "here's why it does" is filled with research, critical evaluation, and iteration. Work that's tedious to do systematically by hand.

Ralph Ideate closes that gap. You define a domain to explore, and an AI loop takes over: generating candidates, researching real pain points, scrutinizing viability, and deciding what survives. Each iteration builds on the last. You steer the direction; the loop does the legwork.

## Installation

```bash
uv tool install ralph-ideate
```

```bash
ralph-ideate init
```

## Getting Started

All commands are Claude Code slash commands. You create a brainstorming domain under `ideate/`, explore it with the loop, and refine the domain description as you learn more.

### 1. Create a brainstorming domain

```text
/ralph-ideate.create B2B services that agentic AI can fully automate end-to-end
```

### 2. Explore ideas

```text
/ralph-ideate.explore @ideate/<your_idea_folder>
```

### 3. Refine a domain description

```text
/ralph-ideate.refine @ideate/<your_idea_folder>
```

## How It Works

Each iteration reads the domain state fresh and decides which phase to execute:

1. **Ideate** - Generate and capture new candidate ideas
2. **Research** - Validate pain points with real-world evidence
3. **Scrutinize** - Critically evaluate viability and differentiation
4. **Decide** - Verify, revise, or discard each candidate

### Features

- **Systematic exploration:** Covers ground broadly rather than pursuing singular solutions
- **Interactive steering:** Inject thoughts and feedback during active processing to redirect focus
- **Evidence-based validation:** Ideas must survive research with real user complaints, not assumptions
- **Multi-pass refinement:** Each iteration deepens understanding rather than forcing premature convergence

## Acknowledgments

Inspired by [Ralph Loop](https://github.com/snarktank/ralph) and [Spec Kit](https://github.com/github/spec-kit). Read more about the motivation in the [idea machine blog post](https://fabianboth.dev/blog/idea-machine/).

## Documentation

For full documentation, troubleshooting, and advanced usage, visit the [GitHub repository](https://github.com/fabianboth/ralph-ideate).