# AI Business Ideas — Capture & Curation Repository

> **Purpose:** A zero-friction capture layer for AI/agentic business ideas. Every idea is walked through a structured template with the AI assistant. **All sections must have meaningful content** (no empty placeholders), but ideas can be saved at any valid state — `initial`, `in progress`, or `ready for review`. A live sitemap tracks all ideas and their status.

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## 🤖 AI Agent Instructions: How to Walk a User Through a New Idea

When a user says **"capture a new idea"** or **"add idea"**, you (the AI) **MUST** follow this exact flow. Do not skip steps. Do not save until the user confirms every section has content.

### Phase 1 — Initialize
1. Ask the user for a **slug** (kebab-case folder name, e.g., `ai-first-ebay-cataloging-assistant`).
2. Create the folder: `ideas/<slug>/`
3. Copy `TEMPLATE.md` → `ideas/<slug>/README.md` as the working draft.

### Phase 2 — Guided Capture (One Section at a Time)
For **each section** in the template, in order:
1. **Present the section header** and any guidance/examples from the template.
2. **Prompt the user** for their input. Accept free-form text, bullet points, or rough notes.
3. **Synthesize & structure** their input into the template format (markdown tables, bullet lists, clear prose).
4. **Read back the filled section** and ask: *"Does this capture it accurately? Any additions or changes?"*
5. Only move to the next section when the user **explicitly confirms**.

**Sections in order:**
| # | Template Section | Minimum Content Required |
|---|------------------|--------------------------|
| 1 | **Title** | Clear, specific, searchable |
| 2 | **One-Liner** | ≤1 sentence conveying value prop |
| 3 | **Problem** | Pain point, who experiences it, frequency — all three present |
| 4 | **Solution** | What it does, core workflows (numbered), MVP scope |
| 5 | **Target Market** | Primary segment + size indicator (TAM/SAM/SOM or proxy) |
| 6 | **High-Level Use Cases** | ≥3 concrete, user-facing scenarios |
| 7 | **High-Level Design / Dependencies** | Architecture overview, external services/APIs, key technical deps |
| 8 | **Differentiation / Competitive Edge** | Why this vs. alternatives — specific, not generic |
| 9 | **State of This Idea** | Must be one of: `initial` / `in progress` / `ready for review` |
| 10 | **Risks** | Technical, Market, Regulatory — at least one bullet each |

### Phase 3 — Finalize & Save
1. **Validate:** Every section has meaningful content (no "TBD", "—", or empty bullets).
2. Write the completed `README.md` to `ideas/<slug>/README.md`.
3. **Update the Sitemap below** (add/update row in the table).
4. Confirm to the user: *"Idea saved at `ideas/<slug>/README.md` with state `<state>` and sitemap updated."*

> **Save gate:** All 10 sections populated → save allowed at any valid state. No section left blank.

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## 🗺️ Sitemap — All Ideas & Status

> **Auto-maintained:** The AI updates this table every time an idea is added, modified, or archived.

| Idea (Folder) | Title | One-Liner | State | Last Updated |
|---------------|-------|-----------|-------|--------------|
| `ai-first-ebay-cataloging-assistant` | AI-First eBay Photo Listing Assistant | A mobile-first AI assistant that turns smartphone photos of any item (especially industrial or hard-to-identify SKUs) into complete, priced, categorized eBay listings and publishes them directly via the eBay API — while strictly avoiding guesses and using deterministic systems wherever possible. | `in progress` | 2026-06-18 |

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## 📁 Repository Structure

```
ai-business-ideas/
├── README.md              ← This file (AI instructions + sitemap)
├── TEMPLATE.md            ← Master template (source of truth for structure)
└── ideas/
    └── <slug>/            ← One folder per idea
        └── README.md      ← Populated template for that idea (shown at folder root)
```

> **Note on file naming:** Inside each idea folder, the file is named `README.md` (not `IDEA.md`). This allows the idea content to appear directly when viewing the folder on Gitea without an extra click.

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## 📋 Template Reference

See [`TEMPLATE.md`](TEMPLATE.md) for the full section definitions, examples, and formatting expectations. The AI uses this as the canon during guided capture.

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## 🔧 Maintenance Notes

- **Adding an idea:** Follow the AI instructions above — the AI handles folder creation, guided capture, validation, and sitemap update.
- **Editing an idea:** The AI re-runs guided capture for only the sections you want to change, then updates `README.md` and the sitemap `Last Updated` column.
- **State transitions:** Change `State of This Idea` between `initial` → `in progress` → `ready for review` as work progresses. The sitemap `State` column reflects the current value.
- **Archiving:** Change state to `archived` (not in template but supported) — the sitemap row stays, status reflects it.
- **Sitemap sync:** If the sitemap ever drifts, the AI can regenerate it by scanning all `ideas/*/README.md` files and reading their `State of This Idea` and top metadata.

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## ✅ Quality Bar for Saving

An idea is **saved** when:
- ✅ Every one of the 10 template sections has meaningful content (no placeholder text like "TBD" or "—").
- ✅ The user has explicitly confirmed each section during the guided walkthrough.
- ✅ `State of This Idea` is set to a valid value: `initial` \| `in progress` \| `ready for review`.
- ✅ The sitemap row is added/updated in this README.

> **No empty sections.** Rough notes are fine. Blank sections are not. The guided walkthrough *is* the quality filter.

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*Generated and maintained by the Hermes AI agent per the instructions above.*