Idea Check

Scans GitHub, Hacker News, npm, PyPI, and Product Hunt to assess whether a project idea already exists before building it.

Prerequisites

This skill requires the idea-reality-mcp MCP server registered in mcporter:

mcporter config add idea-reality --command "uvx idea-reality-mcp"

Workflow

1. Extract the idea description

From the user's message, extract a clear, concise description of the project idea (1-2 sentences). Strip conversational filler.

2. Choose depth

3. Run the reality check

{
  "tool": "exec",
  "command": "mcporter call idea-reality.idea_check idea_text=\"\x3Cextracted idea description>\" depth=quick"
}

4. Interpret the result

The tool returns a JSON with reality_signal (0-100), evidence, top_similars, and pivot_hints.

Apply these rules:

5. Format the response

\x3Cemoji> Idea Check — \x3Csignal>/100

\x3Cone-line verdict>

Top competitors:
1. \x3Cname> — \x3Cstars> stars — \x3Cdescription>
2. \x3Cname> — \x3Cstars> stars — \x3Cdescription>
3. \x3Cname> — \x3Cstars> stars — \x3Cdescription>

Sources: \x3Clist of sources checked>
\x3Cpivot hints if signal > 30>

Emoji mapping:

• Signal > 70: use a red indicator
• Signal 30-70: use a yellow indicator
• Signal \x3C 30: use a green indicator

6. Error handling

• If the MCP tool is not available → tell the user to register idea-reality-mcp in openclaw.json (show the config snippet from Prerequisites)
• If the tool returns an error → report the error as-is, do not retry
• If top_similars is empty → note that no direct competitors were found but the signal score still reflects broader activity

Examples