IdeaGauntlet

Stress-test product ideas before you build them.

IdeaGauntlet is an open-source CLI and library that turns a raw product idea into adversarial critique, multi-role debate, synthetic user objections, validation plans, and idea comparison.

Built for founders, indie hackers, and product engineers who want sharper pre-validation before spending weeks building the wrong thing.

Most AI tools help you generate more ideas. IdeaGauntlet helps you survive the one you already have.

One command gives you a verdict, an evidence-backed scorecard, the risks that actually kill the idea, and the cheapest test that could disprove it this week.

npx idea-gauntlet quick "an AI agent that attends your meetings for you"

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Install & Update

# Install
npm install -g idea-gauntlet

# Update to latest release
npm install -g idea-gauntlet@latest

On global install, IdeaGauntlet performs best-effort integration setup for detected Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and MCP-compatible clients. All writes are non-destructive (never overwriting your files) and fully reversible via idea-gauntlet uninstall. The install downloads no browser and runs no network install; if postinstall was skipped (e.g. --ignore-scripts), run idea-gauntlet install yourself.

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Try it

Inside Claude Code / Codex / Cursor

After installing, open your AI coding tool and ask:

Use IdeaGauntlet court mode to stress-test this idea:

A focus-room app for remote workers that pairs people into silent 50-minute work sessions.

No IdeaGauntlet API key is needed. The AI coding tool supplies the model and context. If postinstall did not detect your tool, run idea-gauntlet install later.

Important: Agent-native integrations execute workflows natively. They do not run the idea-gauntlet CLI first. If you type idea-gauntlet court "..." in chat, the assistant treats it as analysis intent, not a shell command.

In the terminal — 30 seconds, no install

One command, nothing to install globally — just an API key:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... npx idea-gauntlet quick "A focus-room app for remote workers"

Groq (GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_...), any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or local Ollama (--ollama) work too — see Provider setup.

Get a card you can actually post

Add --format card to any command to render the verdict as a self-contained 1200×630 image (OG / Twitter preview size) — verdict badge, overall score, score radar, top risks, and the one-line brutal takeaway. Built to screenshot and share:

idea-gauntlet quick "Your idea" --format card -o idea.html   # writes idea.card.html

Full details in Shareable Report Card.

See a real report

Two example reports for examples/IDEA.md, generated by IdeaGauntlet itself (agent-native mode — the AI is the model):

• examples/sample-quick-report.md — fast critique
• examples/sample-court-report.md — full multi-role debate (steelman → skeptics → verdict)

A taste of the Quick verdict on that idea:

🔪 Focusmate has done exactly this since 2016 — "FocusRoom" as described is a feature, not a company; without a niche it can't defend, you're volunteering to fight a funded incumbent with a worse version of their product.

| Dimension | Score | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Differentiation | 2/10 | Focusmate already offers paired 50-min silent coworking since 2016; no stated wedge. | | Distribution | 3/10 | Two-sided cold-start: an empty room is worthless; paid ads can't fix it. | | Buildability | 8/10 | Matchmaking queue + timed video room — a fake-door + manual matching is enough to test. |

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Core features

| Workflow | What it does | Use it when | Output | |---|---:|---|---| | Assumption ledger | Falsifiable assumptions, each with a kill threshold and the cheapest test that could disprove it | You want to know what to test first, before building | Ordered test plan, kill thresholds, days/cost to de-risk | | Score calibration | Marks every score sourced or judgment, and discards citations not found in the retrieved research | You want to know which numbers are evidence and which are guesses | Basis per dimension, evidence ratio, flagged unverified citations | | Quick critique | Fast adversarial review: top risks, assumptions, best/worst case, fastest test | You want a fast sanity check | Risks, assumptions, scores, validation test | | Court mode | Structured multi-role debate with 7 specialist roles and judge verdict | The idea needs deeper critique | Role arguments, evidence audit, kill tests, scores, verdict | | GTM Strategy | Distribution channel priority matrix, 100-customer playbook, launch milestones | You need an actionable distribution plan | Channel CAC/timeline, milestones, budget allocation | | Competitive Intelligence | Competitor SWOT, 2D positioning map (X/Y), strategic windows & attack vectors | You want deep competitor mapping | Competitor profiles, positioning map, attack vectors | | Revenue Model Explorer | Evaluates 12 revenue models with Y1/Y3 projections & tiered pricing | You want to find the optimal monetization model | Ranked models, fit scores, projections, pricing tiers | | Founder-Market Fit | Evaluates domain expertise, network advantage & execution risk | You want an objective founder capability audit | Fit scorecard, unfair advantages, skill gaps, co-founder needs | | Simulated User Interview | In-character customer discovery interview with realistic persona | You want to test real objections & willingness to pay | Two-way dialogue, latent needs, objection analysis, WTP | | Pitch Deck Generator | 10-12 slide investor deck outline (YC, Sequoia, a16z frameworks) | You are preparing to pitch angels/VCs | Slide headlines, proof points, visual concepts, speaker notes | | Idea Evolution Coach | Diagnoses core bottleneck & creates 3 structural pivot variants with score deltas | You want to improve or pivot a struggling idea | Pivot angles, projected score deltas, 48h smoke tests | | Compliance Scanner | Audits legal, privacy & regulatory risks (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, AI Act) | You operate in regulated or data-sensitive markets | Risk severity, framework audit, pre-launch privacy checklist | | Multi-Model Ensemble | Run idea through multiple LLM providers in parallel to expose bias | You want consensus scores without single-model bias | Aggregate scores, disagreement matrix, consensus verdict | | Trend Monitoring | Re-research saved ideas to detect new competitors & niche shifts | You want to track market movements over time | Competitor delta, saturation shifts, emerging niches | | Market sizing | Quantitative TAM, SAM, and SOM estimation with CAGR and economic assumptions | You want to size the market opportunity | TAM, SAM, SOM, CAGR, confidence, methodology | | Unit economics | Financial viability assessment: CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC ratio, payback period, margins | You need to test unit economic feasibility | CAC/LTV estimates, ratios, payback, sustainability verdict | | Anti-pattern audit | Stress-test against 10 classic startup traps (feature vs product, vitamin vs painkiller, etc.) | You want to spot structural failure traps early | Matched traps, risk severity, prevention advice | | Synthetic users | Fictional personas with objections, switching costs, and interview questions | You want to prepare for real user research | Persona cards, objections, interview questions | | MVP planning | Ruthlessly minimal validation plan with kill criteria and pivot options | You want to test, not debate | 14-day plan, experiments, kill criteria, pivot options | | Idea comparison | Side-by-side scoring across 10 dimensions with per-idea kill tests | You need to choose what to validate | Comparison matrix, tradeoffs, recommendation | | Batch mode | Run critique on multiple ideas from a file | You have several ideas to screen | Bulk reports with scores + verdicts | | History & evolution | Save reports, track score deltas over time | You want to measure idea improvement | Saved reports, score deltas, evolution timeline | | Interactive mode | REPL for iterative refinement, drill-down, mode switching | You want to refine an idea live | Re-runs, benchmark, diagrams, exports | | HTML export | Styled dark-mode HTML report with radar chart + diagrams | You need shareable visual reports | Self-contained HTML page | | Score benchmarking | Compare scores against a synthetic reference set of 50 idea archetypes | You want rough distributional context for your scores | Percentile ranking, similar archetypes |

Synthetic users are fictional — not research evidence. Scores are diagnostic signals, not predictions.

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Two things IdeaGauntlet refuses to fake

1. It tells you which scores are evidence, and which are guesses

Most AI analysis tools present a retrieved fact and a confident guess in the same font. IdeaGauntlet separates them. Every scored dimension is labelled:

| Dimension | Score | Basis | Evidence | |---|---|---|---| | Differentiation | 2/10 | sourced | Focusmate has run paired 50-min sessions since 2016 | | Distribution | 3/10 | judgment | Two-sided cold start — no source retrieved |

A model cannot mark its own work as sourced. It is asked to cite the sources it used, and those citations are then checked against the research that was actually retrieved. A citation that isn't there is stripped, flagged as unverified in the report, and the dimension drops to judgment. Verification can only ever downgrade a score's basis, never promote it.

Each report then states the ratio plainly:

Evidence-backed: 1/3 scored dimensions ●○○

1 of 3 scored dimensions cite a source found in the research brief; 2 rest on model judgment alone. 1 claimed citation was not found in the brief and was not counted as evidence.

When no research is available at all, every dimension is judgment — the report says so instead of implying grounding it doesn't have.

This applies to both quick and court. Court reaches its scores through a seven-role debate rather than a single rubric call, but the judge's citations go through exactly the same verification before any dimension is allowed to read as evidence-backed.

2. It tells you what would prove the idea wrong, and what that costs

A verdict you can't act on is entertainment. assumptions turns the idea into a falsification plan — what must be true, the number that declares it dead, and the cheapest way to find out:

idea-gauntlet assumptions "A focus-room app for remote workers"

| # | Assumption | If false | Test | Timebox | Cost | Kill threshold | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Remote workers will pay $10/mo rather than use a free timer | FATAL | Fake-door landing page + Stripe link | 3d | $50 | Fewer than 8 of 40 visitors leave an email | | 2 | A new room is never empty at peak hours | FATAL | Manually match 20 volunteers for a week | 7d | $0 | Under 60% of requested slots get matched | | 3 | IT teams will not block the video room | MINOR | 5 IT admin interviews | 10d | $0 | 3 of 5 admins say they would block it |

**Resolving every fatal assum