Chapter 18
IdeaProbe
IdeaProbe
Validate your project idea before you write a single line of code.
IdeaProbe is a developer agent skill powered by TinyFish that searches GitHub and Dev.to in parallel to surface what already exists in your problem space — then synthesizes findings into a structured gap analysis report.
Give it an idea in plain English. Get back a full picture: which projects already exist, how active they are, what's abandoned, what's overcrowded, and where the real opportunity still lives. No manual Googling, no tab-switching, no guesswork.
Built for developers who want to build the right thing, not just any thing.
How It Works
IdeaProbe runs two TinyFish web agents simultaneously against GitHub and Dev.to, extracts structured JSON from each, then synthesizes everything into a gap analysis report with a clear verdict.
Your idea (plain English)
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│ IdeaProbe Skill │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ GitHub │ │ Dev.to │ │ ← parallel
│ │ (repos) │ │ (articles) │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ └───────┬────────┘ │
│ ▼ │
│ Gap Analysis Report │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
What exists · Maturity · Gaps · VerdictWhat you get
- Existing GitHub repos ranked by stars and last activity
- Dev.to article coverage showing community interest and awareness
- Maturity assessment: is the space active, abandoned, or fragmented?
- Specific gaps and differentiation angles you can actually act on
- A plain-English verdict: build, differentiate, or skip
Requirements
| Requirement | Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js | 18+ | Required to install the TinyFish CLI |
| TinyFish CLI | latest | npm install -g @tiny-fish/cli |
| TinyFish API key | — | Free at agent.tinyfish.ai/api-keys — includes 500 free steps, no credit card |
| An agent runtime | — | Claude Code, Copilot, or any agent that reads SKILL.md files |
Install the Skill
Copy SKILL.md into your agent's skills directory:
Claude Code:
# Mac/Linux
cp SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/project-idea-validator/SKILL.md
# Windows PowerShell
Copy-Item SKILL.md -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\project-idea-validator\SKILL.md" -ForceOther agents: Drop SKILL.md wherever your agent reads skill files from (e.g. .agents/, skills/, or your project root).
Usage
Once the skill is installed and you're authenticated, just describe your idea to your agent:
Validate my project idea: a browser extension that summarises any GitHub PR in one clickIs there already something like a CLI tool that auto-generates changelogs from commit messages?I want to build a Notion widget that shows live stock prices — has this been done?The agent reads the skill, fires the TinyFish agents, and returns a report like this:
## Project Idea Validation: PR Summariser Browser Extension
### What Already Exists
- github-pr-summary (⭐ 1.2k) — Chrome extension using GPT-4 to summarise PRs, last active 3 months ago
- pr-digest (⭐ 340) — CLI tool, not a browser extension, abandoned 1 year ago
- Dev.to: 4 articles on AI-assisted code review, none covering browser extensions specifically
### Maturity Assessment
- GitHub: fragmented — a few attempts, none dominant or actively maintained
- Dev.to coverage: sparse — interest exists but no canonical solution has emerged
### Gaps & Opportunities
- No actively maintained browser extension exists
- Existing tools require CLI setup — a zero-config extension has clear UX advantage
- None support multiple AI providers or custom prompts
### Verdict
The space has been attempted but not solved. A polished, actively maintained browser
extension with a good UX could own this niche.Built With
- TinyFish — web agent infrastructure
- TinyFish CLI — terminal interface for TinyFish agents
License
MIT