Rejected Alternatives

Rejected alternatives are often the highest-value part of an intent.

Code can show what exists. It usually cannot show which tempting path the team already considered and rejected. Without that memory, a coding agent may re-propose the same design in a later session.

Good Rejected Alternatives

A useful rejected alternative names the option and the reason it does not fit:

## Alternatives rejected
- **Runtime feature flags.** They add a second state dimension before launch.
- **Environment-variable gates.** They require redeploys and create cleanup debt.

Weak alternatives are vague:

## Alternatives rejected
- **Other approaches.** Too complicated.

Validation

intent validate warns when an active intent has no rejected alternatives.

npx @jumpspace/cli intent validate --json

That warning is a design prompt, not paperwork. If there truly was no rejected alternative, keep the intent small and make the decision text explain why it is worth preserving.