general-question

name	general-question
description	Info-only answer lane. No artifact, no review, no design. Use for questions where the user wants information and does not intend to build or change anything yet. Offers an opt-in to save the exchange as an idea for @ideation.
argument-hint	[the question]
disable-model-invocation	false

Answer question $ARGUMENTS directly.

When to Use

• "How does X work?"
• "What does Y do?"
• "Should I use A or B?"
• "Is this pattern common?"
• User wants to learn, not to commit to building anything

When NOT to Use

• User wants to capture a new idea → @ideation
• User wants structured research across multiple sources → @research / @deep-research
• User wants to fix a bug → @hotfix
• User wants to modify existing behavior or add new behavior → @design-pipeline

Instructions

Step 1: Answer

Answer concisely. Use existing codebase / docs if relevant. Cite files with path:line so the user can navigate.

Do NOT:

• Produce a .workitems/ artifact
• Produce an HLD / PRD / ADR
• Invoke @code-review, @design-review, or any review skill
• Run tests or gates

The entire ceremony is: read enough context to answer well, then answer.

Step 2: Opt-in save

At the end of the answer, ask once:

Save this as an idea for @ideation? (y/N)

• On yes: produce a minimal memo stub at .workitems/ideas/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{slug}.md containing:

  • title: the question
  • Idea: the answer's key takeaway (1–3 sentences)
  • Open questions: any follow-ups surfaced during the answer
  • next: defer — user can revisit later via @ideation

  Then hand off to @ideation for routing (or leave deferred).

• On no (default): nothing persists. The exchange exists only in the conversation transcript.

Step 3: Stop

No further actions. No design, no tests, no commits.

No Review Ceremony

General-question answers are not reviewed. They are conversational, not production collateral. If the user later decides the answer should shape a design, they invoke @ideation → @concept → @design-pipeline; review happens there, not here.

Honest Asymmetry

Not every artifact needs review. Questions that produce no artifact definitionally need no review. This skill exists so the harness does not force a review gate onto a conversation that has nothing to gate.

Cross-References

• @ideation — save-as-idea opt-in target
• @research / @deep-research — escalate if the question needs multi-source investigation
• @documentation-lookup — specific library / framework doc lookup