Turns a fuzzy ask into sharp, fact-checked intent before any work starts — reduces ambiguity, closes gaps, sharpens overloaded terms, and surfaces hidden assumptions, fact-checking against the codebase instead of asking what the code can answer. The shared questioning core that interview and promptimize build on; also usable standalone. Activates when: clarifying a vague request, disambiguating intent, reducing ambiguity, sharpening fuzzy terms, running a gap analysis, surfacing assumptions, or when user mentions: clarify, disambiguate, sharpen, vague, ambiguous, gaps, gap analysis, unclear ask.
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Turns a fuzzy ask into sharp, fact-checked intent before any work starts — reduces ambiguity, closes gaps, sharpens overloaded terms, and surfaces hidden assumptions, fact-checking against the codebase instead of asking what the code can answer. The shared questioning core that interview and promptimize build on; also usable standalone. Activates when: clarifying a vague request, disambiguating intent, reducing ambiguity, sharpening fuzzy terms, running a gap analysis, surfacing assumptions, or when user mentions: clarify, disambiguate, sharpen, vague, ambiguous, gaps, gap analysis, unclear ask.
argument-hint
[the fuzzy ask or prompt to sharpen]
Clarify
Turn a fuzzy ask into sharp, fact-checked intent. The goal is shared understanding — resolve every ambiguity that would otherwise make the model guess — reached by leaning on the codebase first and the user only for what code cannot answer.
This skill owns the questioning disciplines. It is used standalone (/clarify <ask>) and as the shared core that two other skills build on:
interview layers feature-requirements phases on top, then hands off to write-spec.
promptimize layers a prompt-engineering rewrite on top and returns an optimized prompt.
When a host skill invokes these disciplines, apply them; the host owns what happens with the result.
When enough is enough
Stop clarifying the moment intent is sharp enough for the caller's next step — not when a form is full. Over-questioning burns the user's patience as surely as under-questioning ships guesses. Rate the ask's clarity to yourself as you go; when it is high, stop.
The disciplines
Apply these throughout, one thread at a time — this is interactive, not a batch form. The answer to one question routinely changes whether the next even applies.
1. Code-First — explore before asking
If a question is answerable by reading the codebase, read instead of asking:
"Does this model already have a status column?" → check the migration.
"What pattern do we use for this kind of resource?" → grep an existing one.
"Is there already an authorization check for this?" → look for it.
Delegate the bulky sweeps. For anything beyond a single targeted lookup — mapping a feature area, checking how a pattern is used across files, verifying stated behaviour in several files — dispatch a read-only research subagent (e.g. Claude Code's Explore) and work from its brief (conclusions + file:line, no file contents), so multi-file reads never bloat this context. Targeted single-file lookups stay inline.
Only ask the user what the code cannot answer: intent, priorities, business rules, UX trade-offs, future plans. If the project ships reference docs (architecture, domain glossary, relationship maps), consult them first so terminology matches project canon.
2. Bisect toward intent
When the ask is one sentence, uses overloaded terms, or has several plausible readings, ask bisecting questions that cut the possibility space roughly in half each turn — not open-ended "tell me about X", but "is this A or B" until intent converges.
Example — ask: "Improve sharing"
"Is this about inviting collaborators, or publishing to an audience?" (internal vs external)
(external) "Is the gap in who can access the shared thing, or in how the link works once shared?" (access control vs link UX)
(access control) "Is this a missing capability (no password-protected links) or friction with an existing one (too many clicks)?"
After 2-4 such questions intent is usually sharp. Bisecting also applies mid-flow: if any answer reveals new fuzziness, drop in a bisecting question before continuing.
3. One question at a time, with a recommended answer
Default to one question per turn, each with a recommended answer plus 2-3 alternatives, so the user reacts (accept / pick another / push back) instead of drafting from scratch. Use AskUserQuestion with predefined options, recommendation first:
"How should errors be displayed?"
- Inline validation messages (Recommended)
- Toast notifications
- Modal dialog
Group questions only when they are clearly orthogonal and small. (AskUserQuestion appends its own free-text "Other", so never add a manual escape-hatch option.)
4. Sharpen fuzzy terms
When the user uses a vague or overloaded term, stop and resolve it to a canonical one:
"You said 'item'. Do you mean a saved draft or a published record? Those behave differently here."
Check the project reference docs for the canonical name before proposing one.
5. Stress-test with concrete scenarios
When the user states a rule, invent a specific edge case that probes its boundary and force a precise answer. Don't accept "we'd handle that" — make them say what happens.
User: "Editors can edit any record in their workspace."
You: "An editor opens a record moved into their workspace yesterday, from a workspace whose owner just revoked their access. Can they edit it?"
6. Cross-reference stated behavior against code
When the user describes how something currently works, verify it against the actual code before building on it. Surface any contradiction immediately:
"You said deleting a parent also deletes its children. The handler actually orphans them to the grandparent. Which behavior do you want here?"
7. Assumptions audit — the gap reducer
Before wrapping up, walk everything gathered and flag every place you silently inferred something the user did not say, then grill each one. Flag a statement when it meets any of these:
Naming or string content invented — message templates, cache-key prefixes, error wording, queue names. The user likely has opinions on user-visible strings.
Behavioural defaults the user did not bless — retry-vs-fail-fast, silent-skip vs surfaced-error, idempotency.
Unverified factual claims — "all modern browsers support X", "this column is already indexed". If you asserted a fact the user couldn't check, flag it.
Deviations from the user's original wording — surface original intent vs where it landed, even when they approved the change, so drift stays visible.
Filled-gap behaviours — they said "block them", you picked the UX (error vs silent fail vs redirect).
Convention-added pieces the user did not ask for — a factory/policy/observer added just because that's the usual wiring.
"Recommended" options accepted without engaging — they took the recommendation; did they weigh the trade-off?
Exclude purely cosmetic inferences that don't change observable behaviour. Ask each via AskUserQuestion with the assumption in plain language (no jargon, no class names), "Correct as stated" as the first option, plus 1-2 concrete alternatives. Never batch — the answer to assumption N often changes whether N+1 still applies.
Guardrails
Placeholders over fabrication. For a missing specific (name, date, number, file), insert [INSERT X] rather than guessing.
Respect "skip" and "done". If the user says skip, move on without pressing; if they say done, stop — but still run the assumptions audit on what was gathered before wrapping up.
Match the user's language.
Capture decisions as they crystallize. Keep a running tally (question, decision, rationale) so settled points aren't re-litigated and the hand-off stays accurate if the conversation runs long. Filter for what a future reader would wonder about — scope boundaries, behavior under conflict, terminology, real trade-offs — not cosmetic preferences.
Output
This skill produces sharpened intent, not a document: a running tally of resolved questions, the assumptions ledger from the audit, and any terminology settled along the way. A host skill (interview, promptimize) takes it from there; used standalone, hand the summary back to the user.
